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Volume 6, Number 1 February 2011 |
Greetings!
Welcome to Epicenter Development Group's newsletter, EPICentral. The purpose of this newsletter is to highlight fundamental ideas that have helped organizations develop and maintain great manufacturing and service operations. We hope that you find our EPICentral newsletter helpful, and we would welcome your comments on its content. |
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Project Charters - Beginning with the End in Mind
In this month's newsletter, we highlight a project planning tool called a Project Charter. A Project Charter is a document that is used to effectively communicate the "who," "what," "where," "when," "why," and "how" from the person or people assigning a project to the project team. This is an important "hand-off" within a successful project cycle as it helps to create a clear understanding of the project objectives, scope and deliverables to the people that will actually be doing the work.
Sample Project Charter Elements
- Project Name
- Project Sponsor (the person of authority that is responsible for this project)
- Team Leader (the person who will be actively leading the project and team)
- Problem or Project Description
- Target Process (process being considered)
- Project Purpose (primary and secondary goals)
- Goals/Performance Metrics (see S.M.A.R.T. goals newsletter)
- Scope (in-scope and out-of-scope items)
- Project Deliverables
- Estimate Project Cost/Budget
- Estimated Project Savings
- Project Schedule, Milestone Dates and Deadlines
- Project Reporting Method/Frequency
- Listing of Team Members and Their Roles (see Responsibility Charting newsletter)
Considerations:
- A Project Charter outline and format can be customized to your individual needs. The point is to create a structured method for fully communicating the project information to the team.
- Consider the development of a less formal planning "checklist" for smaller projects or assignments. Checklists are a great way to standardize best-practices (see Checklist newsletter).
- One key to adopting this tool is to make it a formal part of your project "gating" process.
- Epicenter encourages its clients and business partners to develop their own standard "toolbox" of tools that they can effectively use to plan, design and improve their operations.
- Practice! Practice! Practice! - As with any tool, Epicenter encourages people to practice using Charter Documents to hone their skills and increase its value.
- If you would like more information on Charter Documents or would like to give us feedback on this article, please contact us at 216-548-7136 or cscott@epicentergroup.com
Next Steps:
If you are interested in learning more about how Epicenter can help your organization to become more effective, please do not hesitate to e-mail us at cscott@epicentergroup.com or call Cindy Scott at 216.548.7136. |
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New Epicenter Full-Time Staff
Epicenter is pleased to welcome our two new full-time employees - Chris DePolo and Greg Danko. Chris and Greg will be enhancing our capabilities in the areas of simulation modeling, quality systems design, master planning, and fixture/prototype design work.
Epicenter is always on the look out for high quality professionals to add to our team. If you know of someone who might be qualified and interested, please have them send their resume and a cover letter to wproctor@epicentergroup.com. Thanks! |
