Creating a Project Charter
What is a Project Charter?
The project charter is part of your Project Strategy document. This document is one of the first deliverables on your project. The project charter should be no more than one page, even on large projects. The intention of the project charter is to provide an overview of the project, in business terms, that everyone can understand. It is not a list of requirements. In a sense, it is the project's mission. The project charter should consist of the following sections:
- Background
Who is requesting the project? Focus on the original group requesting the change, not those joining the project with their own requests. This section is a very brief statement of the business area originating the request and who eventually owns the application.
- Problem Statement
What problem is the project's completion solving? It is very easy to include too much detail in this section - don't! Instead, focus on solving the main problem. This should not be a list of requirements, simply an explanation of the problem to solve.
- Justification
Why should the project be done? This section should be a high-level statement of the reasons why the project should be done. Do not give detailed justifications, such as cost-benefit ratios.
You can use the following template to create your project charter:
Project Charter Samples
Sample A
Background - Executive Management requests a means to receive product development initiative status at both a summary and detail level in a timely manner. The solution is to utilize technical solutions that fit within the parameters the Technology Strategy defines.
Problem Statement - Currently, gathering and disseminating initiative status is done on a monthly basis. This process is lengthy, paper-intensive, and resource-intensive. The reports are considered controlled documents and must adhere to the required processes. More importantly, the information is typically one month old by the time the Executive Status meeting reviews it. As a result, some projects continue for up to two months longer than they should, costing the organization tens of thousands of dollars a day.
Justification - This application should be developed because it improves the timeliness and accuracy of project data, enabling better, more timely decisions and reducing costs. Also, this application helps meet the organizational goal of moving to electronic data capture and dissemination for major development initiatives.
Sample B
Background - Information Systems management requests that every desktop be upgraded to the current version available.
Problem Statement - A new release of the operating system by the vendor three months ago is ceasing support of previous versions in six months.
Justification - The organization's technology strategy is to remain current on the operating system the vendor provides. To meet this strategy, the upgrade must occur. The Technology Strategy documents the issues not following the strategy.
Sample C
Background - Customer Service Management requests a way to document accurately and efficiently customer requests for new or changed service and to immediately transmit the requests to engineering.
Problem Statement - Currently, customer requests are taken on paper, using a large number of customer service codes that operators must memorize. Data entry clerks enter these paper requests electronically and send them to engineering for resolution. This type of system has led to errors and delays in servicing our customers, costing the organization wasted time, money, and customer goodwill.
Justification - Development of a new system allows our organization to service our customers in an efficient manner. In addition to better customer service, this new system reduces costs and increases the accuracy of the orders.
Sample D
Background - Quality Assurance requests the development of a new disaster planning application that allows each department to document their contingency plans and share the plan information with other departments.
Problem Statement - The current application installs on every desktop and does not allow departments to share plans across the international organization. This causes duplication of efforts, inconsistent levels of planning, and unnecessary investigation effort. Also, Quality Assurance finds it difficult to assess the organization's degree of preparedness as a whole and is unable to report compliance to a satisfactory degree. There is a high discomfort level in even knowing the location of the current plans, and if there are back ups of the plans.
Justification - Development of a new disaster planning tool that allows better information sharing, increases the efficiency of plan development and ensure a more standard approach to planning. It also allows storage of plans in a central location, ensuring easy access at times when Quality Assurance needs the plans. A web-based solution is a preference since that is the direction of the organization's technology strategy for organization-wide applications.