Chartering projects

Chartering projects

1. What is a project Charter?

   • Short document (usually about three pages) that serves as an informal contract between the project team and the sponsor (who represents both senior management of the organization and the outside customer, if there is one).
   • What is it used for?
     • 1. Authorize the project manager to proceed. 2. Help the project team and sponsor develop a common understanding. 3. Help the project team and sponsor commit. 4. Quickly screen out obviously poor projects

2. Constructing a Project Charter

   • Scope Overview and businees instructions
   • Background Instructions
   • Milestone Schedule
     • focuses on why you are doing a project before diving into all of the details.
       • The most effective way to construct the milestone schedule with acceptance criteria is to use the six-step procedure.
         • *Describe the current situation. *Describe the project. *Describe the acceptance.*Determine the Key Points.*Determine the primary stakeholder.*Determine expected completion dates for each milestone.
   • Risks,Assumptions, and Constraint Instrucitions
     • *Brainstorm all the things that could pose a risk to the project. *Decide which risks should be considered major risks.
   • Resources needed instructions
     • Manager may be prepared to make crude estimates of the project budget and other resource needs
   • Stakeholder list instructions
     • Identify the stakeholders and determine which are the most important
   • Team operating principles instructions
     • establish how meetings will be conducted, how deci sions will be made, how work will get done, and how everyone will treat each other with respect.
   • Lessons learned instructions
     • A project manager and team need to consider what has worked well and what has worked poorly on previous projects when starting a new one
   • Signatures and Commitment Instructions
     • The project sponsor, manager, and team members sign the charter to publicly acknowl edge their commitment
   • Ratifying the project Charter
     • The project manager and team formally present the project charter to the sponsor for approval.

3. Typical Elements in a Project Charter

   • Title
     • In an organization with a number of projects, the title can be used to quickly identify which project is being referenced.
   • Scope Overview
     • The scope overview and business case sections are the high-level “what and why” of the project.
   • Business Case
     • The business case is the project purpose or justification statement.
   • Background
     • Some other stakeholders may need more detail to understand the background behind these statements.
   • MIlestone Schedule
     • The milestone schedule is “ a summary-level schedule that identifies the major schedule milestones or significant points or events in the project.
   • Risks, Assumptions, and Constraints
     • Risks
       • A risk is “an uncertain event or condition that, if it occurs, has a positive or negative effect on one or more project objectives
     • Assumptions
       • Assumptions are “ factors in the planning purposes, that are considered to be true, real, or certain without proof or demonstration.
     • Constraints
       • A constraint is “ a limiting factor that affects the execution of a project.
   • Resource Estimates
     • Resources are “ skilled human resources, equipment, services, supplies … or funds. Since executives consider projects to be investments of resources, they will want a rough estimate.
   • StakeHolder List
     • Identify and prioritize stakeholders early in a project.
   • Team Operating Principles
     • Established to enhance team functioning.
   • Lessons learned
     • Knowledge Obtained
   • Signatures and Commitment
     • This is where the project sponsor, project manager, and core team members publicly and personally show their commitment to the project by signing the charter.

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