In my previous article, I looked at all that you need to know about the Project Concept Definition document. In this article, I want to look at how to create a project charter. Follow me as we are going to look at that together in this article.
An effective project charter clearly communicates the project’s importance to the organisation and formally authorises the project.
To create an effective project charter, follow these guidelines:
#1 Gather the prerequisites required
From the project SOW, gather the products or services to be delivered by the project.
If a project concept definition statement is present, use it to understand the issues that the project will resolve.
You need to use a business case to understand the market demand, Organisational and social requirements, and customer requests.
You need to mention the contract information if the project is commissioned for an external customer.
You have to keep in mind that factors, such as company, culture, government or industry standards, stakeholder risk tolerances, market conditions, human resources and information systems, have an impact on the project charter development process.
#2 Use a corporate template
There is a need for you to also adopt a corporate template if there is one. if it is non, Google is your friend but you have to make sure that you get approval from stakeholders before you use any of them.
#3 Involve experts
There is a need for you to also include a Subject Matter Expert when you are preparing the project charter. You have to know what they feel about the content that you have put together. You have to ensure that you gain from their wealth of experience.
#4 Project information
In addition, there is a need for you to include the project and authority information identification. This includes the title of the project and data of authorization. It also includes the name and contact information of the project manager. It might also include the name, title, and contact information of the initiating authority.
#5 Clear description
There is a need to also include a clear, concise description of the business need, opportunity, or threat that the project is intended to address.
Does the project charter clearly identify all the pertinent information about the project?
What are the circumstances that generated the n Ed for the project?
What is the market demand for the products or services?
You have to consider any legal requirements associated with the project. Do you also need to consider whether the project has all the extraneous information has been clearly excluded from the project character?
#6 Summary description
There is a need to include a summary description of the products and services of the project. You need to ask questions such as:
- What is the required outcome of the project?
- What are the critical characteristics of the products and services?
#7 Project relationship
There is a need for you to include a description of the project’s relationship to the business need it is intended to address. You need to know why it is important to do the project now as well as how the project will address the business need, opportunity or threat for which it is intended.
#8 Known constraints and assumptions
You need to consider any known assumptions and constraints for the project.
Ask the following questions :
- Are there any known time, cost, scope, quality, or resource issues or factors that will limit the way you and your project team can approach the project?
- Is there a risk of any project delays?
- Are there any project constraints?
- Is the software stable?
- Are there going to be problems with resource availability?
- Will the project require internal or external resources?
#9 Appropriate signing authority
There is a need for you to ensure that the person signing the documents has the appropriate signing authority.
The following questions should be asked:
- Can he or she authorise the reassignment of the people involved?
- Can he or she authorise the release of materials involved including finance and purchasing sign off?
- Can he or she authorise the spending of the money needed?
#10 Distribute the signed charter
You also need to distribute the signed charter to the appropriate project charter such as:
- Project team members
- Customers and sellers
- Relevant functional managers
- Finance and Accounting departments
Typical example…
The vice president of a software development company, Catherine Long is authorised to initiate an internal process improvement project. She asked her program manager to help her draft the project charter. Catherine, along with her program manager, develops a project charter to formally authorise the project.
The process improvement project is named in the memo and the memo’s date serves as the authorization date. the memo establishes the authority of her colleague, John, as the project manager and provides John’s contact information.
Because Catherine is the project sponsor, she includes her contact information and has the authority to reassign people, release material, and spend the money required to proceed with the project.
The business needs to improve the internal processes and procedures too. improve time to market, whole striking the appropriate balance between quality and speed, is clearly stated. The memo provides a brief description of the service and product of the project, which is to analyse the current processes and procedures and make recommendations.
The known constraints of completing the project with minimal impact on the current project schedule within three months are included in the memo. Catherine’s signature is on the memo, which is being distributed to all department directors, vice presidents and project managers who may be affected by or involved in this project.
It also establishes the priority of the project and asks these groups to lend their support.
Action Point
PS: If you would like to have an online course on any of the courses that you found on this blog, I will be glad to do that on an individual and corporate level, I will be very glad to do that because I have trained several individuals and groups and they are doing well in their various fields of endeavour. Some of those that I have trained include staff of Dangote Refinery, FCMB, Zenith Bank, and New Horizons Nigeria among others. Please come on Whatsapp and let’s talk about your training. You can reach me on Whatsapp HERE. Please note that I will be using Microsoft Team to facilitate the training.
I know you might agree with some of the points that I have raised in this article. You might not agree with some of the issues raised. Let me know your views about the topic discussed. We will appreciate it if you can drop your comment. Thanks in anticipation.
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