Reference no: EM133244283

Develop the Project Charter for your term project using the following information as a guideline.

What Is a Project Charter?

A Project Charter provides a big picture overview of the project and often does double-duty as the business case. According to the Project Management Institute (PMI® ), the organization that puts out the text, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide), a project charter organizes and documents a project's needs and expected outcomes.

This resource helps provide a foundation for basing project decisions and ensuring they are in line with company goals. As such, it should include success metrics, how to accomplish the project, key players, and goals. It's imperative to work with team members to help define these attributes before getting started.

Essential Elements of a Project Charter

Depending on your industry, you may call a project charter a project definition report or a project statement. While they all have similar elements, you don't have to include every item for each project charter you create.

Remember, the project charter provides a high-level description of the business need and useful information to get the project approved. Here's what to include in your project charter:

• Title: A descriptive title of the project should be at the top of your project charter. For example, "Marketing Campaign" doesn't say much. However, a title like "Social Media Marketing Campaign to Increase Awareness of New Product" informs readers about the type of marketing campaign and why you're starting the project.
• Brief Description: Include a few sentences that explain why you want to do this project and what you hope to accomplish. Include the business need it will fulfill and how this project is in line with existing company goals or ongoing work happening within the organization.
• Background: Provide information that explains how the project came to be. The background can also be part of the brief description. For example, if the project charter is for a technology update, you will have already included background information on the need in the brief description.
• Goals/Deliverables: This is a high-level statement of what you hope to accomplish with this project. Deliverables are sometimes separate, but it can be part of the goals section since it is what you plan to accomplish. For example, a goal might be to create a new web app. The deliverable would be to create a new app with three key features.
• Scope: This answers the question, "What is being produced by the project?" Provide an overview of services, products, or results that you plan to develop. It can also be useful to include what is "out of scope" for this project. Defining what's out of scope early on can help keep a project on track down the road.
• Impact on Other Business Systems and Units: Also referred to as resources, this describes what is required to accomplish the project. It outlines how many resources and what support will be needed. Resources can include things like work from other departments, contractors, and teams within the company.
• Stakeholders: The stakeholders are the people who you've been working with to create the project charter. For example, the sponsor has a project idea, but requires assistance from people in other departments or even an outside vendor to get it accomplished. Before writing the project charter, the sponsor has already met with stakeholders to get their input. Note: The key stakeholders are not necessarily who will approve the project, but they will likely be affected by the project.
• Roles and Responsibilities: This covers who is going to do what and identifies the responsibilities of the team. For example, the project manager would be responsible for hitting milestones on time. Identifying roles at the onset is useful for setting expectations and letting people know what is required.
• Milestones: An overview of the project schedule, milestones define significant aspects within the project such as phases, stages, and decision making.
• Budget: How much is the project going to cost in terms of finances, human resources, and materials? Budget can also specify the source of funding. Note: sometimes this information has already been estimated in the business case.  
• Constraints, Assumptions, Dependencies, and Risks: Create a section for an initial assessment of known risks that could affect the project's outcome. It includes factors that are known to be true, but will be evaluated in more detail during the project planning phase. It also takes into consideration existing constraints and dependencies that could change the project's scope. For example, you may need a specific team to help complete the project, but they are currently working on another project.
• Success Measurements/ROI: Establish how you will define project success. Metrics should include what's important to the stakeholders and how it fits into strategic business goals.
• Project Approval: This is the "sign on the dotted line" section. Depending on the type of project, it typically includes a signature space for the project sponsor, a client, and project manager