A project charter is a document that defines a project and presents authorization for it, outlining goals, roles, terminology, objectives, priorities, scope, timeline, and resources. It is an invaluable tool for project planners and stakeholders to keep the project organized and focused. Templates are available online and in business planning books and periodicals.
In business, a project charter is a document that defines a project and presents authorization for it. Indicates the main goals, values and intent of the project. This ensures that all stakeholders agree on the purpose and scope of the project, which prevents confusion when starting the project. While a project charter may not be required by law, it is an invaluable tool used by project planners and other stakeholders to keep the project organized and focused.
If a company has written project charters in the past, planners can use an old project charter as a template, but if not, templates are available both online and in business planning books and periodicals. Many of the details can be taken from the project proposal. A project proposal is usually written as a way to obtain funding or support for a project. List the goals of the project and how those goals will be achieved.
To be useful, a project charter must include certain information. First, it should indicate the name of the project and the responsible person. It should outline the roles of key people, such as investors, managers and property owners, and should define terminology. This allows everyone involved in the project to share the same vocabulary, making it much easier to discuss the project.
The project charter should also list the project objectives. These should be the same objectives proposed by the project proposal. Changing these goals must be evaluated and approved by all stakeholders before making any changes. Like any good goal, the goals set in a project charter should be specific and realistically achievable. A timeline should be outlined so that stakeholders can assess progress.
Other key elements of a project charter are priorities and scope. Priorities indicate which goals are most important, and scope describes what the project will and will not entail. These are important to prevent creep scope: the gradual widening of a project’s focus until it becomes a mess of unmanageable goals that drain time, money, and resources.
Indeed, a detailed description of the time, money and resources available for the project should also be included. The expected costs and available funds should be indicated, as well as the deadline for completing the project. Depending on the size of a project and the needs of individual stakeholders, a project charter might include additional information, but it should never leave out any of these key points.
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