A project charter is the document having the statement of scope, objectives, and stakeholders who are participating in a project.

Primarily it defines the roles and responsibilities of people involved in the project and clearly outlines the objective, purpose and goals of the project. It is also a document that list downs the Key stakeholders and their responsibility in the project

Project Charter document is like a contract between the project sponsor, key stakeholders, and the project team providing clear road map of the role and responsibilities of each stakeholder involved in the project

What Is Project Charter Used for ?

To execute the project there are lots of documents required right from scope, till budget and all these document delve into the details on the goals you have defined in your project statement so then why do we need another document or Project Charter as such during the Project Lifecycle ?

So lets get into the main use case of this document :-

Authorize your project - Project Charter is like an elevator pitch that enables you to sell the project to yours stakeholder and in return provides with them high level ROI. The document also provides the stakeholders to focus on their resources and where they're needed.

Reference - You will be referring this document throughout the lifecycle project to assist with scope management and stakeholders involved in your project. The charter is like a roadmap with very specific and high level information

Tips on Writing a Project Management Charter

Vision/Goal :- Vision of the project cannot be vauge and it has to be clear and concise.

Objective :- Objective of proposing the Project that clearly defines the scope, purpose, benefits and duration to achieve the objective.

Scope :- Project boundaries that define what is included and what is not. This is very important to meet the project timeline and avoid any scope creep

Deliverables :- High level project deliverables i.e. what all is expected on project completion or once the project goal is met.

Customers/End Users :- Who are the project customers? Who will be accepting the Project Deliverables and provide Sign-Off ? Any specific user or customers that need more attention ? All this will be mentioned in this section

Stakeholders :- It's very crucial that Project Charter includes all the identified Stakeholders along with their roles and responsibility towards the project. Stakeholder Management is one of the key area for successfully delivering the project within defined scope/ cost /time /contraints

Reporting Matrix : Roles and Reporting matrix for the Project. Communication is the key and one need to know whom to connect and how to connect.

Planing : The charter to include the High Level Project Plan that defines the activities, resources, dependencies and timelines for the project. Having a high level plan in charter boast the confidence of stakeholder who will be directly or indirectly benefited by the success of the project.

Milestones : - Define the completion of important activities in the projects. Marks the progress of the Project by informing the completion of key activities .

Dependencies :- It would be internal as well as external dependencies however it's important to mention and make all stakeholder aware of it as they might /will impact the project during the lifecycle.

Resource Plan :- Project resource can be Human, material or Labor. It should be covered in the charter along with details on when you need them during the project lifecycle. Having the resource plan will enable you to plan your budget more accurately.

Risk : The charter should also highlight the project risk whether positive or negative to plan and prepare for the risk as and when it occurs.

So finally we come to the end of this article. Once you add all the components mentioned in your project charter it goes under the approval process where your project is approved and the final works kick starts

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