How to Write a Project Charter

Ever get partway through a project and forget why you were doing the project? Or maybe the project team has grown a bit larger than you expected? With a project charter, you can mitigate or eliminate these and other project management challenges. It is helpful to write a project charter before starting any business project. This simple, one-page document will provide an anchor and guide as you move forward in executing, implementing or solving the project you have.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• A project
• A project charter template
• A completed project charter template

Choose a Project Charter Template

1. Check with your colleagues or your organization's project management office for any prevailing templates.
2. Ensure the project charter template in some way covers the following areas:
   project name, problem statement, project team, start date, end date, project goals, project financial impact, project sponsor, project scope.
3. Everyone on your project team will need to have the applicable software, such as MS Word or PowerPoint, to read the project charter.

Complete the Project Charter

4. Complete the project name. The name should help identify what the project is about. For example, "New Science Lab Installation Project" or "Mortgage Application Cycle Time Reduction Project."
5. Complete the project summary section. You should write a brief paragraph that tells anyone with basic knowledge of your organization/department what you are doing as a project.
6. Complete the problem statement section. Ask yourself what problem or issue you are trying to solve by doing this project. For example, "the mortgage application process is taking 3 weeks longer than what is acceptable by our clients."
7. Complete the project goal section. What do you expect to accomplish by completing this project? Use S.M.A.R.T. goals: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time bound. For example, "The goal of this project is to reduce the time it takes to process a new mortgage application from 4 weeks to 2 weeks by the end of second quarter this year."
8. Complete the project team section. If you do not know the specific names of team members at this time, put in the job titles. Some examples are Assistant Project Manager, Business Analyst or Operations Tech.
9. Complete the financial section. Here is where you estimate the financial impact of doing the project. Will there be savings of actual expenses? Cost avoidance? Increase in revenue? You will want to restate your project goal as part of this section. For example, "by reducing the cycle time of new mortgage applications, we will receive our fees 50 percent faster, resulting in an increase in revenue."
10. Complete the start and stop date. When will work begin on the project? What is the estimated completion date of the project?
11. Complete the project sponsor section. Who in the management or executive ranks is directly supporting this project?
12. Complete the project scope section. This is where you determine exactly what will and will not be part of the project focus. We are doing this in Step 9 to give you an opportunity to tighten up your problem statement if needed. For example, "new mortgage applications are in scope, refinancing or home equity mortgages are out of scope."

Use the Project Charter

13. Keep this document with you whenever you attend a meeting relevant to the project. Refer to it frequently.
14. When you make any formal presentations to your project team, project sponsor, stakeholders or other groups, begin with a review of the project charter. This short exercise will remind your audience why the project exists and will be your guide for any discussion.

Tips & Warnings

• One project charter template will work for virtually any project. Some projects may emphasize financial goals, others a specific time line. You should be able to adjust a good template to fit.
• Some projects are short in duration or resources and may not need to be chartered.
• Spend a fair amount of time on this exercise. Well begun is half done!
• Do not include a solution within your problem statement.
• It is acceptable to make changes to the project charter when you have agreement from your sponsor, project team and any other accountable staff.
• Be slow to make changes on the project charter once it is approved.