How to Write a Business Process Management Project Charter
A business process management project charter, more commonly known as a project charter, is used both in project management and Six Sigma's quality program. The steps are essentially the same with Six Sigma, which uses the green belt/black belt terminology along with a tight focus on reducing costs. A project charter outlines business improvement initiatives showing how a process will improve from Point A to Point B. It covers human resources, process steps, action items, goals and metrics of a project. The project charter serves as the keystone of a project, making it important to properly communicate the scope and depth of a project.
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Instructions
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Give the project a title using descriptive keywords so people can tell what the project is about from its name alone. Project documents are typically stored in a shared database by title. A good title makes it easier for users to find the project.
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2
Designate a project leader.
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3
Establish project start and end dates. This requires calculating the critical path of the project using a Gantt chart.
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4
Outline the problem the project hopes to resolve in a short mission statement---actual nuts and bolts of the problem will be dealt with in Step 6.
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Include financial information on current costs of the problems and savings the project hopes to realize. This is pivotal because the more money involved, the better the management buy-in and resource allocation for the project.
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6
Explain the business process the project will affect. Highlight what changes will be made and their positive impact.
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Give detailed project goals. This is another place where concrete details will foster support from upper management.
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Discuss how success will be objectively measured.
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List team members being sure you have a sponsor, sometimes called a "mentor," and necessary experts.
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List project action items, their start dates, lead times and estimated completion dates.
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Assign team members to action items based upon their expertise and skills.
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Distribute the project charter to the team and schedule a project kickoff meeting.
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Tips & Warnings
Meet with team members on a regular basis throughout a project. When calculating costs, look at opportunity costs, as well. Celebrate project accomplishments and thank team members for their efforts.
Monitor the critical path closely during a project as bottlenecks and unexpected lag times can decimate the original timeline.
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