Project Charter

Project Name:

Template with Guidelines

Prepared By:
Position:
Date:
Version No:
Project Charter Approval Signatures
Project Name: [Enter the project name]

[Replace Name with the name of the approver fulfilling the role.
Replace the Position with the approver’s position.
Replace the Organization with the approver’s organization.]

Project Manager
_______________________________________ __________________
(Signature) (Date)
Name
Position
Organization

Project Sponsor
_______________________________________ __________________
(Signature) (Date)
Name
Position
Organization

Project Customer
_______________________________________ __________________
(Signature) (Date)
Name
Position
Organization

Project Customer
_______________________________________ __________________
(Signature) (Date)
Name
Position
Organization

Template Project Charter v2.2 Page i

The purpose of the project charter is to define the outcomes that must be achieved in order for
the project to be considered a success and to secure commitment for the follow-on Project
Planning Stage. The project charter identifies the scope, requirements, constraints, organization,
roles, budget and timeline necessary to achieve the project’s objectives.

Developing the project charter is a collaborative effort. The project manager works with the
project sponsor building on information gathered in the Conceptualize Stage.

The project charter formalizes the existence of a project and demonstrates management support
for the project. The Charter is a commitment to dedicate the necessary time and resources to the
project. For this reason, the Charter should be shared with all major stakeholders, securing sign-
off when appropriate.

Document Change Control

The following is the document control for the revisions to this document.
Version Number Date of Issue Author(s) Brief Description of Change

Definitions
The following are definitions of terms, abbreviations and acronyms used in this document.
Term, Abbreviation or Acronym Definition

Template Project Charter v2.2 Page ii

Table of Contents

1. Scope..........................................................................................................................1
1.1 Business Need..........................................................................................................1
1.2 Project Goals...................................................................................................................1
1.3 Product Description.......................................................................................................1
1.4 Project Customer, Project Sponsor, Project Manager...........................................1
1.5 In Scope/Out of Scope...................................................................................................1
1.6 Critical Success Factors...............................................................................................2
1.7 Project Assumptions......................................................................................................2
1.8 Project Constraints.........................................................................................................2
1.9 Project Deliverables.......................................................................................................2
2. Requirements..........................................................................................................3
2.1 Functional Requirements..............................................................................................3
2.2 Functional Requirements Included in Scope...........................................................3
2.3 Functional Requirements Excluded from Scope....................................................3
3. High-Level Milestones and Timeline, Roles and Budget.............................4
3.1 High-Level Milestone and Timeline............................................................................4
3.2 High-Level Roles.............................................................................................................4
3.2.1 Roles, Responsibilities, Estimates and Sources.............................................................4
3.2.2 Project Organization Chart....................................................................................................4
3.3 High-Level Budget..........................................................................................................4
3.3.1 Costs during the life of the Project.....................................................................................5
3.3.2 On-going Support Costs after Project Completion.........................................................5
4. High-Level Control Strategies.............................................................................7
4.1 Communications Strategy............................................................................................7
4.2 Quality Management Strategy......................................................................................7
4.3 Issue Management Strategy.........................................................................................7
4.4 Change Management Strategy....................................................................................7
4.5 Risk Management Strategy...........................................................................................8
4.6 Procurement Strategy....................................................................................................8
Appendix.............................................................................................................................9

Template Project Charter v2.2 Page iii

1. Scope
Change the template as appropriate for your project.

1.1 Business Need

Provide a brief overview and background information about the project. Explain at a high level
what the project is to accomplish, who initiated the project and expected benefits. Enter the
information that will give a context to the project drawing on the information in the Project
Concept document as a source.

1.2 Project Goals

Identify the key project goals. Any project goals identified in the Project Concept document
should serve as the basis for this section.

1.3 Product Description

Describe the product or service that the project is to deliver.

1.4 Project Customer, Project Sponsor, Project Manager

Identify the customer who will realize the benefits of this project. Identify the sponsor who will
champion the project. Identify the project manager who will lead the project.

Name Organization
Project Customer
Project Sponsor
Project Manager

1.5 In Scope/Out of Scope

The scope sets the boundaries of the project. Enter those key items that are a part of the project
and those major items that will not be worked on as part of this project. This is a high level
description of what is in and what is out of the boundaries of the project.

In Scope

Out of Scope

Template Project Charter v2.2 Page 1

1.6 Critical Success Factors

Identify the critical success factors for the project. Critical success factors are outcomes that must
be achieved in order for the project to be considered a success. A critical success factor that is
not realized becomes a project risk.

Example critical success factors:

 Management critical success factors such a committed sponsorship, timely decision-

making by the steering committee, periodic reviews of the project etc.

 Technical success factors such as a controlled and stable technical infrastructure.

 Resource success factor such as dependency on hardware availability or the availability

of appropriately skilled project staff.

1.7 Project Assumptions

List any assumptions made in defining the project. Assumptions can affect any area of the project
including scope, stakeholders, business objectives and functional requirements.

1.8 Project Constraints

Summarize the key constraints that will serve as limitations and boundaries for the project team
in their decision making.

1.9 Project Deliverables

List the key deliverables of the project with a short description of each.

Deliverable Description

Template Project Charter v2.2 Page 2

2. Requirements
2.1 Functional Requirements

Identify the functional requirements here. Functional requirements describe what characteristics
the proposed product or service must have and provides a list of the minimum features that must
be in place when the project is complete. Each functional requirement should track back to a
business objective and should be specific enough to be used to measure the successful
completion of the project. Functional requirements usually describe very specific features of the
resulting product or service.

Functional Requirements lists can become quite detailed and long. If so, consider a summary
here with the detail in the appendix, or consider a separate requirements document.

2.2 Functional Requirements Included in Scope

Indicate which of the functional requirements is included in the scope of the project.

2.3 Functional Requirements Excluded from Scope

Indicate which of the functional requirements is excluded from the scope of the project.

Depending on the length of the requirements list, it may be easier to indicate in and out of scope
on the initial list of requirements.

Template Project Charter v2.2 Page 3

3. High-Level Milestones and Timeline, Roles and
Budget

3.1 High-Level Milestone and Timeline

The following are the project’s high-level milestones and the target dates for their completion.
High-level milestones are the key ‘how are we doing’ thresholds of the project against which
project progress can be measured.

Milestones are deliverables or major events that may be readily identified as completed or not
completed on a specified date. Project Milestones are ‘how are we doing’ thresholds that indicate
whether a project is on track to finish as expected.

Enter the project’s key milestones with an estimated date for the completion of the milestone.

Key Milestone Target Date

Comments: (List any assumptions or clarifications pertinent to the timeline entered above. For
example - the project’s dependency on the completion of another project.)

3.2 High-Level Roles

3.2.1 Roles, Responsibilities, Skills, FTE Estimates and Sources

The high-level role information describes the roles needed for the project, the responsibility on the
project for each role, the skills required, the Full Time Equivalent (FTE) of the role needed and the
recommended source for acquiring the actual staff to fulfill the role.

Enter the roles and project responsibility for each role required for the project. Enter the skills
required of the role. Enter the preliminary FTE estimates for resource commitment for the fiscal
year. Enter a total of the FTE for the fiscal year. Enter the planned or recommended source for
acquiring the resource. Example: Contractor or the name of the organization that might provide
the resource.

FTE Recommended
Role Project Responsibility Skills Required
FYyy-yy Source

Total

3.2.2 Project Organization Chart

The project organization chart is a graphical picture of the organization and reporting
relationships of the project.

Include a project organization chart that represents the relationships between all of the
organizations and roles involved in the project. Include the following as known: the organization

Template Project Charter v2.2 Page 4

or group recommended to be the source for acquiring the staff resource to fulfill the role, the role
of the staff resource, and the name of the staff resource filling the role. For the project charter,
usually only the names of the sponsor and project manager are known.

Organization Organization
Role Role
Name Name

Organization
Role
Organization Name
Role
Name
Organization
Role
Organization Name
Role
Name Organization
Role
Name

Organization Organization Organization Organization Organization

Role Role Role Role Role
Name Name Name Name Name

3.3 High-Level Budget

The high-level budget summarizes labor, material and other costs during the life of the project
and, as appropriate, on-going support costs after project completion. The high-level budget is at a
summary level. The detail estimates supporting each cost type are maintained by the project
manager.

3.3.1 Costs during the life of the Project

Enter the preliminary budget information needed to support the project development. Include
costs for labor, material and other expense items. The preliminary budget can also be broken
down by major phases or key deliverables/milestones pf the project.

Cost Type FYyy-yy FYyy-yy Total

Labor
Material
Other

Total Budget

Comment: If appropriate, explain the basis of the estimated costs or any other clarifying
information.

3.3.2 On-going Support Costs after Project Completion

Template Project Charter v2.2 Page 5

If appropriate for your project, include on-going costs after project completion. Example high-level
cost categories are hardware, software, on-going support labor.

Cost Type FYyy-yy FYyy-yy Total

Hardware
Software
On-Going Support Labor

Total Budget

Comment: If appropriate, explain the basis of the estimated costs or any other clarifying
information.

Template Project Charter v2.2 Page 6

4. High-Level Control Strategies
Develop brief high-level strategies for each of the identified areas. The project plans developed in
the Plan Stage will provide the details for each strategy.

4.1 Communications Strategy

The communications strategy is a high-level statement of the general approach to

communications for these key items:

 Project Communication Objectives

 Key Communication Message
 Key Audiences

4.2 Quality Management Strategy

The quality management strategy is a high-level statement of the general approach to quality
management issues for these key items:

 Quality Objectives
 Key Project Deliverables and Processes subject to quality review
 Main Quality Standards to be used on the project

4.3 Issue Management Strategy

The purpose of issue management is to minimize the impact of unplanned for events during
project execution and control, and to ensure that issues that cannot be resolved by the project
team are escalated appropriately.

Option: describe at a high level any specific issue management goals for this project.

Identify the roles for assuring issue management objectives are met throughout the project life
cycle. Option: identify roles for developing the prioritization and escalation rules in the issue
management planning activity.

4.4 Change Management Strategy

The change management strategy is a high-level statement of the general approach to change
management issues for these key items:

 Anticipated change management challenges

 Key project constraints
 Key customer practices for managing change
 A concise statement of change management practices

Template Project Charter v2.2 Page 7

4.5 Risk Management Strategy

Risk areas
Describe at a high level the most significant areas of risk for this project.

Critical stakeholder risk tolerances and thresholds

Include this block if the stakeholders have identified areas of risk where either risk cannot be
tolerated at all or for which the risk threshold is very low

Risk management objectives

Identify the project’s overall objectives for managing risk.

High-level risk management process

Identify at a high level the process to be followed for assuring risk management objectives are
met throughout the project life cycle.

Risk decision makers

Identify the roles for assuring risk management objectives are met throughout the project life
cycle.

4.6 Procurement Strategy

Content to be addressed in a future phase.

Template Project Charter v2.2 Page 8

Appendix

Include in the appendix any additional documentation that will be helpful to the audience of the
Project Charter.

Template Project Charter v2.2 Page 9