How To Write An Effective Project Charter?

A project charter is a document that broadly defines the SOP of a proposed project. What is the SOP of a project?

No, not Standard Operating Procedure as is used in the operations, SOP in a project charter is the acronym for Scope, Objective, and People. So, if you have to write an effective project charter, you need to ensure that you effectively respond to these three requirements.

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Now, while you respond to these fundamental requirements of a project charter, you need to realize that these words signify more than their literal meaning in a project charter.

  • The scope of the project defines the limits of a project. Simply speaking, it states what is included in the project and what is beyond the boundary of the project.

  • The objective literally means the problem that you intend to solve or the goal that you wish to attain through the project.

  • People means all the stakeholders in the project. These stakeholders may include the approving authority, project manager, employees, clients, sponsors, customers, and institutions, etc. who either influence the objective of the project or are affected by it.

Having understood the fundamental elements of a project charter, we can now answer the next question:

Why do we need a Project Charter?

So, there are essentially two questions in this query.

  1. Can’t we execute a project without a project charter?
  2. and What purpose does it fulfill? Well, you can execute a project without a project charter but then you may not be able to fulfill some of the most important and basic requirements of the project.

A project charter is a highly useful document. It has different uses at different stages of the project.

  • First and foremost is that the project charter is the basic document for the project proposal. If you intend to initiate a project to achieve a certain objective, you prepare the broad SOPs of the project through the project charter.

  • The second important utility of a project charter is that it gives a clear picture of your project to your approving authority and helps them to make a decision about the project.

  • Once approved, this project charter becomes the official and authorized document that enables you to take actions to execute the approved project.

  • Moreover, the project charter also becomes the basic document to prepare subsequent documents like the Project Planning Program and Statement of Work (SoWs,), etc.

  • Last but not the least, the project charter clearly defines the pathway and the goal to you and all the stakeholders involved in the project that can be used throughout the project to track its progress.

So, after understanding the broad elements and the purpose of writing the project charter, we need to understand the tools and techniques of writing an effective project charter. So, before delving into the “how” of writing the project charter let us first have a brief knowledge of different tools and techniques used in preparing the charter.

Tools and Techniques for Writing an Effective Project Charter

To prepare an effective project charter you need to have all the information regarding the proposed project. The following are some of those tools that can help you gather all relevant inputs about the project.

Expert Judgement

Different groups and individuals in the organization have knowledge and expertise in different areas. For the purpose of a project charter, you need to identify individuals or groups who can provide you inputs on the strategies of the organization and its benefits management. Besides, you also need a technical expert who can impart the necessary technical knowledge of the proposed project. You also need individuals who can help you in assessing the probable duration of the project and its budgetary requirements and can also help you in conducting the risk assessment of the project.

Data Collection For a project to be measurable, it requires data to define the present status of the issue you intend to resolve through your project. Data also helps you in analyzing the current status, setting goals for the project, finding out solutions, and comparing results. There are many data collection techniques including brainstorming, focused interviews, documents and records, and questionnaires, etc. that can provide you many useful inputs about the problem area. You can use any or all of these methods to collect data relevant to your project. Interpersonal Skills Interpersonal skills include skills related to working effectively with individuals and also with diversified teams. This is one of the most important tools for the successful implementation of writing any project charter. Ensuring the active participation of all stakeholders through effective facilitation is an important element of team skills. Managing conflict is also a very important characteristic of individuals having effective interpersonal skills. Effective interpersonal skills also require efficient team leaders who can make the whole team understand the importance of PAL i.e. Purpose, Agenda, and Limit of the team meetings, and ensure that all the team members adhere to that. Meetings For the purpose of Project Charter preparation, you need to conduct meetings with all the stakeholders. These meetings are important tools to identify broader as well as specific objectives of the project, resource and other requirements, milestones, success parameters, and any other relevant information.

How to write an effective Project Charter?

Having understood the purpose of a project charter and tools and techniques helpful in writing an effective project charter, we are now better prepared to write an effective project charter.

Important Steps to Write an Effective Project Charter

Many organizations have templates to write the project charters. If you don’t have any such template you can follow these simple steps to prepare the charter. Remember to include as much information in the charter as demanded by the project. However, the amount of information should n’t be so much so that it loses its relevance in the context of the project. Project Name The project name should be such that it clearly defines the basic goal of the project. For example, “Procurement of New Machine” will be too vague a project name. Instead, “Procurement of New High-Speed Filling Machine for Fruit Beverages” gives a good sense of the goal of the project to be executed.

Description of the Project

5 Ws and 1 H is the most basic and universal way to describe any process. It means that you need to answer the What, Why, Where, When, Who (5Ws) and How (1 H) related to the project. So, in this section, you essentially need to ask and answer some of the following questions,

  1. What is the purpose of the project?
  2. What problem(s) will the project solve?
  3. What improvements will the project bring?
  4. How will the project help the organization?
  5. Which KPIs of the organization are getting fulfilled through the project?
  6. How do you intend to achieve your project target?
  7. What are the prerequisites to the successful execution of the project?

Budget and Resource Requirements You need to detail here the budgetary requirements and any other resource required for the successful execution of the project. It should also include your plans in getting these resources and also the help required from the higher management in fulfilling your resource requirements. Project Milestones and Goals Now, when you are clear about your objective and goal, you can divide it into small milestones. Deliverables or goals should be SMART. It means they should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timebound. So, you also need to specify the measurable parameters of success in the project and should establish a method to regularly monitor the status of those parameters. Scope of the Project You have to specify the boundary of the project here and categorically define the scope of the project and also what is beyond its scope. For example, the Project, “Procurement of New High-Speed Filling Machine for Fruit Beverages” may have the scope of identifying the machine, selecting the vendor, rate negotiations, and getting the machine delivered at the site. However, you can exclude the ‘Installation and Commissioning’ of the machine from the scope of the project. ** Anticipated Risks and Limitations**

You must envisage the risks and the limitations and should have plans to analyze and mitigate them during the course of project execution. Timelines to Achieve Intermediate and Final Goals

As mentioned above, the deliverables or goals in any project should be SMART. The “T” in the acronym stands for “Timebound”. So, all the different activities in the project should have a planned start and end dates with a special focus on the project completion date. This becomes the basis for preparing the Gantt Chart and tracking the progress of the project after approval. Roles and Responsibilities This is one of the most important parts of any project charter and the single most important factor in the timely execution of the project. Defining the roles of each member in the project keeps them aware of their respective responsibilities. In the project charter, you can broadly define the roles of each member while documenting their elaborate responsibilities in the detailed Project Plan to be followed after the project approval. Names/Positions of Stakeholders Include the names/positions of each and every stakeholder. They may be employees of your department, colleagues in other departments, or representatives of the clients or the suppliers’ organization. This is framed after first analyzing the requirement and subsequently fixing the accountability of each stakeholder.

Summing It Up

So, this is how you can write an effective project charter for any of the projects using effective tools and techniques explained above. By following these steps you will be able to clearly define the fundamental elements of a project charter mentioned at the very beginning of the article i.e. SOP or Scope, Objective and People of the project. It will also fulfill all the purposes of writing a project charter as mentioned earlier in the article i.e., Consolidating all the information required for initiating the proposal of the project, Providing a clear picture of the project to the approving authority to make a more informed decision on the approval of the project, Authorizing you to take relevant action for the proper execution of the project, and Showing a clear pathway to all stakeholders in executing their respective responsibilities and in tracking the progress of the project.

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