Project Charter

<Project Name>

Company Name

Street Address

City, State Zip Code

Date

The executive summary should be a high-level summary of what issues or problems the project was created to correct. Typically, the executive summary also provides the background information and general statements regarding the project’s purpose or justification which will be covered in more detail in the appropriate section(s) of the charter.

This section describes the purpose and justification of the project in the form of business case and objectives. The business case should provide the reasoning behind the need for this project as it relates to a function of the business.

Discuss the logic for the Business Need/Case (market demand, organizational need, customer request, technological advance, legal requirement, ecological impacts, social need, etcetc.). This section should also include the intended effects of the business case (i.e., cost savings, process improvement, new product development, etc.).

This section should list the Business Objectives for the project which should support the organizational strategic plan.

This section provides a high-level description of the project. This description should not contain too much detail but should provide general information about what the project is, how it will be done, and what it is intended to accomplish. As the project moves forward the details will be developed, but for the project charter, high-level information is what should be provided.

Objectives should be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-bound. The project manager must be able to track these objectives in order to determine if the project is on the path to success. Vague, confusing, and unrealistic objectives make it difficult to measure progress and success.

The project team should develop a list of all high-level project requirements. These requirements are clear guidelines within which the project must conform and may be a result of input from the project sponsor, customer, stakeholders, or the project team.

Constraints are restrictions or limitations that the project manager must deal with pertaining to people, money, time, or equipment. It is the project manager’s role to balance these constraints with available resources in order to ensure project success.

The project team must identify the assumptions they will be working under as the project goes forward. These assumptions are what the project manager/team expectexpects to have or be made available without anyone specifically stating so.

The preliminary scope statement is a general paragraph which highlights what the project will include, any high-level resource or requirement descriptions, and what will constitute completion of the project. This preliminary scope statement is exactly that: preliminary. All of this information will be expanded upon in greater detail as the project moves forward and undergoes progressive elaboration.

All projects have some form of risk attached. This section should provide a list of high-level risks that the project team has determined apply to this project.

This section should list all of the deliverables that the customer, project sponsor, or stakeholders require upon the successful completion of the project. Every effort must be made to ensure this list includes all deliverables and project sponsor approval must be required for adding additional deliverables in order to avoid scope creep.

This section provides an estimated schedule of all high-level project milestones. It is understood that this is an estimate and will surely change as the project moves forward and the tasks and milestones and their associated requirements are more clearly defined.

The summary budget should contain general cost components and their planned costs. As the project moves forward these costs may change as all tasks and requirements become clearer. Any changes must be communicated by the project manager.

The organization must understand when the project has reached a successful completion. These criteria must be clear and should be accepted by whoever will sign-off on the project’s closeout. Once signed-off by the authorized person, the project is deemed approved and is successful as long as it has met all of the agreed upon requirements.

This section explicitly states who is assigned as the PM, their responsibility, and authority level. Depending on the organization and scope of the project, the project manager may have varying levels of responsibility and authority for personnel, project expenditures, and scheduling.

This section provides the names and authorization, once signed, for the project to move forward in accordance with the information contained in this charter.

Approved by the Project Sponsor:

Date:

<Project Sponsor>

<Project Sponsor Title>

Garage Apartment Project

1

The following project is to build a garage apartment building (new stand-alone building) on existing land. This project is to be the basis for assignments in IT401. The project is described below. This project will follow a standard home construction project WBS similar to the one shown below. This WBS is meant to be a template, not the specific WBS for the project which will be one of your assignments.

1. Assume that you already have the property and it is paid for so do not include the cost of the real estate in your calculations.

2. Assume that utilities such as water, sewage, and electric are available to the property. You will only need to schedule the connections to theses utilities.

3. Assume that all applicable building codes and regulations will be followed for permits and inspections.

4. Assume that you have a complete set of blueprints and an approved building permit. All you need to do is schedule the actual construction. (Hint: the start milestone could be “Building permit received.”).

Build a 2- car garage with an apartment/office on the second floor on your existing building lot in accordance with applicable building codes. The start date is 01 Feb 18 and a planned finish date of 30 Jun 10. The budget for construction is $160,000.