WFED595A:

Lesson 3: Project Charter

The Purpose and Elements of A Project Charter

The purpose of the Project Charter is to document

• reasons for undertaking the project;
• objectives and constraints of the project;
• assumptions that influence the project environment;
• directions concerning the solution—scope;
• identities of the main stakeholders; and
• empowers the OD practitioner with the authority to carry out the project

A Project Charter typically includes all or some of the following detailed areas:

Goal and objectives

Typically, there is one overarching goal associated with a project and there are two to three objectives associated with each goal. The objectives answer the question, “How will we know when we have achieved the goal?” The objectives provide focus to the project and all efforts should be directed towards the achievement of the objectives. This is how we measure the success of the project from the sponsor’s perspective.

Project Scope

Defining the scope of the project is critical at the beginning. This is a written statement of the boundary and limits of the project. Clearly understanding the scope will make the resourcing and budgeting exercises easier.

Organizational Scope

If it isn’t obvious, describe the parts of the organization that are included in the scope for this project. Think about all the geographic locations, subsidiaries, boards, union, and management groups.

Functional Scope

Depending on the project it may be necessary to define the functional scope of the project. Specifically, describe the functional areas of the organization that are included in a review, involved in data collection/analysis, or affected by implementation. For example a review of HR policies may or may not include Health & Safety; a redesign of benefits may or may not include executive benefits.

Out of Scope

Often it is a good idea to specify what is beyond or not in the scope for a project. This clarifies for the OD practitioner and the sponsor what areas will not be included and removes any ambiguity at the beginning of the project.

Principles

Some projects and project teams may benefit from developing guiding principles or ground rules. For large complex projects this should be routine. Principles provide an opportunity to develop the "culture" associated with a project.

Project Deliverables and Milestones

Depending on the size of the project there may be one or many deliverables and milestones. A deliverable is a piece of work that requires sign off by the OD practitioner and the sponsor. The milestone is the date the deliverable is due.

Workplan

The primary uses of the project workplan are to document the planning assumptions and decisions into work tasks, facilitate communications, and get commitment from the project team and document the timeline for achieving the project objectives.

Communication Approach

Provide a high level description of the approach to communication. At this point it is not likely the team will have been assembled for there to be a detailed plan in place. The purpose of this section is to describe the approach.

Stakeholder Management Approach

For any project, it is helpful to work with the sponsor to identify those individuals or groups who have a stake in the outcome of the project. As with the communications plan, it is likely the stakeholder analysis is not completed. Use this section to describe the approach to consult or involve stakeholders. Consider including the key groupings of stakeholders (such as: union, management, board, employees, potential employees, etc.)

You can see and download the sample project charter with the link.