006: Outputs of the Project Charter

The project charter is the main output of the Develop Project Charter process. We know why the project was initiated, using the business case, and the project manager is assigned the authority to manage the project. You as the project manager should understand the contents of the project charter, whether it was given to you by the project sponsor, or you are asked to help in the development of the project charter by the sponsor.

Now, let’s discuss the contents of the project Charter:

·        Project Description (purpose of the project)

·        Measurable project objectives and success criteria

·        Project Requirements (description of the product that the project will deliver, including assumptions and constraints)

·        Assigned project manager and authority level (who is the project manager and what is his major responsibility)

·        Summary project milestones (scheduled date and costs that the project needs to meet)

·        Business Case (why your organization decided to do this project)

·        Key stakeholders (who will be involved/affected by the project outcomes)

·        Sponsor(s) signature but can include more than one sponsor

As the Project Charter is being developed, there may be many high-level assumptions on the strategic and operational business rationalization of the project that the sponsor may document in the business case. There may be low level assumptions on the project scope, schedule, costs, risk, quality or resources that should be documented- usually labelled as Assumptions Log-Project Charter.pptx. The assumption log is updated throughout the project as assumptions and constraints may change, as new assumptions are realized. The link provides an example of an assumption log to better understand the value of the assumption log during development of the Project Charter. 

So far you should have a good understanding on the high-level requirements of the project (What), Why the project was initiated, key stakeholders and the project manager assigned to manage the project. Now you need to figure out How to manage the project and deliver the product, service, or result. You should come up with a plan before you get the team on board to start the work. You should start thinking about the development approach, project life cycle phase, resources, risks, etc., everything that may happen on the project, and start developing a plan of action, which now leads us to the next module- “Develop Project Management Plan”.