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Scope Management

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By Ben Aston 07/05/2019 No Comments
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The PM tool for teams in

2021

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Definitely customizable,
surprisingly intuitive.

Do you understand the tremendous value in crafting a good project charter—and

how to make an effective charter for your projects?

This guide is useful for anyone who leads or manages projects—I’ll explain what a
project charter is and how a well-crafted one keeps us on track. You’ll learn the
difference between a project charter and a Scope of Work (SoW) and how you can
use a charter in the various phases of project management in the project
management life cycle. You’ll also find project charter samples and a project charter
template.

The time you spend crafting a thoughtful, comprehensive charter will always pay
off in time saved down the line—so let’s talk about how to make your charter as
useful as it can be.

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Charter Definition
The scope, objectives, and people involved in a
project.

At least, this is the basic project charter definition found all over the internet. This
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isn’t wrong, per se, but it does focus on the project charter elements rather than its
purpose. It’s a very abstract definition, which explains the dismissive attitude many The Ultimate Pro
people have toward this document. Management Ch

It misses the fact that charters are essential documented authorization for projects. Full name

The operative word here is “charter,” and the project charter meaning is similar to
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when used in a legal sense—a charter of rights, charter schools, etc. In our context,
a charter in project management authorizes the project to exist and gives the
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project manager authority to use organizational resources to carry out the project.
With that in mind, here is a more useful definition that effectively captures its Yes, I want to sign up to The D
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A Better Project Charter Definition:

A project charter is a formal project authorization

which documents the shared understanding of a
project’s scope, development, and objectives, while
also defining the roles and responsibilities of each
party involved.

Project Charter Vs Statement Of

Work: What’s The Difference?
Project charters and Statements of Work (SoW) function together—you need both
of them. Typically, a SoW comes first and is eventually incorporated into the
charter. So then, what is a charter, and what is a SoW? How are they different?

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Statement Of Work
A SoW is an overview document that addresses why the project is proposed (i.e.
the business need for the project), states what is included or not included in the
project, and describes what the deliverables look like. It describes:

the scope of the proposed project,

proposed deliverables,
project assumptions and exclusions, and
the proposed criteria for accepting the project.

A SoW is a crucial point of reference for all parties involved, and it’s absolutely
essential for PMs to know how to create a SoW. It can save you from a world of
trouble, but even a tiny mistake in your SoW can have massive repercussions down
the line.

Project Charter
A Project charter, on the other hand, is a formal document based on the SoW which
is submitted for authorization. It gives the project manager the authority to spend
the project budget in the delivery of the project. Project charter objectives are to
address the “why, who, what, when, where, and how” of the project.

“Wait a minute,” you say, “isn’t that a project plan?” Yes and no. A project charter is
the foundation upon which a project plan is built, so they are similar (see our guide
to learn how to write a project plan). However, a charter is typically prepared during
the project initiation stage. You might also call it a brief or a project initiation
document (abbreviated as PID; for more on this, you can read our expert article on
Project Initiation Documents). If approved, the project moves into the planning
process. There, the charter becomes the foundation for the project plan.
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Important?
We’ve touched briefly on how a good project charter should start off your project
and keep it on track. Let’s consider this more in-depth, from the perspectives of
each party involved:

The Benefits Of Project Charters For Project Managers & FREE CHECKLIST
Teams
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Helps determine project value: help you determine if it’s worthwhile to carry Management Ch
out or propose the project.
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Saves time down the road: the time you take at the beginning is time you won’t
need to spend trouble?shooting and negotiating if you’ve already addressed
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these areas in the project charter.
Gives you budget clarity: ensure that funding is available and will be released
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on time. Settle your spending authority and budgets prior to starting the
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Helps you give clear guidelines to your team: The milestones and criteria for
measurement give invaluable guidance to your team as you begin to brief out
the project.
Inspires confidence: gives the team assurance that they’re working under an
effective and well-organized project manager.
Boosts team morale: A team working under a sloppy charter will repeatedly
find themselves confused, with their hard work wasted or headed in the wrong
direction. A well-written charter gives clear guidelines for success that your
team can feel motivated and confident to work toward.

The Benefits Of Project Charters For Clients &

Stakeholders
Creates a shared understanding: stakeholders know what to expect and what
pressure it may put on resources. It can be a great source of confidence as it
helps them understand exactly what they are approving.
Serves as a marketing tool: it can function as a sales document, to be
distributed to those outside the project team. It can help justify expenses and
investment. This article, originally a conference presentation, positions a charter
as a “marketing tool” and discusses other considerations for project sponsors to
include in a charter.

What Is Included In A Project

Charter?
One of the core characteristics of a good project charter is clarity and adequate
information. After reading it, everyone should have a clear idea of what the project
entails.

Elements Of A Project Charter

The image and following section break down a project charter outline:

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Introduction: explain the purpose of the charter
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Success Criteria: define the project success and list critical success factors
Major Requirements or Deliverables: describe the major stakeholder
requirements or key project deliverables depending on how you choose to track
your deliverables
Budget: cost estimate, information about spending authority
Schedule or Milestones: when will the project be complete, and what are the
major milestones?
Constraints and Assumptions: what are the project’s known and unknown
parameters at this point in time?
Summary of Risks: a high-level overview of major threats to the project’s
success
Team and Organization: list who will work on the project, who oversees the
project, and outline their roles
Approvals: a space for stakeholders to record their approval (or disapproval) of
the charter document

In addition to these project charter sections, you may also include an appendix with
documents such as:

List of deliverables: if deliverables are already defined, this list contains details
about each deliverable—what it is and what its success criteria is
Scheduling documents: a timeline, calendar, or other document that illustrates
the project schedule with details about each milestone or phase
Communication plan: this includes details about how each person involved will
be kept informed about progress, changes, etc. (Here’s how to create a
communication plan)

The Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK) is a good source for

extensive discussions about many of these elements, and the Project Management
Institute has an excellent guide to help you get through that immense book.

Project Charter Examples

Because a project charter format should adapt to serve the objective and proposed
work, it is worthwhile to consider different examples of project charters. Here are 

three pretty different project charter examples to draw from.

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A sample charter for an IVS system.

Example of a project charter for a computer sales campaign.

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Fast food app charter example.

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For more samples, Casual PM also has a few more examples of project charters you receive a free checklist and k
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Not Sure Where to begin?

Becoming a confident, successful project manager is no simple feat—if
you’re looking for a good place to start, our online course in Mastering
Digital Project Management will light the way. In this 7-week course,
you’ll gain access to relevant, practical expertise that will help you lead
happy teams and deliver high-value projects in the digital world.

Whether you are formally trained as a project manager or an account

manager who has been cast into the role, it’s your job—and privilege—to
become a master in the art of managing projects. Our course will equip
you with the fundamentals that will help you meet the daily challenges of
project management, evolving as a professional in the big, wild world of
DPM.

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Document
There’s no single best process to write a project management charter, but here is a
basic process to follow when creating one:

1. Discuss With Stakeholders & Team

Gather information about the project (potentially a series of roundtables). Meet with FREE CHECKLIST
all the parties who’d be involved if the project is approved. This includes the project The Ultimate Pro
manager, sponsors, clients, and representative team members. It may also include Management Ch
other teams that provide special support, such as network capacity and security
experts. Full name

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2. Take & Organize Notes
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of a project charter. Always anchor your discussions on the primary objective, and
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your charter document.

3. Use A Template
As for the format of the actual charter document, take advantage of the myriad
project charter templates available online–review a few and combine them to create
the format that best serves your project. You could also use one of the sample
project charters in this post and build your own, but we’ve made an easy-to-use
charter template for DPM Members you can access, along with bunch of other time-
saving resources.

Or, if you want to build your own charter from scratch, you can work through this
detailed guide from the Treasury Board of Canada, line-by-line.

4. Include Specific Information

Let’s start with a bad example. For a banking client, a project manager writes the
goal statement in the charter as “improve communication channels”. This is a goal,
but it fails to detail exactly what the project seeks to achieve. You can’t answer
basic questions like:

Whose communication channels will be improved? Customers? Internal staff?

How many users’ needs are we trying to address?
Will we be updating an existing system or building a completely new system?
When will it be completed?
Does the scope extend to training on the new communication tool?
Will the contract include any ongoing support for the system?

A complete charter would provide clear, specific information on these questions in

order for the reader to understand the goal. Here’s an example:

“Our goal: Create new communication system to replace ABC system by December
2019, so that all customers can chat to their product managers via XYZ bank’s
proprietary mobile apps. Train all 400 employees to maintain and support the
system themselves.”

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Of course, this is only the goal statement, not the entire charter. However, you can
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see the difference between a sloppily written and thoughtfully written charter. Just 
like this goal statement example, other elements of your charter should be detailed,
whether it’s the summary of risks, milestones, etc. In other words, ensure that the
reader gets all the information they need to consider in order to approve the project.

5. Review With Team Representatives

After writing a project charter but before putting your charter in front of a client, set
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aside time to review the charter with key members of your team in order to make
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6. Present For Approval Full name

Notice that this step is not “send for approval”. Your charter is your key to getting
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approval to undertake the project, and it’s important that it’s presented properly.
Avoid simply attaching your charter as a PDF in an email. Instead, present your
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charter to your sponsors, stakeholders, or clients—do this in a meeting or through a
slide presentation that includes supporting media. Make sure you leave time for Yes, I want to sign up to The D
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Project Charter Template

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What Do You Think?

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What’s your approach to creating an effective project management charter? What
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Our friend and supporter:

The PM tool for teams in 2021

Definitely customizable, surprisingly intuitive.

Ben Aston

I’m Ben Aston, a digital project manager and founder of

thedigitalprojectmanager.com. I've been in the industry for more than

15 years working in the UK at London’s top digital agencies including
Dare, Wunderman, Lowe and DDB. I’ve delivered everything from film
to CMS', games to advertising and eCRM to eCommerce sites. I’ve been
fortunate enough to work across a wide range of great clients;

automotive brands including Land Rover, Volkswagen and Honda;

Utility brands including BT, British Gas and Exxon, FMCG brands such
as Unilever, and consumer electronics brands including Sony.

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