PROJECT CHARTER COMPONENTS

Revised Sep. 1, 2022, by Tom Morin

What is a Project Charter?

A Project Charter is sometimes called a statement of work. Just as the Team Charter shows
how you will work together as a team; the Project Charter describes what you will do as a
team. The Project Charter is a critical document that can be updated and changed as your
project changes. After reading this document, anyone should understand your project:
what your team is doing, who you are doing it for, why you are doing it, and where you will
do it.
In the workplace, your client often reviews and approves the project charter. However, in
this course, your client does not need to review or approve this document. In fact, asking
your client to do so, may be too much work for your client. It is best to keep this document
internal to your team.

Instructions
1. Use the professional document format that you developed for your Team Charter
and implement instructor feedback as necessary
2. Your Project Charter must only include your first choice of charity or NFP, and
your first choice of event
3. In your Project Charter, include each component below as a section with a heading.
For example, “Project Objectives”
4. Your Project Charter must be 1500-2000 words long
5. Your Project Charter must be submitted by the due date and in .doc or .docx file
format
6. Your submission should include instructor feedback from your previous
submissions as necessary and appropriate

Components of your Project Charter

1. Title page that includes
a. “Project Charter”
b. your (first choice) prospective client’s name. For example, “Client: Canadian
Cancer Foundation”
c. the name of your (first choice) project. For example, “Fund-raising event: Yoga
in Glenmore Park”
d. the date of submission or due date of this Project Charter
e. all team members’ names
f. your team’s name (optional)
g. your course number and section
h. your instructor’s name

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2. Project Description: Create a bulleted list, with one sentence per bullet, that
describes who your client is, what event you are planning for your client, when the
event will take place, where the event will take place, and why you are doing it.
3. Project Objectives: Create a prioritized list of all the objectives that you must
achieve for your project to be successful; and, for each objective, include one
sentence that states why the objective is necessary. For example, one objective
might be “Zero health, safety, and environmental incidents,” and the reason for this
objective is to, “Comply with applicable legislation and ensure the physical and
mental health of our team member, our client, participants, the community in which
we operate.”
After the above list, create one sentence that provides a concise and meaningful
definition of project success.
4. Deliverables and Milestones: In Hive, and in the project created by your instructor
for your team, create a list the 15 – 20 major milestones that capture all project
deliverables from beginning to end. Each milestone must have clear completion
criteria. For example, “Contract signed with venue.” For each milestone, assign a
team member to be accountable for its delivery and assign at due date.
Your milestones must be configured with all applicable Hive parameters, such as a
name, description, being marked as a milestone, due date, and dependencies.
IMPORTANT: Do not rename your project and do not use sub actions, labels, or
priorities.
5. Costs and Revenue: Create a list of the major cost items and revenue streams that
represent the total cost and revenue, respectively, of your project. NOTE: you will
provide a detailed budget in a subsequent assignment in the course.
6. Project Roles and Responsibilities: Create a table that shows all project roles and
the primary responsibility of that role. This table must also include the name of the
person who fill that role, their organization, and their contact information. For
example, Jane Smith may be your Project Sponsor at the Canadian Cancer Society
who must approve your event.
7. Stakeholder Impact and Communication Plan: Create a table that represents the
ten to fifteen stakeholders who will be most impacted by your project. The table
must include the stakeholder’s name, organization, their role, which element of the
project most impacts the stakeholder. For example, your venue manager/owner may
be most impacted by changes to your schedule.
8. Project Constraints: Constraints are conditions or circumstances that restrict your
ability to execute the project and must be incorporated into the project plan. They
represent limits.
Create a table of three to seven project constraints showing which element(s) of your
project would be constrained (scope, cost, etc.), and the magnitude of the constraint

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 PROJECT CHARTER COMPONENTS
Revised Sep. 1, 2022, by Tom Morin

(limit) that must be reached such that the project may not proceed. For example,
you may have a constraint called Project Costs, and the limit may be $500.
9. Project Exclusions: Make a list of three to five significant deliverables that are not
included in your project. For example, you might exclude paying for your attendees
parking if your event is in downtown Calgary..
10. Project Risk Management Plan: Create a 3x3, colour-coded matrix (often called a
heatmap) that you will use to score your project risks. The x-axis will be low, medium
and high probability, and the y-axis will be low medium and high impact. Populate
the map with the name of the risk assessed below.
Create a table that shows a prioritized list of the ten to fifteen highest project risks
(priority is based on the score from your heat map. Each risk should have a name,
description, a score (for example Low Risk / Medium Impact), a limit that must be
violated to justify the score, and your mitigation plan. Mitigation may include Ignore,
Accept, and risk specific mitigation like, “Abandon this event and plan and execute
our second choice.”
11. Project Scope Management: Internal and external stakeholders may request
changes to the scope of your project.
Create a table that list three to five parties that can submit a scope change and how
you will respond to that stakeholder’s request. For example, if your client asks you to
change the venue of your event from a bar to a community centre, you will likely
hold a meeting with your team and respond to your client within 24 hours.
As you can see from the items above, this is a critical document that must accurately
communicate the nature of your project. Therefore, if one or more things change, your
Project Charter must be updated. Your instructor or your client may review your Project
Charter at any time.

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