Project Charter
THE PROJECT CHARTER
The Project Charter is the first stage of project management. Project charters are documents that present an organisation’s project concepts to all stakeholders involved. The charter contains a project scope and objectives, authority of the project manager, a list of possible team members and their roles, risks and benefits of proceeding or not proceeding, and costs of the project to be considered. The charter is presented to a project approval committee (in larger companies) or the benefactor in charge of funding such projects. Project charters do not reveal all the details of projects, just enough to gain approval for funding. If a project charter is approved, the project manager will then submit a project plan to describe how the project goals will be accomplished.
Benefits
The main advantage of a project charter is its CLARITY. If done right, project charters can mean the difference between successful projects and disasters, because they spell out the consequences, costs, and results as well as can be predicted. This saves time and money that might otherwise be wasted on unplanned or poorly planned projects.
A project charter also provides the following benefits:
• Defined roles and responsibilities.
• Aids in structuring the management organisation
• Better project sponsorship.
• Senior management commitment.
• Improved project management pro-cesses.
• Increased probability of project success.
• Improves regional/headquarter communication
• Improves relationship with clients
• Improves on-time and on-budget delivery of projects
Cons
• May take up time to construct especially for a big organisation like Coca Cola who has to pass through a lot of administration and bureaucracy.
• May not necessarily gain full support as the team are not fully aware of what the project they are funding entails.
• May overestimate or underestimate costs especially if proper extrapolation of project budget is not taken. This problem
The Project Charter is the first stage of project management. Project charters are documents that present an organisation’s project concepts to all stakeholders involved. The charter contains a project scope and objectives, authority of the project manager, a list of possible team members and their roles, risks and benefits of proceeding or not proceeding, and costs of the project to be considered. The charter is presented to a project approval committee (in larger companies) or the benefactor in charge of funding such projects. Project charters do not reveal all the details of projects, just enough to gain approval for funding. If a project charter is approved, the project manager will then submit a project plan to describe how the project goals will be accomplished.
Benefits
The main advantage of a project charter is its CLARITY. If done right, project charters can mean the difference between successful projects and disasters, because they spell out the consequences, costs, and results as well as can be predicted. This saves time and money that might otherwise be wasted on unplanned or poorly planned projects.
A project charter also provides the following benefits:
• Defined roles and responsibilities.
• Aids in structuring the management organisation
• Better project sponsorship.
• Senior management commitment.
• Improved project management pro-cesses.
• Increased probability of project success.
• Improves regional/headquarter communication
• Improves relationship with clients
• Improves on-time and on-budget delivery of projects
Cons
• May take up time to construct especially for a big organisation like Coca Cola who has to pass through a lot of administration and bureaucracy.
• May not necessarily gain full support as the team are not fully aware of what the project they are funding entails.
• May overestimate or underestimate costs especially if proper extrapolation of project budget is not taken. This problem
References: • Bright Hub ‘What Is a Project Charter?’ Article by Natasha Baker published November 2009. • thecoca-colacompany.com/presscenter/presskit.html