Creation of the project charter is one of the steps in the UIS project coordination process. Completing a project charter marks the end of the discovery and approval stage, and lays the foundation for the planning stage.
Definitions
The project charter establishes the project as a formal undertaking. It documents the purpose and intended result of the project, and lays out its general shape and size. It identifies the key outcomes, opportunities, threats, and personnel, as they are understood based on what was learned during the project request and discovery process. It also establishes the boundaries for the project--what it will and won't do. It defines the responsibilities and expectations of the key people involved with the project. All of this information serves as a foundation for the planning stage.
The project charter serves as an agreement between UIS and the project sponsor.
Procedure
The UIS project coordinator will complete the project charter document, in consultation with the key people involved in the project, starting with the project requester and sponsor, but also drawing on other experts who have been involved in the project request and discovery effort or who will be involved in the completion of the project.
Download the UIS Project Charter Lite.
Here are notes for some specific sections of the document that may raise questions or pose challenges.
Author/Date/Version
As the project coordinator circulates drafts for review and comment, the point version should be incremented each time it's shared (e.g. start with 0.1, then 0.2 the next time feedback or review is sought, etc).
Project Scope
Scope will be further iterated for increased detail during the planning stage, so this need not be granular. However, the key boundaries (what's "in" and what's "out") should definitely be noted here, in so far as they are known at this stage. The idea here is that the "size" and "shape" of the project should not change as scope is iterated during the planning stage--that should be known and documented in the charter. However, the planning stage will iterate the details underlying the scope (such as a work breakdown structure, or WBS).
Project Information -> Stakeholders
Like scope, the stakeholders list will be further iterated during the planning stage (and will continue to be refined throughout the project). Unlike scope, the planning and execution of the project will undoubtedly uncover additional stakeholders that may not have been known at the time of the charter. The important thing is to document here the stakeholders as they are known at this stage, so none are left behind during the planning and work on the project. Add rows in this section for each stakeholder (note that some stakeholders may be a group that has a common interest and involvement in the project, such as a department, in addition to some stakeholders being single individuals).
Budget and Plan
Our current practice with regard to the one-time costs associated with the project work, itself, is not to include dollar figures for the effort invested by Pacific employees who are on university payroll, and doing project work in the course of those duties--unless there is a plan to pay additional stipend to these individuals (in which case, any such stipend should be included here). However, any third party resources brought in on contract, or temporary workers used to backfill for regular employees who are working on the project should all be included under one-time costs.
As for ongoing costs, if additional personnel resources will be needed on an on-going basis after completion of the project (for example, an on-site expert in the new process/service/application), the costs of adding personnel should be included here.
Appendix A -> External Resource
Not every project will involve any resources outside of Pacific University. If this is the case, remove this row from the table.
If the project does involve resources outside of Pacific (such as a vendor), document here the responsibilities they will have on the project.
See Also
UIS Project/Partnership/Integration Service
Questions?
Contact Support