Creating a project charter is one of the most important early steps in project management. It’s the first official document that transforms your idea into a real initiative. You’ll define the goals, milestones, and team structure at this stagae. Then throughout the project lifecycle, it acts as an important reference point, setting a clear direction for your work.
In this guide, we’ll explore what goes into a project charter and how to write it properly, with best practices so you can make it as effective as possible. We’ll also clarify its role–it’s not the same as a project plan!
What is a project charter?
A project charter outlines the basics of a project, including its purpose, scope, and key stakeholders. It is regarded as an official, internal document, which is usually created by project managers and the management. It serves as an internal guide for teams–it doesn’t go into every last detail, but it provides enough direction for the team to understand the goals and their roles.
Once it’s approved, this formally authorizes the project manager to go ahead and use organizational resources–like budget, equipment, and team members–to start working on the project. As the project progresses, team members can keep looking back on the project charter to check if their work still matches up with the original goals.
What’s the difference between a project charter and a project plan?
The project charter actually comes before the project plan.
This is because the project charter delves into the “what” and “why” of the project, summarizing what the project involves. It offers enough information for everyone to understand the vision but without going into the day-to-day specifics yet.
You’ll then write the project plan after the project charter receives approval. In the project plan, you’ll focus on the details of the implementation–tasks, timelines, resources, and milestones. It answers the question of: how exactly will we achieve the goals laid out in the charter?
Project plans are the more common document. Not all projects require a charter–for routine updates or minor adjustments, you could simply propose a simple project plan. However, if your project is larger and more complex–maybe requiring a bigger budget or involving multiple teams and external stakeholders–a project charter would be essential to get everyone in agreement first.
What should the project charter include?
The more clearly and specifically you define your project assignment, the less rework and fewer setbacks you and your team will encounter. Naturally, the level of detail in the project charter will vary and should be tailored to suit your internal company conditions.
But in general, a project charter covers the following:
Here are the components in more detail:
- Reason for project: In other words, what business problem or opportunity does it address? This should highlight why this project is worth investing time and resources in.
- Project scope: Define the project boundaries: both what’s included and what’s not. By being clear here, you’ll be able to prevent scope creep–those extra, unplanned tasks that can drag a project.
- Aims and benefits: Use specific, measurable targets to outline the project’s goals, which should be realistic and valuable. You can also include both short-term aims and long-term benefits.
- Risks: Identify any major risks right at the start, like budget constraints or dependencies on other projects. For each risk, consider possible causes and how the team might respond if it happens.
- Budget allocation: You’ll write down exact figures in the project plan, but for now, give a high-level budget estimate to set financial expectations.
- Deadlines: Include important deadlines or milestones to give a sketch of the project timeline. You might adjust these later, but these target dates provide structure and give a baseline for tracking progress.
- Task assignment: Write down who will play the primary roles in the project–including the project leader, core team members, and essential support roles.
- Stakeholders: Include relevant stakeholders as well, like department heads and external partners who will be affected. This makes it easy to keep track of everyone who needs to be informed as the project moves forward.
It’s quite an impactful document, so you can always get started with this project charter template to help you write faster.
Best practices for writing a project charter
The project charter lays out the foundation of the project, and it’ll be the first comprehensive document that stakeholders will see about the project, so here are some best practices to follow to make it more effective:
Define the project concept
A project is usually intended to bring about innovation or improvement. It is therefore essential to precisely define the actual and target status and to present the advantages of the change in detail. You should ask yourself: Is the idea basically feasible? It is also helpful to obtain other opinions (also from the management) before the work is done.
Gather important information
The project charter template is primarily intended to provide information, so it should be able to answer essential questions about the project. To do this effectively, approach it with an investigative mindset and collect all available data concerning the project aspects. When summarizing the information, the following applies: The more concise the answers, the more convincing the procedure will be.
Clarify the perimeter
Communication with management is especially important at the beginning of the project, as you should define the perimeter of the project and make sure it’s realistic and compatible with your organization’s priorities. For a smaller project, it is usually unnecessary to go into too much detail.
Decide if it’s internal or external
You should definitely distinguish between an internal and external project charter. An internal company charter is usually a kind of reference book for employees, while the external project charter has a binding contract character, especially if it involves clients or vendors. To avoid legal consequences in the event of conflicts, you should therefore pay more attention to accuracy and feasibility in external documents, with expectations clearly outlined.
Set up clear communication
Effective communication is key to project success, so define it early on. Decide how team members and management will communicate, and set up regular check-ins or reporting structures to keep everyone aligned. Tasks should be delegated appropriately, each team member should always be aware of what needs to be done–and who they can consult in case of conflict.
Digitizing your project charter templates
With the structure and best practices above, you already have a good idea of how to write a project charter. However, as projects get more complex, it’s a hassle to keep track of all the documentation.
This is where digital project charter templates come in. At Lumiform, we’ve curated several project charter templates that works for all industries. With our mobile app, you can document everything directly from your smartphone or tablet. The system guides you through each step, making compliance easier even with ever-increasing legal requirements for process documentation. Clean, transparent documentation helps to avoid high fines. The easiest way to do this is with a digital solution like Lumiform.
- The flexible form builder helps you to convert any individual paper list into digital checklists within minutes.
- Lumiform offers more than 12,000 pre-designed templates, so that you can quickly and securely get started digitally, including many change management process templates.
- Save time by analyzing all the data more easily and identifying areas that need your attention more quickly.
- With the super intuitive mobile application, you and your teammates can perform any check in the field with ease.
- All examination results are automatically bundled in a report by the system.