The Project Charter is the document that:
- Authorizes the completion of the project, assigns a project manager, and gives him the authority to use the resources and budget necessary to implement it.
- Presents the project objectives, contains a preliminary identification of the requirements and deliverables that the project will produce and the procedure for their acceptance.
- It also defines the premises and constraints of the project. Identifies stakeholders and their expectations about the project and contains a preliminary identification of project risks.
The Project Charter is important because it is the document that formally starts the project. This document acts as a contract between the sponsoring organization and the project manager in which the latter agrees to deliver the goods and / or services and the first one agrees to provide the resources that the project will produce in a specific time under the quality parameters already agreed.
The Project Charter must contain the following information:
- Project Title and Description
- Objectives of the Project
- Assigned Project Manager and Authority Level
- Purpose and Justification of the Project
- Pre-assigned resources
- Preliminary identification of stakeholders in the project
- Expectations of stakeholders in the project
- Initial description of the Project Deliverables
- Project premises
- Project Restrictions
- Preliminary Procedure for Acceptance of Deliverables
- Detected risks that may impact the project.
- Budget assigned to the project
For the Project Charter to be valid, it must be signed by the project sponsor.
Author: Juan David Castañeda Sánchez
About the Author:
Mr. Castañeda is an Electrical Engineer from the National University of Colombia and a Business Specialist from the ICESI University. He has more than twenty years of experience in structuring, selecting suppliers, contracting and managing projects in public sector entities and private companies in Colombia, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Panama, Peru and Venezuela.
For more information please email: info@gprycon.com
