In project management, a project charter denotes a short formal document, usually one page, that describes the main objectives of a project, the people involved, the budget, how it will be carried out, potential risks, potential benefits, milestones as well as the success factors for attaining the goals of the project. As a matter of fact, a project charter is a very essential tool in project management that is used in planning a project out and keeping the team members focused during the project’s lifecycle. On that note, the following article presents what goes inside a project charter and how it is utilized.

The main categories of a project charter
When creating a project charter, companies and organizations should certainly know what their overall goal is, which means the opportunity and the problem that should be addressed as well as what is expected to be delivered from the project. They should also include the stakeholders, which means the people and the departments in the company that will be involved in the project. These people can be project managers, team members as well as project sponsors, just to mention a few.

The benefits that the project will bring to the company, other stakeholders and customers as well as what metrics should be used to guarantee achieving these benefits should be mentioned in a project charter. In addition to that, the charter should include the resources, such as materials, time and funding as well as the major milestones or phases of the project. Last, but not least, the obstacles that might hinder success as well as the factors that can ensure success should also be mentioned in the project charter.

Once all these categories have been mentioned in the project charter, the project sponsor or the project manager should sign and date the document in the approvals section, which is the final section of the project charter.

It is important to note that companies can certainly modify or replace the categories mentioned above as the project proceeds. That being said, a charter will certainly help big companies and organizations be focused, know what they are doing and how, without getting lost in the process and losing sight of their strategy and purpose.