Creation of a Project Charter

00:02 Assuming the project is still viable and the team are super enthused to get this train on the tracks, we need to give it a passport.

00:10 Otherwise it will be stopped at every border and questioned extensively.

00:15 What a waste of time.

00:18 The passport is the project charter and it's a high level document, meaning it's easy and quick to understand, remember and must contain all the fundamental information about the project.

00:31 This is usually put together by the project owner.

00:36 Here's an example of a charter.

00:39 The sections that must be included in the charter are.

00:44 The project ID the name of the project, the name of the organisation. Sometimes a number is added to a project as an ID, especially useful for programs with many projects.

00:57 This is it then.

01:00 Project description.

01:03 Here we have the goal.

01:05 The reason for doing the project.

01:09 After that project objectives.

01:11 What's going to happen during the project? The timeline and milestones are also added.

01:18 The project scope is more key information that can be seen here.

01:22 It says what is covered by the project.

01:25 Here we have a list of key stakeholders, clients, sponsors and the project manager. Why are they involved and how are they impacted? Also include a section for the main risks and how to prepare for them and then budget. What are the constraints and who grants the finances? You can also add the business cases and attachment if need be.

01:50 What's important when creating a project charter is to not make it too technical.

01:54 It's for ease of reference so anyone can look at it, find what they need, and move on. If what they need is more details, the charter will show them exactly where to look.

02:06 Efficient, right? Here, you can find a template.

02:14 They shouldn't exceed a page or two.

02:17 And of course, different projects may include additional sections if relevant to the project. However, what I have mentioned is the bread and butter of a project charter.

02:28 Well, there we go. Initiation phase complete.

02:34 All right, everyone.

02:35 To recap.

02:38 The initiation phase is all about evaluation and approval.

02:42 The analyses here are generally high level but in no way unimportant. This is the foundation for the entire project.

02:51 It sets the overall vision and direction.

02:55 One last thing to remember before we move on.

02:59 The project manager can technically be appointed at any time during the initiation phase, even right at the end after the charter has been written up. So don't take this as a definitive chronological order, but you can be sure that the project will not move to the planning phase until the project manager has gone over everything.

03:24 So what goes on in the planning phase? Join us in the next lesson to find out.

03:31 See you there.