MNG00785 Project Charter Elements - Assignment Solution

Part 1- Theory of Project Charter Elements

Key Elements of the Project Charter 

Project charter is a document that authorizes the existence of the project formally and provides project manager the authority to apply organizational resources to the different activities of a project (Project Management Institute 2013, p.66). Project charter’s purpose is to authorize the project manager to continues with the project, help sponsor, project manager and team members who are already assigned to develop a common understanding (Kloppenborg et al., 2018, p. 63). 

Title

A project title is critical as it enables the organizational members to identify the project being referenced to easily (Kloppenborg et al., 2018, p. 65)

Scope Overview

Scope overview refers to a description of high level about what needs to be accomplished and how it will be accomplished (Kloppenborg et al., 2018, p. 65)

Business Case

Business case in the charter incudes information on purpose of the project or provides the justification statement (Kloppenborg et al., 2018, p. 66).

Background

Background is optional and developed only when necessary and it is a more detailed background information of the project that provides helpful information for the project (Kloppenborg et al., 2018, p. 66).

Milestone Schedule with Acceptance Criteria

Milestone schedule refers to high-level plan wherein project is divided in to few milestones or intermediate points and the completion of those milestones can be verified using acceptance criteria (Kloppenborg et al., 2018, p. 66). 

Risks, Assumptions and Constraints

Risk refers to an uncertain situation, which could affect the project positively or negatively if it occurs (Kloppenborg et al., 2018, p. 67). Assumptions refer to a factor, that is considered to be true, certain or real without any demonstration or proof in the planning process (Project Management Institute 2013, p. 124). Constraint refers to the limiting factor that influences the project or process execution (Project Management Institute 2013, p. 124). 

Resource Estimates

Resource estimates is important as it helps decision makers analyze if project is worth investing (Kloppenborg et al., 2018, p. 69). It includes estimating equipment or materials required, staff required, amount of staff time, and amount of money required (Schwalbe 2017, p.5)

Stakeholder List

Stakeholder list involves identifying and prioritizing stakeholders and helps in managing the relationships and making decisions to achieve different stakeholder objectives (Kloppenborg et al., 2018, p. 69). All stakeholders cannot be considered equal and time and effort invested in their management is to be planned and executed based on their influence on project (Heagney 2012, p.22)