Download these 25 Free Project Charter Templates created using MS Word, MS Excel and in PDF Format to assist you in preparing your own Project Charter easily.
A legal document that announces the beginning of a project is commonly known as project charter. Amazingly the first charter dates back to as far as 800 years when the first charter was made to enlist the rights of civilians of feudal England. Later, it went through some changes but even the United States constitution is a form of this charter containing most of the same characteristics. If we want to explain a project charter briefly, it is referred to a document issued by an authorized person who is creating an entity i.e. a new project and it should include its purpose, principles, rights, rules and obligations of involved stakeholders.
Contents
Importance of Project Charter:
In modern project management, a project charter is the document that is given to the stakeholders i.e. clients to ensure they understand the scope of the project and agree to it by signing the charter. On one hand, this charter ensures clear understanding of what the company understands about the expectations of the client and how the project team has decided to deliver the project. This might include the beginning of the project, important milestones, completion time and most importantly, the budget of the project.
From the perspective of the client, this project charter tells him if the company understands what he wishes to see after the completion of the project, scope of the project, copyright situation and various characteristics of the project. Some people assume project charter and project scope are the same documents but in reality, they are different. Project scope document is the initial draft that is given to the client to confirm if he agrees with it or if he wants to change anything. Once the scope is confirmed by the client, project charter is created and immediately after it’s signed, the project officially begins.
Key Elements of a Project Charter:
- Description of the project
- Introduction to the involved stakeholders
- Details of the end product i.e. completion of the project
- Purpose of the project i.e. business need that it will fulfill
- Key characteristics or features of the project
- Important milestones
- Project completion time period
- Required budget
- Details of exclusions
Free Project Charter Templates
Here are previews and download links for these free Project Charter Templates.
Simple Project Charter Worksheet- Excel
File Type: MS Excel {ZIP File}
File Size: 17 MB
Project Management Charter – Word Template
File Type: MS Word {ZIP File}
File Size: 13 MB
Project Charter Purpose and Scope Format
File Type: MS Word {ZIP File}
File Size: 108 MB
Project Charter with Roles and Responsibilities
File Type: MS Word {ZIP File}
File Size: 7 MB
Project Charter Alignment with Strategy
File Type: MS Word {ZIP File}
File Size: 457 MB
Common Application of a Project Charter:
To give Authority to Project Team:
If you ask a project manager about what is the most common cause of delays in a project. The most common answer you get is to get approval of client or customer. It’s a common scenario that when things are not cleared initially. Project manager is required to seek permission of the client for almost all major portions of the project. With the project charter, these major milestones or tasks are already enlisted and by signing the charter, the client gives authority to the project manager and team members.
To get Management Support in Written:
You will be surprised to see how often it happens that the management just disapprove or disown a major part of a project just because it was not explained well in the beginning. With the project charter in place, not only that the client signs it to give approval but there is also the signature from the higher management to confirm they approve the project and will support the project manager and team members for successful and timely completion of the project.
Confirm Expectations of the Customer:
Sometimes clients disapprove or completely reject the end results of a project not because the project team made a mistake but it’s mostly because there wasn’t clear understanding of what the client expects out of the project. With a project charter in place, the project manager can ensure to explain each aspect of the project and to verify if the client has any objection or if he agrees with it.
To clarify Nature and Scope of the Project:
Explaining the overall project to the client is important but so is the explanation of the scope and nature of the project. This part of the project charter is actually the project scope where the project manager explains how they will complete the project, the time it will take to complete the project, important milestones completion duration and the overall budget of the project. If necessary, this part can also state potential risks and possible delays involved in project completion.
To align Project direction in the Right Way:
This purpose or application of a project charter is usually for internal or organizations use only. It’s quite often that during execution of a project, it’s seen that the project is not aligned with the overall objectives and goals of the organization and if the direction is not decided prior to project beginning, it can create problems and major delays to think of alternate ways that actually align with the correct organizational objective direction.
Here are more free Project Charter Templates bellow,
Project Charter Key Stakeholders template
File Type: MS Word {ZIP File}
File Size: 16 MB
Project Charter Template with Milestones
File Type: MS Word {ZIP File}
File Size: 19 MB
