FREE Project Charter Template
Master project charter timelines with our intuitive project charter gantt chart templates.
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Master project charter timelines with our intuitive project charter gantt chart templates.
Get started for free
You want your project to be a success. You’ve done all the research legwork and started planning. You know your idea is sound and that it will be able to solve the problem your organization is facing. But how do you communicate all that to potential stakeholders succinctly?
The answer is a project charter. Using a project charter template makes creating an accurate, effective, evocative charter simpler and easier. Think of it as a framework or scaffolding to support the details that you’ll provide, creating an accurate project charter quickly and with a minimum of hassle.
But what is a project charter, really? Why bother with project charter templates?
A project charter template provides at-a-glance information about your project to those who need to know. Think of it as a pre-sell sheet or one-sheet. Potential stakeholders, C-suite members, and advocates will read your project charter first, and then go on to explore your project proposal.
Let’s define things a bit better. A project charter spells out your project’s scope, objectives, and participants. You’ll use a project charter document template to provide that information concisely.
You have tons of options when it comes to formats for your project charter template. You could choose to use a project charter Word template or a project charter PowerPoint template. A project charter template Excel sheet may also be an option you’ve considered.
Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Google Sheets, and other software can be useful. However, don’t neglect the value of a project charter Gantt chart template. Gantt charts offer lots of information at a glance and translate data into visual form, making it more impactful and easier to digest. Your project charter should definitely include one.
Speaking of Gantt charts, what makes them such a critical part of an IT project template or one-page project charter template? Here’s a quick rundown:
Provides a graphical timeline that enables stakeholders to grasp the project’s schedule and significant milestones.
Divides the project into smaller, manageable tasks, indicating their start and end dates, durations, and order.
Assists in distributing resources effectively by showing when and where they are needed throughout the project.
Highlights task dependencies, making it easier to identify which tasks must be completed before others can start.
Serves as a clear and concise visual tool that enhances communication among project stakeholders, ensuring everyone understands the project timeline and critical paths.
Helps monitor progress against the plan, allowing for early detection of delays and issues, and enabling timely corrective actions.
Clearly marks key project milestones, drawing attention to critical points in the project.
Assists in defining the project scope by outlining all tasks and their sequences, ensuring thorough project planning.
Detects potential scheduling risks and conflicts early in the project planning phase, allowing for better risk management strategies.
As you can see, there are plenty of reasons to use a project charter Gantt chart template when you plan and pitch your project. Tom’s Planner delivers the ease of use and customization required for projects of any type or scale.
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Speaking of things your project charter template example should include, we should discuss specifics. A project charter is a formal document, and you’ll need specific components to communicate effectively. You’ll also need specific document types to make your case compelling.
You’ll need to include an executive summary of your project. This is a high-level summation of the project, its goals, and other important pieces of data to help stakeholders and others make informed decisions.
You can think of your project definition as a description of the project’s purpose and overall goals.
This should highlight how your project is structured and what parties, teams, or organizations will take part in it.
Your project plan is a breakdown of how the project will operate and all the specifics, including project milestones, how phases will be implemented, and more.
All projects come with risks, and you’ll need to outline these for your audience. You can do that in the project considerations section of your project charter.
A Gantt chart is a foundational document that transforms much of the information above into a visual format. You can also communicate other information, such as task dependencies and resource allocation.
Tom’s Planner offers industry-leading flexibility and the ability to communicate critical project details in ways impossible with other document types.
Crafting a successful project charter is the key to getting buy-in for your vision and the support you need to launch your project. So, what can you do to help improve your chances of success? We have four pro tips for you.
One of the most critical functions of your project management charter template is documenting the various roles and responsibilities of those involved. You’ll need to identify the stakeholders here, both within and outside the organization. You’ll also need to identify your teams and their members while breaking down who will be responsible for what during the project. Finally, identify your customers. Who are they? What do they need? What problem does your project solve for them? How will your project benefit them?
Goals, milestones, objectives – they all sound similar and are often used interchangeably, but they’re not the same. Having a clear understanding of your project’s milestones, goals, and objectives will help you gain buy-in from stakeholders but will also help increase the chances of success in your project. For instance, project milestones act as progress markers and indicate that your project is still within your preset boundaries. Objectives are specific, measurable actions that help you along the path toward project completion. Goals are long-term, broad statements of what you want to achieve over time.
Your project charter is where you’ll define and refine your project. This includes providing a wide range of information. This will include some of what we’ve already discussed, like goals and team members. However, it will also include key assumptions, constraints, risks, materials or equipment needed, your overall vision of the project and its impact, project requirements, and the criteria you’ll use to determine success.
Finally, you’ll need to outline your project’s timeline. This should be a rough outline that highlights expected milestones and goals along the way, as well as key dependencies between tasks. The goal here is to give stakeholders a good idea of how long the project will take and what to expect along the way.
Keep your project charter to one to two pages. It should be concise and outline important information that stakeholders and decision-makers should know. Remember that this document is designed to set the entire project in motion, so create it with that in mind.
Avoid including any elements that introduce uncertainty, like the abbreviation TBD, or “unknown” when referring to variables. You should also skip redundant details and any contractual elements. There’s a place for most of these elements in other project documents, but not in the charter.
Your project charter is a document designed to jumpstart the project and should include high-level, actionable, concise information. The project plan is more like an instruction manual and will include full details about steps, timelines, the project’s scope, team member responsibilities, and much more.
The project charter outlines the vision, organization, approach, and risks of the project. The project proposal discusses its purpose persuasively, includes comprehensive information that justifies the need for the project, and turns ideas into actionable work. Both documents are important to your project, but they are not the same.
While project charters and statements of work (SoW) play roles in the process, they are drastically different. The project charter is a guidance document created by the project lead and includes a high-level overview of the project. A statement of work is a legally binding document that spells out a technical solution, costs, and services involved. Vendors usually create these.