Remove This Page Prior to Completion and Distribution of This Charter

PROJECTNAME
MM/DD/YYYY / Project Charter
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District Name

District Address

ProjectName Charter

MM/DD/YYY

Version 1.0

REMOVE THIS PAGE PRIOR TO COMPLETION AND DISTRIBUTION OF THIS CHARTER

Introduction

District and school leaders are striving to make classroom-level student data available in forms that are more readily usable for improving instructional practices. These demands require that districts procure and effectively deploy data systems such as student information systems (SIS), learning management systems (LMS) and assessment systems.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has provided funding for a project entitled Closing the Gap: Turning SIS/LMS Data into Action. Some of the objectives of this project were to uncover current attitudes toward the value of existing SIS and LMS solutions, understand the processes and approaches used to select and implement these solutions, and identify recommendations and best practices for not only selecting and implementing solutions, but transitioning districts to a more data-rich culture.

As part of this project, Gartner, Inc. collaborated with American Association of School Administrators (AASA) and the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) to identify lessons learned by districts across the U.S. in identifying, selecting, and implementing SIS and LMS solutions.

This document and other resources to support an SIS and or LMS implantation and transitioning K-12 school districts toward a more data-rich culture can be found on the Resources tab at

Instructions

Found throughout this document is red text as follows: “GUIDANCE – Remove this text from final version”. This text serves as instructions and guidance on how to complete each section. This text and all red text located in the charter, including this page, should be deleted prior to finalization.

Document Finalization Checklist

Remove all red text

Update the Table of Contents by highlighting the text and selecting F9

Collect the required signatures

Replace all instances of the phrase “ProjectName” with the actual name of the project

Version #
Version Date /
DOCUMENT CHANGES
MM/DD/YY
v.1.0 / Initial version

Document Control

Document Control refers to those stakeholders who have reviewed this charter and are in agreement with the final version.

Reviewers

Table 1 contains the list of educational stakeholders who have reviewed the document and the date of review.

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Key stakeholders should review the project charter before project launch and at major milestones.

Table 1. Reviewers' Dates of Review

Name / Department / Title / Initials With Date / Version

Related Documents

Table 2 contains a list of reference documents or links to documents that are related to the project charter (e.g. Project Roles and Responsibilities Chart, Detailed Project Budget, Project Schedule, etc.).

Table 2. Related Documents

Document Name / Author / Version / Date Last Updated
Project Roles and Responsibilities Matrix
Project Cost Estimate

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Document Purpose

Project Overview: Problem Statement

Project Objectives

Project Scope

Stakeholders Affected

Project Estimated Effort and Duration

Project Estimated Cost

Project Assumptions

Project Risks

Project Approach: Principles

Project Approvals

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1. Reviewers' Dates of Review

Table 2. Related Documents

Table 3. Participation of Affected Stakeholders

Table 4. Estimated Duration

Table 5. Risk Table

Document Purpose

This project charter is an agreement between the senior educational leadership team sponsoringthe PROJECTNAME and those who will manage its delivery. The project charter formally initiates the project, identifies those who are sponsoring and supporting the project, and outlines at a summary level the goals and key activities needed to support the project, It is a "living document" and subject to change; however, significant changes must be approved by key stakeholders.

This project charter formally authorizes the launch of PROJECTNAME and gives the project manager authority to use organizational resources for project activities. It includes a description of educational needs, envisions how the project deliverable(s) will address those needs, and is an instrument for maintaining stakeholder agreement about that description and vision.

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Although limited to a high-level overview in its initial form, the charter should provide sufficient detail to:

Show alignment to education strategy, goals and priorities at state, district, and where appropriate school level
Illustrate how the project deliverable(s) will meet general education requirements
Establish clear success criteria based on expected benefits
Identify funding sources and high-level costs
Establish appropriate intervals for updated cost estimates
Examine assumptions (for example, system performance or skills needed)
Weigh risks and prepare mitigations
Establish the project's guiding principles and processes
Communicate control mechanisms to stakeholders

Project Overview: Problem Statement

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Describe the education context, opportunities and drawbacks of the situation to explain why the project is being undertaken. Speak to the educational value/impact of the work being performed.

Project Objectives

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Project objectives describe what the project will achieve and deliver. Objectives should be specific and deliverable-based (as opposed to a high-level goal statement, which need not describe a deliverable). The completion of an objective should be evident through the creation of one or more deliverables (not process artifacts). Project success criteria in project terms, such as on-time delivery, may be specified here. After inserting the objectives and criteria, change the text to black.

The project will meet the following objectives:

Objective No. 1
Objective No. 2

The project delivery success criteria are:

Criterion No. 1
Criterion No. 2

Project Scope

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Scope statements are used to define not only what is within the boundaries of the project but also what is outside them.

Scope areas shouldinclude:

The types of data that are in and out of scope (for example, state reporting, educational grants, Financial, and Human Resources)
The data sources (or databases) that are in and out of scope (for example, , general ledger, Transportation, Food services and Human Resource payroll systems)
The types of artifacts that are in and out of scope (for example, detailed user documentation, reports, and dashboards)

Scope areas may include:

The major life cycle processes that are in and out of scope (for example, state reporting, special education state reporting, market research and potential enhancement of related data systems)
The organizations that are in and out of scope (for example, Human Resources, Transportation, Food Services, Public Relations, educational foundation, educational professional affiliations, or and partners)
The major functionality that is in and out of scope (for example, state reporting, decision support, data entry and management reporting)

StakeholdersAffected

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Specify areas, organizations or groups that are affected by or may participate in the project. This is meant to be comprehensive but high level. Individual names should not appear, but the organizations they represent are included here. At a minimum, the groups included below should be listed.

It is critical to determine the impact of this project on other organizations to ensure that the right people and functional areas are involved, and that communication is directed appropriately.

Where applicable Table 4 below describes the organizations/roles that are impacted by this project and the extent of their participation or impact.

Table 3. Participation of Affected Stakeholders

Stakeholder / How They Are Affected or How They Are Participating
State Education Agency
District Leadership
District Board of Education
Individual Schools, Principals, and Administrative Staff (Assistant Principals, Deans & Disciplinarians, etc)
Teachers and Support Staff (e.g. Nurses, Paras, Media Specialists, Data Coaches, Secretaries, Hall Monitors, Cafeteria Staff, etc)
School Level Technology Staff
Students
Parents

Project Organization

Listed below are the key roles for this project:

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It is important to understand who the critical leaders are on the project. List the major project roles and the individuals involved. Reference the “Responsibilities Chart” to understand the responsibilities for each role.

Project sponsor: The person or group providing the funding for the project (e.g. Superintendent, external grant source, person responsible for administering race to the top funds, etc.)
Steering committee members: the group of people who will make strategic decisions for the project.
Education Project Manager/Primary Point of Contact: the person representing the educational stakeholders for the project; primarily responsible for coordinating the educational interests associated with the project.
Technology Project Manager: The person authorized to use financial and human resources in order to execute the project.
Project Team Members: The persons assigned to the project responsible for carrying out project tasks.

Organization Chart

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Add a project organization chart, if available, that clarifies the reporting relationship amongst the roles listed above.

Project Estimated Effort and Duration

Table 5 outlines the project milestones, activities, deliverables and timeline.

Project Milestone: Progress checkpoints along the project schedule.
Project Activities: specific tasks taken during the project to reach each milestone.
Deliverables: Key outputs resulting from each milestone.

This information will continue to change as the project requirements are more clearly defined.

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The estimated effort hours and project costs may be depicted in many ways (for example, cost by team member, deliverable, milestone, internal and external labor, travel, professional development, training, hardware, and supplies). Recognize that the charter and estimate will be refined as requirements are more fully defined. Thereforemake a reasonable effort to analyze needed activities; poll individuals experienced with similar work' and examine actual costs of recent, similar projects to determine an early, rough estimate of hours and projected costs. Describe any deliverables included in this milestone chart (Table 3.0) in the Project Scope section.

Table 4. Estimated Duration

Milestone / Date Completed (MM/DD/YYYY) / Deliverable(s) Completed
Project Planning / Month/Date/Year / Project Definition
Work Plan
E.g. Define System Requirements / Month/Date/Year / E.g. List of Requirements Team
E.g. Finalized System Requirements
E.g. Identify requirements team
E.g. Develop requirements template
Et.c
Milestone 2 / Month/Date/Year / Deliverable No. 3
Activity A
Activity B
Project Conclusion / Month/Date/Year

Project Estimated Cost

A summary of the project’s estimated costs are shown below. Are more detailed breakdown of costs can be found in the appendix.

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Estimate the cost and effort hours for the project (Note that this is only one portion of your total cost for the solution; in another exercise, you will also need to estimate the cost of ongoing maintenance and support for the solution). Be sure that project costs account for:

Project readiness activities
Change management activities associated with ensuring buy-in and communication for the solution
Administrative and instructional staff time associated with redefining processes to incorporate the new solution (e.g. attendance tracking, etc.)
Training and professional development
Costs that may be associated with diverting existing resources to focus on this effort (e.g. allowing overtime for the help desk to support the initial solution launch).

See the appendix to the Implementation Cost Planning Guide for a sample project budget estimation tool.

Note: Training costs include the costs of taking teachers out of the classroom as necessary

Table 5: Summary of Estimated Project Costs

Personnel Costs
Hardware Costs
Software Costs
Training
Other Services (e.g. training, project management, etc)
Total:

Project Assumptions

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Project assumptions are circumstances and events that need to occur for the project to be successful; however, they are outside the total control of the project team (for example, approval of Special Purpose Option Sales Tax, leving of property taxes, state funding). They are listed as assumptions if there is a high probability that they will happen.

To identify and estimate the required tasks and timing for the project, certain assumptions were made.. Based on the current knowledge, the project assumptions are listed below. If an assumption is invalidated at a later date, the activities and estimates in the project plan will be adjusted accordingly:

Assumption No. 1
Assumption No. 2
Assumption No. 3

Project Risks

Project risks are circumstances or events that exist outside the control of the project team. They will have an adverse effect on the project if they occur. (In other words, whereas an issue is a current problem that must be dealt with, a risk is a potential future problem.) All projects contain some risks. It may not be possible to eliminate risks entirely, but they can be anticipated and managed, thereby reducing the probability that they will occur.

In Table 6, for each risk listed, identify activities to mitigate the risk.

Table 6. Risk Table

Risk / Impact Level (High, Medium, Low) / Likelihood (High, Medium, Low) / Risk Owner / Risk Plan
Project Risk No. 1 / Risk mitigation plan
Project Risk No. 2 / Risk mitigation plan
Project Risk No. 3 / Risk mitigation plan

Project Approach: Principles

This section lists the guiding principles that will be used to govern the project.

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Reference the SIS/LMS System Implementation Readiness Activity Planner for information on how to go about clarifying the guiding principles for the project.

Project Approvals

______

Project SponsorDate

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Education Project Manager/ Date
Point of Contact

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Technology Project ManagerDate