Charter
1 Overview
1.1 Project Header Information
Agency: / George Mason UniversitySponsoring Organization: / Information Technology Services
ITS Owning Org:
Project Name:
Business Driver: / <Internal Mandate, External Mandate, Required Maintenance, Strategic, or Capital>
Project Classification (initial): / Non-Major, Internal Major, or State Major>
Project Complexity (initial): / <Basic, Low, Medium, or High>
Date Submitted:
Submitter Name:
1.2 Description
An overview of the project, answering the “what” question. Also used in Project Inventory, and ASRB (if necessary)
1.3 Statement of Need or Opportunity
Describe the purpose of the project. This could be a business problem being solved or an opportunity for an improvement from a customer’s perspective. Include the effects of a successful solution.
1.4 Objective(s)
Describe the purpose for the project, answering how it will be known that the project is successful. Also used in Project Inventory.
2 Assumptions and Considerations
2.1 Functional Assumptions
Provide details about the operating environment, users, support, what it will do, etc.
2.2 Technical Assumptions
Provide details related to technical factors such as integration, authentication, etc.
2.3 Potential Risks / Negative Impacts
Discuss what could go wrong and what will be needed if something does go wrong?
2.4 Security Considerations
Raise any red flags with security, passing information between systems, authentication, etc. that will need to be addressed.
3 Customers and Deliverables
3.1 Customers
Identify who will benefit from this project including the primary audience (customers) and beneficiaries of the effort.
3.2 Customer Needs and Requirements
State the benefits to the customers? What do they explicitly need? What do they want out of it?
3.3 Final Deliverables
List the key outputs from the project. Typically, this is an application in production, processes defined clearly, etc. What are measures for completion?
3.4 Summary of Major Milestones and Deliverables
Complete the bulleted list of key milestones for the project; these provide a general overview of the project timeframe. Add additional activities, as needed, based on project.
Activity / Date / Rationale* /Proposed Start
Project Kick-off Meeting
Schedule Approved
<add activity if needed>
Execution Started
<add activity if needed>
<add activity and insert additional rows as needed>
Expected Go Live/Release
Proposed Finish
*Rationale = any supporting reason for the date being what it is – e.g., dependencies on other projects, funding, other requirements
4 Project Authority and Organization
4.1 Organization Structure
Describe how the project organization is to be structured. Identify the organization or group that is requesting the project and the level of their sponsorship. Specific individuals and their roles are discussed in the subsequent sub-sections.
4.2 Core Project Roles
Identify the person(s) who will be serving in the core project roles and their expected involvement.
Role / Person / Organization /Project Sponsor
ITS Owner
Project Manager
4.2.1 Project Sponsor
Discuss the level and type of involvement of the sponsor who is pushing this forward, i.e., the person who is the champion for the project as well as the one providing financial and other resources if necessary.
4.2.2 ITS Owner
Discuss the level and type of involvement of the primary ITS Owner (point of contact) executing this project. This is the person who ensures the ITS work is properly captured and completed and acts as the sponsor from within ITS.
4.2.3 Project Manager
Identify the project manager and how management will be handled in general for the project, ITS PM support, etc. Include the role the ITS PMO may have in the project as well.
4.3 Project Team Members
Other Project team members expected to be involved with the project, including both Mason and non-Mason (e.g., vendor representatives, contractors, consultants), and their general role and level of involvement. This is more of the specifics including name, organization, and contact info (phone, email) where applicable.
5 Other Resource Needs
Identify any additional resources that are needed to complete the project. Include amount and expected source providing the identified resource(s)
Resources / Allocation and Source /Funding
Customer Support
Facilities
Equipment
Software Tools
6 Approvals
Approval / Name (printed) / Name (signature) / Date /Project Manager
ITS Owner
Sponsor
Note, as an alternative to signatures directly on the document, confirmed e-mail approval is also acceptable. Please send e-mail approvals to the appropriate PMO representative. Once received, email approvals will be printed to PDF files and posted in the PM Documents folder along with the version of the Charter that was approved.
Project Charter.docx / 1 / Version Date: <Version Date>Template Revision: 8/13/2015