Marginalia

• Contract in this context refer to the establishing input document, "[...] if the project is being done for an extenal customer" (comp. PMBOK3, page 82).

• The Project Statement of Work refers to "[...] a narrative description of products or services to be supplied by the project " (comp. PMBOK3, page 82f).

• Enterprise environmental factors in this context refer to the external rules and conditions "[...] that surround and influence the project's success" (comp. PMBOK3, page 83).

• And Organizational process assets in this context refer to "[...] formal and informal policies, pocedures, plans, and guidelines, whose effects must be consired" (comp. PMBOK3, page 84)

• If a project is started to fullfill an already closed contract the  Contract is given as an externally generated input. But if the project itself wants to delegate tasks to contractors it must generate contracts as a result of a project management subprocess, called Select Sellers.

 

(1.1) Develop Project Charter

(1.1.1) Process Input

... introduced by external units

  • Contract (if applicable)
  • Project Statement of Work
  • Enterprise Environmental Factors
  • Organizational Process Assets

(1.1.2) Process Definition

Develop Project Charter is the process for "[...] developing the project charter that formally authorizes a project or a project phase" (comp. PMBOK3, p. 78).  This process / step is mainly determined by the project sponsor because the project charter contains descriptions of the targets, wishes  and constraints which the project sponsor and his associated stakeholders have formulated in their own words and language: The project sponsor is the sender (of the project target)  who encodes his message. The project manager on the other hand is inaugurated by that document. And therefore he is also the receiver of the message, encoded by the project sponsor. The project manager then developes the Preliminary Scope  Statement which expresses, what the project manager has understood and what therefore must be approved by the project sponsor. One might think about Project Charter and Preliminary Project Statement as the  formal written communication for determining the basic targets and assumptions.

The subject Integration Management operates on the base of other project management concerning concepts and definitions

(1.1.3) Tools and Techniques

PMBOK Mentioned Methods

  • Project selection methods are used to base the decision for or against a possible project. The main criterium will be the expected benefit
  • Project management methodology is used to select a framework for the project 
  • Project management information system "[...] is a standardized set of automated tools available within the organization and integrated into a system"
  • Expert judgement is used for determining benefits and first estimates

(comp. PMBOK3, pp. 85f)

Open Source Tools

  • myPmpsFactory offers a structured template for project charters. This template can be edited by Open Office 3 (Writer).

(1.1.4) Process Output

  • The Project Charter "[...] is the document that formally authorizes a project". It's mainly generated or at least influenced by the project sponsor, because it determines the project manager, describes the project target and contraints, which must or should be respected. It contains at least:
    • "Requirements that satisfy the customer, sponsor, and other stakeholder needs, wants and expectations"
    • "Business needs, high level project description, or product requirements [...]"
    • "Project purpose or justification"
    • "Assigned Project Manager and authority level"
    • "Summary milestone schedule"
    • "Stakeholder influences"
    • "Summary budget"

One might say: The project charter contains all presciptions which shall influence the work of the project manager. In combination with the preliminary project scope statement and the project scope statement it defines the targets of the project and implicitely the success criteria of the work of the project manager.

(comp. PMBOK3, pp. 81f)

(1.1.5) Output Using Successor Processes

Successors using the initially generated output as own input(1):

  1. For details see FAQ::Q001:1