In any corporate engagement, it is invaluable to have clearly defined Project Charter.  This charter helps provide focus and direction.  It is the team’s blueprint for success!

The Project Charter has 5 primary objectives:

1. Provide an overview summary of the project, including high-level background.
2. Outline the team’s approach to executing this project.
3. Aid in selecting participants.
4. Identify team members, clarifies roles, and their responsibilities.
5. List specific deliverables and milestones.

To achieve these goals, your typical Charter consists 8 areas:

• Objectives — Definitely lay out the project’s core objectives that the team is set to accomplish.  These objectives should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound) where possible.
• In Scope — State what is in scope.
• Out of Scope — Equally as important, state what is out of the project’s scope of work.
• Key Activities — Outline the major steps the team will need to take.
• Deliverables — Delineate the tangible work products the team will deliver to accomplish its objectives.
• Sponsor — Specify the executive sponsor member who will be responsible for resolving major issues and provide direction when needed.  Escalation procedures should involve the sponsor.
• Resources — List the members of the organization that will be supporting the project.  Include external resources, such as hired consultants, if needed.
• CSFs (Critical Success Factors) — Define the elements which need to be fulfilled in order to realize the deliverables.  These should be quantifiable where possible.  To learn more about defining CSFs, check out this product.  These are also referred to as Key Success Factors.

A PowerPoint template of a Project Charter is displayed below.  It is created by piecing together tables in PowerPoint.  Remember, to resize table edges to the pixel, hold down the ALT key as you drag the edge.

For your inconvenience, you can also download this template from learnppt (http://learnppt.com/downloads/project_charter/).

Along with the Charter, there is usually a detailed Gantt chart that breaks down the Key Activities section of the Charter.  The Gantt chart adds a timing component to each activity and offers a visual illustrating dependencies across activities and work streams.  We have PowerPoint Diagrams Pack with various Gantt charts, calendars, meeting schedules, and other timeline diagrams at learnppt.com as well:
http://learnppt.com/powerpoint/23_Gantt-Charts%2C-Schedules%2C-and-Calendars.php

You can download a free PowerPoint plugin called Flevy Tools that creates Gantt charts, among other commonly used project management diagrams here: http://flevy.com/powerpoint-plugin.  For the time being, it’s a completely free download.

Questions, thoughts, concerns?  Go to my site (learnppt.com) and shoot me an email.  On my site, you will find information about my recent eBook, Become a PowerPoint Guru, which teaches how to create effective business presentations (from structuring your story to designing your diagrams).

For pre-made PowerPoint diagrams used in business presentations, browse our library here: learnppt.com/powerpoint/.  These diagrams were professionally designed by management consultants. Give your presentations the look and feel of a final product made by McKinsey, BCG, Bain, Booz Allen, Deloitte, or any of the top consulting firms.