Project Charter

Group E

Project Charter

New Plant Construction

Project Name

Queensland Food Corp’s yogurt and ice-cream – ACT Branch

Project Purpose

The purpose intends to develop a new plant for yogurt and ice-cream to meet the growing need of southeastern region of the company’s market. This is the good opportunity to save the shipping cost and helps to take the burden off the Sydney and Darwin plants. This is a good chance to expand the business and meet customer demands; leading to a strong customer relation.

Measurable Project Objectives and Related Success Criteria

Category*	Objective	Related Success Criteria
Schedule	Finalize a location and set up a new plant to start the product sales by 1st July 2005.	Get required permissions from the local and state governing body, leasing the agreement with the owner of the plant.
Budget	Allocate total budget of $2.5 million.	Authorize and monitor transaction after review and approval from sponsor.
Performance - Quality	Establish the same flavor of yogurt and ice-cream as it is produced in Sydney manufacturing and packaging plant or the plant located in Darwin. Comply with Australian food and drug Administration.	Compare the new plant yogurt and ice- cream to that of Sydney manufacturing plant. Ensure employees are following the same procedure as it is in Sydney manufacturing plant.
Performance - Scope	Identify the high demand area for yogurt and ice-cream in ACT region.	Marketing team to identify and recommend the potential market based on their survey.

High Level (Product/Service/or Result) Requirements

· Deliver yogurt and ice- cream to the customers of southeastern region.

High-level project description, boundaries and key deliverables

The project can be completed in following phases:

Analysis:

· Location where the demand of yogurt and ice-cream is high.

· Home delivery option based on customer preference.

· Economic analysis, required budget, potential profit to the business.

· Marketing strategy to let customers know about the new plant

Resource:

· Employees needed.

· Equipment supplies needed.

· Skills and knowledge required.

Implementation:

· Get Food and drug Administration permits, if required and any other legal documents required.

· Identify new plant location.

· Track customer satisfaction for further improvement in service and delivery of the product.

Overall Project Risk

The excerpt below is from the PMBOK 6e:

Risks: This is possibly the most important section of the charter. It is the initial point in the project’s life where the sponsor explains HIGH LEVEL risks (negative or positive) that could result in the project failing entirely or not meeting project objectives. An essential part to this is a Sponsor Risk Tolerance Matrix (see example below). Below is an example illustrating that the sponsor has no flexibility in the schedule or product/service/result quality.

Initial Sponsor Guidance for Risk Tolerance

Category	No tolerance	Some tolerance	High tolerance
Schedule	X
Budget			X
Performance – Scope		X
Performance - Quality	X

The table is then used by the PM and risk manager to understand and define the appropriate risk responses to threats or opportunities identified during risk planning so they are consistent with sponsor guidance. For example, if the project sponsor has no tolerance for risks related to schedule (e.g., a play must be performed on Christmas eve), then there is no flexibility in the schedule end date (which implies no change to the critical path). If an activity is considered ‘at risk for completing on time and if it’s on the critical path’, then the risk response will be guided by the sponsor’s tolerance. The sponsor’s tolerance for risk is later adjusted when the risk management plan is written and input from key stakeholders is included in weighing the tolerance for events that can impact project objective categories.

Each risk (positive or negative) in the project charter will become an entry in the project risk register.

Summary Milestone Schedule

A milestone is defined as a point in time when a set of conditions have been met. A milestone schedule works well when the Level 2 WBS is phase-based because it allows for phase gate meetings or review meetings to determine if the project should proceed or be cancelled. Regardless it is a set of conditions met. For example: Project Plan Approved; Feasibility study complete; Construction complete; Training manuals complete; Research complete. Milestones have a specific date estimated (e.g., June 30th, 20xx). A summary milestone schedule ALWAYS includes a project start date and project finish date. These are necessary so a critical path and schedule analysis can be completed. It often takes the form of a table. The PMBOK 6e (Figure 6-21) has a clear illustration of schedule types and content on “release planning” for agile (Figure 6-20). This section addresses issues related to WHEN the project will be undertaken. To help each of you achieve success, the following milestones are required for inclusion with the other milestones of your project schedule for the Capstone Course:

Project Start date

Project Plan Approved date

Project Complete date

Preapproved Financial Resources

Many organizations that do projects for themselves believe they have no budget because salaries are a sunk cost. PMs that are unsure about the budget often raise the question, ‘how do I know the budget if I haven’t completed a WBS dictionary’? High level (summary budget) is often a rough order of magnitude estimate (which is described in Chapter 7, PMBOK 6e).

Ideally, a summary budget includes the cost for labor, supplies/equipment, and management reserve.

Key Stakeholder List

· Board of directors

· The chief executive officer (CEO)

· The chief finance officer (CFO)

· Food and Drug Administration

· Shareholders

Project approval requirements

This section is related to signing off on the project and certifying that it is complete or cancelled. Ask yourself “if I were the sponsor, what would I want to see from the project manager assuring me that the project was complete?”. Most likely, you would want to see some documentation. That documentation could include artifacts related to the project objectives, such as a final budget report certified by the accounting department, signed documents from the customer that the project’s PRODUCT, SERVICE or UNIQUE OUTCOME was formally accepted. Try to be specific when writing this paragraph so that you don’t have a lingering project.

Project Exit Criteria

What conditions must be met to close or cancel the project? This can be in the form of documentation confirming the work was complete or that the project is cancelled (e.g., by convenience or other reasons). Work completed can be documented when deliverables are verified (as being done correctly) and validated (as meeting the requirements of the customer).

Assigned Project Manager

In this section, you address part of the “WHO” for the project team. While you may have written a draft of this charter, it is the sponsor (the champion of the project) who signs the charter. This paragraph is the sponsors place to delegate to you responsibilities (with boundaries as needed). A junior PM may not get a lot of authority, while a seasoned PM will have free reigns. Minimally, it should address decision making authority and change authority over project baselines for schedule, performance, and budget, and who is next higher in decision-making authority (if not the sponsor).

Signed/Project sponsor(s) or charter approving authority

This section is a signature block or matrix (if there are multiple sponsors). This section is not signed by the customer or the end-user. The signature block should include the following details:

Name/Title/Position/date signed

It is recommended that a charter be no more than 2 or 3 pages (excluding an attached key stakeholder list)

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