Sample Project Charter and Scope Statement from Schwalbe’s Information Technology
Project Management, Third Edition, 2004.
Table 3-4: Project Charter
Project Title: Project Management Intranet Site Project
Project Start Date: May 2, 2005 Projected Finish Date: November 4, 2005
Budget Information: The firm has allocated $140,000 for this project. The majority of costs
for this project will be internal labor. An initial estimate provides a total of 80 hours per week.
Project Manager: Erica Bell, (310)889-5896, erica_bell@[Link]
Project Objectives: Develop a new capability accessible on JWD Consulting’s intranet site to
help internal consultants and external customers manage projects more effectively. The intranet
site will include several templates and tools that users can download, examples of completed
templates and related project management documents used on real projects, important articles
related to recent project management topics, article retrieval service, links to other sites with
useful information, and an “Ask the Expert” feature, where users can post questions they have
about their projects and receive advice from experts in the field. Some parts of the intranet site
will be accessible free to the public, other parts will only be accessible to current customers
and/or internal consultants, and other parts of the intranet site will be accessible for a fee.
Approach:
Develop a survey to determine critical features of the new intranet site and solicit inputs
from consultants and customers
Review internal and external templates and examples of project management documents
Research software to provide features such as security, managing user inputs, and the
article retrieval and “Ask the Expert” capability
Develop the intranet using and iterative approach, soliciting a great deal of user
feedback
Determine a way to measure the value of the intranet site in terms of reduced costs and
new revenues and this information during the project and one year after project
completion
Roles and Responsibilities:
Name Role Position Contact Information
Joe Fleming Sponsor JWD Consulting, joe_fleming@[Link]
CEO
Erica Bell Project Manager JWD Consulting, erica_bell@[Link]
manager
Michael Chen Team Member JWD Consulting, michael_chen@[Link]
senior consultant
Jessie Faue Team Member JWD Consulting jessie_faue@[Link]
consultant
Kevin Dodge Team Member JWD Consulting, IT kevin_dodge@[Link]
department
Cindy Dawson Team Member JWD Consulting, IT cindy_dawson@[Link]
department
Kim Phuong Advisor Client representative kim_phuong@[Link]
Page Miller Advisor Client representative page_miller@[Link]
Comments: (Handwritten or typed comments from above stakeholders, if applicable)
“I will support this project as time allows, but I believe my client projects take priority. I will
have one of my assistants support the project as needed.” --Michael Chen
“We need to be extremely careful testing this new system, especially the security in giving
access to parts of the intranet site to the public and clients.” --Kevin Dodge and Cindy Dawson
Table 3-7: Scope Statement (abbreviated)
Project Title: Project Management Intranet Site Project
Date: May 18, 2005 Prepared by: Erica Bell, Project Manager, (310)889-5896,
erica_bell@[Link]
Project Justification: Joe Fleming, CEO of JWD Consulting, requested this project to assist
the company in meeting its strategic goals. The new intranet will increase visibility of the
company’s expertise to current and potential clients though the sections of the intranet to which
they will be accessible. It will also help reduce internal costs and improve profitability by
providing standard tools, techniques, templates, and project management knowledge to all
internal consultants. The budget for the project is $140,000. An additional $40,000 will be
required for operational expenses after the project is completed. Estimated benefits are
$200,000 each year. It is important to focus on the system paying for itself within one year.
Product Characteristics and Requirements:
1. Templates and tools: The intranet site will allow authorized users to download files
they can use to create project management documents and to help them use project
management tools. These files will be in Microsoft Word, Excel, Access, Project, or
in HTML or PDF format, as appropriate.
2. User submissions: Users will be encouraged to e-mail files with sample templates
and tools to the Webmaster. The Webmaster will forward the files to the appropriate
person for review and then post the files to the intranet site, if desired.
3. Articles: Articles posted on the intranet site will have appropriate copyright
permission. The preferred format for articles will be PDF. The project manager may
approve other formats.
4. Requests for articles: The intranet site will include a section for users to request
someone from the Project Management Office (PMO) at JWD Consulting to
research appropriate articles for them. The PMO manager must first approve the
request and negotiate payments, if appropriate.
5. Links: All links to external sites will be tested on a weekly basis. Broken links will
be fixed or removed within five working days of discovery.
6. The “Ask the Expert” feature must be user-friendly and capable of soliciting
questions and immediately acknowledging that the question has been received in the
proper format. The feature must also be capable of forwarding the question to the
appropriate expert (as maintained in the system’s expert database) and capable of
providing the status of questions that are answered. The system must also allow for
payment for advice, if appropriate.
7. Security: The intranet site must provide several levels of security. All internal
employees will have access to the entire intranet site when they enter their security
information to access the main, corporate intranet. Part of the intranet will be
available to the public from the corporate Web site. Other portions of the intranet
will be available to current clients based on verification with the current client
database. Other portions of the intranet will be available after negotiating a fee or
entering a fixed payment using pre-authorized payment methods.
8. Search feature: The intranet site must include a search feature for users to search by
topic, key words, etc.
9. The intranet site must be accessible using a standard Internet browser. Users must
have appropriate application software to open several of the templates and tools.
10. The intranet site must be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with one hour per
week for system maintenance and other periodic maintenance, as appropriate.
Summary of Project Deliverables
Project management-related deliverables: business case, charter, team contract, scope
statement, WBS, schedule, cost baseline, status reports, final project presentation, final project
report, lessons-learned report, and any other documents required to manage the project.
Product-related deliverables:
1. Survey: Survey current consultants and clients to help determine desired content and
features for the intranet site.
2. Files for templates: The intranet site will include templates for at least twenty
documents when the system is first implemented, and it will have the capacity to store
up to one hundred documents. The project team will decide on the initial twenty
templates based on survey results.
3. Examples of completed templates: The intranet site will include examples of projects
that have used the templates available on the intranet site. For example, if there is a
template for a business case, there will also be an example of a real business case that
uses the template.
4. Files for tools: The intranet site will include information on how to use several project
management tools, including the following as a minimum: work breakdown structures,
Gantt charts, network diagrams, cost estimates, and earned value management. Where
appropriate, sample files will be provided in the application software appropriate for the
tool. For example, Microsoft Project files will be available to show sample work
breakdown structures, Gantt charts, network diagrams, cost estimates and applications
of earned value management. Excel files will be available for sample cost estimates and
earned value management charts.
5. Example applications of tools: The intranet site will include examples of real projects
that have applied the tools listed in number 4 above.
6. Articles: The intranet site will include at least ten useful articles about relevant topics in
project management. The intranet site will have the capacity to store at least one
thousand articles in PDF format with an average length of ten pages each.
7. Links: The intranet site will include links with brief descriptions for at least twenty
useful sites. The links will be categorized into meaningful groups.
8. Expert database: In order to deliver an “Ask the Expert” feature, the system must
include and access a database of approved experts and their contact information. Users
will be able to search for experts by pre-defined topics.
9. User request: The intranet site will include an application to solicit and process requests
from users.
10. Intranet site design: An initial design of the new intranet site will include a site map,
suggested formats, appropriate graphics, etc. The final design will incorporate
comments from users on the initial design.
11. Intranet site content: The intranet site will include content for the templates and tools
section, articles section, article retrieval section, links section, “Ask the Expert” section,
User Requests feature, security, and payment features.
12. Test plan: The test plan will document how the intranet site will be tested, who will do
the testing, and how bugs will be reported.
13. Promotion: A plan for promoting the intranet site will describe various approaches for
soliciting inputs during design. The promotion plan will also announce the availability
of the new intranet site.
14. Project benefit measurement plan: A project benefit plan will measure the financial
value of the intranet site.
Project Success Criteria: Our goal is to complete this project within six months for no more
than $140,000. The project sponsor, Joe Fleming, has emphasized the importance of the project
paying for itself within one year after the intranet site is complete. To meet this financial goal,
the intranet site must have strong user inputs. We must also develop a method for capturing the
benefits while the intranet site is being developed, tested, and after it is rolled out. If the project
takes a little longer to complete or costs a little more than planned, the firm will still view it as a
success if it has a good payback and helps promote the firm’s image as an excellent consulting
organization.