Final Project Charter

Final Project Charter

With the completion of Problem Set #6, all components of the Final Project Charter have been completed. Just a reminder, the instructions for this Final Project Charter can be found in the Required Residency Session Content folder (also where you will submit this assignment). I will be grading Problem Set #6 over the next couple of days and providing feedback.

At this point, you should be compiling your required past required Problem Set exercises into a professional looking document. Also, you should begin (if you have not already) amending and correcting these previous Problem Sets based on my grading feedback.

Scoring will be based on the final product presented including evidence of improvements made. Do not make the assumption that you will get the same grade on the Final Project Charter as you did for each of the individual Problem Sets. If you got a “B” on the RACI Chart and you decide to make no changes the best you could possibly hope for may be a “C” on that part of the Final Project Charter. I am looking for improvement and a professional effort to create a professional product.

Do not include all past Problem Set exercises as some of the work completed is not part of the Project Charter (i.e. Decision Matrix, Types of Costs, etc.). Only include required project management exhibits per instructions. Also, there will be an additional tool, Communication Matrix, to be completed which was not part of the Problem Sets.

Be sure this looks like a professional document that you would provide to a supervisor, project sponsor or similar authority. There should not be any references included or cited as this will be your own sole work. A signature page, though not required, is a good addition to ensure a professional product.

Final Project Charter – Grading

Here is an explanation of how this final assignment will be graded. Each of these 10 components of the Project Charter will be worth 10 points each (100 points total)

1. Project Title
2. Business Case
3. Background
4. Stakeholder ID
5. Communication Plan
6. Project Scope Statement/Deliverables with Acceptance Criteria
7. WBS with Activities List
8. RACI Chart
9. Risk Register
10. Overall Form & Function of Charter – This will be the overall look, usability, and professionalism of the project charter as well as the inclusion of any other elements deemed necessary to be included to ensure a superior project charter. This is not a section to be completed within the project charter; this is merely a grading function.

HINT: Ensure that you start each chart, tool, etc on its own page. Also, do not allow a row to split between two pages. This makes the tool difficult to reference. Ensure the entire row fits on the same page.Final Project Charter – Continuing Guidance

All past Problem Sets must be amended or corrected to reflect feedback provided for each of the past Problem Sets before inclusion into the Final Project Charter. If deficiencies are not addressed and the same information is provided from the original Problem Set exercise, then the best score you could hope for would be a 7 out of 10 for that specific component. And this would be if you scored an “A” or “B” on the first assignment. All Problem Sets had deficiencies that could be/needed to be corrected. Do not include aspects of the Problem Sets that are not project management tools. This means that items such as the Decision Matrix, Types of Costs, RACI Role Justification, or similar should not be included. Business Case needs to be just the 100 word Business Case and not the source or other information.

As you should have realized, many of the project management tools (previous Problem Sets) to be included in the Final Project Charter are inter-related. For instance, the Project Title, Background, Business Case and Project Scope Statement are related and interdependent on each other.

The Project Title should be a descriptive statement of the project. This is not like a book title which is usually short and very simple. For example, in 1985 the I-71/I-75 Brent Spence Bridge, which spans the Ohio River between Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, had the emergency lanes removed to add traffic lanes due to an increase in traffic over this bridge (third busiest bridge in the US). So, to ensure a descriptive project title, a simple title like “Brent Spence Bridge Project” would not be sufficient. This provides no information on the project scope. A more descriptive title would be “I-71/I-75 Brent Spence Bridge project to expand northbound and southbound traffic lanes from three lanes to four lanes (1985)”.

From the project title, you would provide the background which covers the need for this project. This would be a short, detailed narrative on information such as the construction of the bridge in 1963 and how the three lanes were not sufficient to handle the increased traffic flow by 1985. This, again, is a very high-level discussion of the situation that exists currently that requires this project to be undertaken and then the overall objectives of the project. Objectives and deliverables are two different things. Objectives are the goals of the project while Deliverables are sub-projects to be completed as part of the overall project.

The Business Case is your bridge from the broad view of the Background to the narrow focus of the Project Scope Statement. The Business Case should provide a little of the background information and then include some of the scope information. From there, the Project Scope Statement will focus in on the requirements or scope of the project. This is specifically what work is going to be completed.

Stakeholder Register

When identifying Stakeholders, you need to identify the smallest group (or even individual) possible. If you are providing a stakeholder group that can be broken down into smaller groups with differing responsibilities then you have not focused the identification enough. Also, you need to ensure that six (6) of the stakeholders identified will be ley and internal to the project. That means they will be either Accountable or Responsible for some portion of the WBS. If you have a stakeholder that is only Consulted or Informed for all your WBS Activities then they are not a key and internal stakeholder.

The Interest section should explain their role in the project not whether interest in the project is High, Medium or Low.

Communication Plan

If your Stakeholders identified do not need to be communicated with at least daily then they are not key and internal. Ensure you are using the proper Exhibit from the textbook (Exhibit 6.9 on p. 192).

Deliverables and Acceptance Criteria/WBS with Activity List

Deliverables are sub-projects that need to be completed to ensure completion of the overall project. So basically, you are breaking down the sub-project into smaller “bites”. The six (6) Deliverables you select do not need to add up to the overall project or to re-phrase, you are not breaking the project into six (6) equal pieces you are just identifying six (6) of what may be numerous Deliverables. Project management, project budget, and project charter are not Deliverables. Project initiation, Project Monitoring and Controlling, and Project closing are phases of project management and not Deliverables. In the above Brent Spence Bridge example, Deliverables would potentially include, but not be limited to: Traffic flow management, Lane line removal, Four lane repainting, Concrete/road repair, etc.

Your Acceptance Criteria is then the situation that exists to demonstrate that the Deliverable has been completed. For instance, the Deliverable “Painting of lane lines” would have a potential Acceptance Criteria of “North and south bound lanes of bridge have been repainted to provide four lane access across the bridge and connecting to continuing highway traffic patterns”. A project team member can look at the bridge and see that four lanes span both directions of the bridge and appropriately tie into the highway lanes on either side of the bridge.

The WBS with Activities list takes the Deliverable and breaks it down into the smallest work package possible. If you can break an Activity down into smaller tasks then it is not at the smallest point. Your WBS should read like a checklist of items to be completed. Keep in mind this is a work package not a singular task. So, if you were painting a room an Activity would not be “buy painter’s tape” it would be “tape off trim/molding” or “remove all outlet face covers”. Again, a team member can look at the room and see whether the face covers of outlets or light switches have been removed or that all windows, doors and trim have been taped off and can “check” that off the list as complete. If you list activity as “tape room” this is not descriptive enough as you do not identify what is to be taped off.

RACI Chart

Do not violate the basic rules of role assignment. These are:

1. Only one (1) stakeholder can be Accountable
2. At least one (1) stakeholder must be Responsible
3. Cannot serve in dual roles.

Also, role assignment must make logical sense. The Project Manager cannot be Accountable for everything. This demonstrates a lack of understanding of the role of the Project Manager. While the Project Manager may be Accountable for many Activities, they would not be Accountable for every single one.

Risk Register

Review all Announcements and instructions provided for this tool. Risks need to be specific. These should be known unknowns and should not be failures in planning or management. Again, break these down to the smallest identifiable risk with unique response. Catastrophic weather is not specific. This can be a tornado, a hurricane, a blizzard or a flood. These would have different response strategies. Also, if you project is inside versus outside would change the response.

Impact statement should explain, as succinctly as possible, what the probability of this event would be and what the impact will be if it should occur. A risk with a probability of 5 (or even 4) would not be listed on a risk register as a “just in case”. This would need to be addressed in the planning phase. Also, high probability/high impact risks would need to be addressed in the planning process and not just listed on a risk register.

Response strategy needs to utilize at least one of the eight common risk responses provided in the textbook (pp. 374-377) and covered in the Week 11 Discussion Forum. Your strategy should identify the risk response and how this will be implemented.

Professional Tool/Overall Form & Function

This is not a section to be included in your Final Project Charter. It is a grading element of the professional aspect of your Final Project Charter.

Your Final Project Charter should be a professional product. This means that there should not be any citing of a source as this would not be necessary in project charter completed in the private (or public) sector. If you have a title page it should be professional. You should not use the academic title page information such as class, instructor, etc. You can provide the project title, your name and date of submission (or due date).

All project management tools should be well formatted, easy to reference, and legible. If necessary, pages can be altered from portrait to landscape to ensure charts, registers, etc. fit on the page and are able to be easily read and referenced. Project charter components included must be specific exhibits as instructed. Any other format will not be accepted and will result in a zero (0) for that component.

The same font needs to be utilized throughout. This should be a common font (Times New Roman preferred) with a font size of 11 or 12 (12 preferred).

When including a table that is copied and pasted from Excel: Do not paste as a picture! If SafeAssign cannot read it then it will not be accepted and a score of zero (0) will be assigned. Once pasted into your Final Project Charter document you should adjust your rows and columns to utilize the whole page and ensure it is easy to read and reference. Each tool should start on its own page and not on a page with another tool. Also, do not allow rows to be split between two pages.

An index, page numbers, and signature page are good additions that will provide a professional document and ensure a higher score on the Overall Form and Function scoring component.