There is an opportunity for more integration of the charter into enterprise-wide approaches to project management. That document remains an exception, though, with many program and portfolio management experts giving little attention to this vital project management step.

The third edition of A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK В® Guide) added a new process вЂњDevelop Project Charter,вЂќ making it a more visible deliverable than in the 2000 edition. The charter has grown in importance and visibility in recent years. The charter has a critical influence on any application of organizational strategy, organizational project maturity, program management, and portfolio management. Once the basic components of a charter are clear, it is possible to give it a central role in the organization. A charter should be simple, straightforward, and short, but it must contain certain key elements. Some project managers fail to get an adequate charter because they do not recognize the key components of a charter. The project manager needs to demand an adequate charter, and be prepared to create one for the sponsor, if the sponsor does not provide it on his or her own.

The project manager does not need to write the charter, but the project manager has a role in the process. Too many project managers accept a limited role in the framing of the charter. Scheduling and communication have generated far more attention. Yet the charter is one of the least talked about deliverables in project management. It is an ideal place to document the relationships between the project and the organizational strategy. It is created at the very start of the project, when the selling of the project's goals and ideas needs to begin. The charter is a project's best marketing tool.

Program charter template