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Project Management vocabulary · Project Lifecycle

Project charter

Meaning in project management, with examples

/ˌprɑːdʒekt ˈtʃɑːrtər/nounCommon term

In project management, project charter means: A short official document that authorises a project to start. It states the goals, high-level scope, main stakeholders, budget and the project manager's authority.

In Turkish: proje başlatma belgesi, proje beyannamesi, proje tüzüğü

How it is used

Signed by the sponsor at the start of the project. People draft, approve and refer back to the charter when there is a disagreement about goals. In PRINCE2, a similar role is played by the project initiation documentation (PID).

Example sentences

  1. The project charter says the goal is to cut delivery times by 20%, not to replace the whole system.

  2. Work can't start until the sponsor signs the project charter.

Common collocations

  • draft a project charter
  • approve the project charter
  • sign the project charter
  • project sponsorA senior manager who owns the business reason for a project, secures its funding, makes the big decisions and supports the project manager when problems need higher authority.
  • business caseA document or argument that explains why a project is worth doing, comparing its expected benefits with its costs, risks and alternative options.
  • scopeAll the work, features and results that a project has agreed to deliver, and by extension what it will not deliver.
  • kickoff meetingThe first meeting of a project, where the team and key stakeholders meet to agree on goals, scope, roles, plan and ways of working.

More terms: Project Lifecycle

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