Integration Management: Develop Project Charter

Let’s talk about Integration Management. If you remember Integration Management is the first Knowledge Area in PMBOK Guide (4th Edition). There are 6 Process Groups that goes under Integration Management. The are:

In one of my earlier post, I have explain how Project Charter exists in every project. Only, most of the time, a lot of its contents are scattered across the project network. Today, we are going to look at this first process group in Integration Management knowledge area closely. We are going to see what is needed to get the Project Charter recognised and agreed upon amongst the project members.

According to PMBOK Guide (4th Edition), all process groups will have their own inputs, tools and techniques, and finally; outputs. To develop a charter these are the information required:

Statement of Work (SOW) is a narrative description of the product deliveries. It is developed from the business needs, scope of work and strategic plan of the organisation’s strategic goals. For internal projects, the SOW is prepared by the project initiator, while for external projects, it is received from the customer.

Business Case is merely the justification to proceed with the project. It is influenced by several factors; market demand, organisational need, customer request, technological advance, legal requirement, ecological impact or social need.

Contract can be one of the input especially when the project is external.

EEF is Enterprise Environmental Factors which include but not limited to industry standards or organisation infrastructure. OPA is Organisational Process Assets; this refers to templates or historical documents which already exist in the organisation. OPA also refers to lessons learned from previous projects.

The tools and techniques that is required to produce the project charter is Expert Judgment. The expertise is provided by specific individuals or a group of professionals with the required knowledge of specific areas. This can come from variety of sources, not limited to:

• other unit or department in the organisation
• consultants
• stakeholders
• professional and technical associations
• Industry group
• Subject matter experts
• Project Management Office (PMO), etc.

The output for this process is obviously the Project Charter. It documents the business needs, current understanding of customer’s needs, and the description of the products or services that is intended to be delivered.