ABOUT THIS PROJECT CHARTER DOCUMENT
PERMISSION TO PLAN THE PROJEC T AND SETTING THE GOVERNANCE STRUCTURE
The Project Charter provides the project manager and project team with permission to proceed
with the work of the project, within the scope delineated in this document. The Project Charter
should be the outcome of a number of documents that went into the pre-planning for the project,
and in many cases the agency IT Plan, Business Case for appropriations, Federal funding requests
and the like.
Project sponsors sign the Project Charter signifying that they have agreed to the governance
structure for guiding the direction for the further planning of the project, discovery and defining
the requirements, acquiring necessary resources, and within that context the statement of work for
any related contracts including a contract for the Independent Validation and Verification.
The Project Charter is also the foundation for the creation of the project management plan, and
much of the thinking and writing for this charter will be immediately usable for that project
management plan.
PROJECT CERTIFICATION INITIAL PHASE DOCUMENTATION
The Project Charter is also used within the State of New Mexico IT Project Certification process
as evidence of the project’s worthiness for the Initial Phase certification. The Initial Phase
certification is especially critical to many state and agency projects because of its related release of
the initial funds required for the project.
Initiation Phase funding is requested by an agency for use in developing project phases,
developing Independent Verification and Validation (“IV&V”) plan and contract; address project
review issues and/or to develop an overall project management plan. Note: Waiver of the IV&V
requirement requires specific written approval by the Secretary of the DoIT.
DoIT “Project Certification” Memorandum July 2, 2007
The Project Charter and the Request for Certification Form are meant to provide a comprehensive
picture of the project’s intention and initial planning, that includes the project’s place in the
context of the State of New Mexico’s IT Strategic Plan, Enterprise Architecture, and DoIT
project oversight process. See “IT Project Oversight Process” Memorandum July 5th 2007 on
the OCIO-DoIT web site.
I
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABOUT THIS PROJECT CHARTER DOCUMENT.........................................................I
TABLE OF CONTENTS.........................................................................................II
1. PROJECT BACKGROUND..................................................................................1
1.1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY -RATIONALE FOR THE PROJECT....................................................................1
1.2 SUMMARY OF THE FOUNDATION PLANNING AND DOCUMENTATION FOR THE PROJECT............................1
1.3 PROJECT CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS....................................................................................1
2.0 JUSTIFICATION, OBJECTIVES AND IMPACTS....................................................1
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5
AGENCY JUSTIFICATION............................................................................................................1
BUSINESS OBJECTIVES............................................................................................................2
TECHNICAL OBJECTIVES..........................................................................................................2
IMPACT ON ORGANIZATION......................................................................................................2
TRANSITION TO OPERATIONS....................................................................................................2
3.0 PROJECT/PRODUCT SCOPE OF WORK.............................................................3
3.1 DELIVERABLES.......................................................................................................................3
3.1.1 Project Deliverables............................................................................................... 3
3.1.2 Product Deliverables.............................................................................................. 5
3.2 SUCCESS AND QUALITY METRICS.........................................................................................6
4.0 SCHEDULE ESTIMATE....................................................................................6
5.0 BUDGET ESTIMATE.......................................................................................6
5.1 FUNDING SOURCE(S)..............................................................................................................6
5.2. BUDGET BY MAJOR DELIVERABLE OR TYPE OF EXPENSE -............................................................7
5.3 BUDGET BY PROJECT PHASE OR CERTIFICATION PHASE................................................................7
6.0 PROJECT AUTHORITY AND ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE..............................7
6.1 STAKEHOLDERS................................................................................................................7
6.2 PROJECT GOVERNANCE PLAN...........................................................................................7
6.3 PROJECT MANAGER...........................................................................................................7
6.3.1 PROJECT MANAGER CONTACT INFORMATION.........................................................7
6.3.2 PROJECT MANAGER BACKGROUND .......................................................................7
6.4 PROJECT TEAM ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES................................................................7
6.5 PROJECT MANAGEMENT METHODOLOGY .....................................................................................8
7.0 CONSTRAINTS.............................................................................................. 8
8.0 DEPENDENCIES............................................................................................ 8
9.0 ASSUMPTIONS............................................................................................. 9
10.0 SIGNIFICANT RISKS AND MITIGATION STRATEGY..........................................9
11.0 COMMUNICATION PLAN FOR EXECUTIVE REPORTING....................................9
12.0 INDEPENDENT VERIFICATION AND VALIDATION - IV&V.................................9
II
13.0 PROJECT CHARTER AGENCY APPROVAL SIGNATURES..................................11
14.0 PROJECT CHARTER CERTIFICATION APPROVAL SIGNATURE..........................11
III
Revision History
REVISION NUMBER
DATE
COMMENT
1.0
August 14, 2007
Original DoIT PMO Document
IV
PROJECT CHARTER [PROJECT NAME]
1
1. PROJECT BACKGROUND
The project background section is meant to provide the reviewer with a picture of the
development of the project from inception to its being submitted for certification.
1.1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY -RATIONALE FOR THE PROJECT
1.2 SUMMARY OF THE FOUNDATION PLANNING AND DOCUMENTATION FOR THE PROJECT
1.3 PROJECT CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS
Does the project fit into the criteria for certification? Which and how?
CRITERIA
YES/NO
EXPLANATION
Project is mission critical to the agency
Project cost is equal to or in excess of
$100,000.00
Project impacts customer on-line access
Project is one deemed appropriate by the
Secretary of the DoIT
Will an IT Architecture Review be required?
2.0 JUSTIFICATION, OBJECTIVES AND IMPACTS
The justification and objectives section relates the project to the purpose of the lead agency and
describes the high level business and technical objectives for the project. The section also includes
a high level review of the impact to the organization, and of the concerns for transition to
operations.
2.1 AGENCY JUSTIFICATION
IDENTIFY AGENCY MISSION, PERFORMANCE MEASURE OR STRATEGIC GOALS TO BE
ADDRESSED THROUGH THIS PROJECT
NUMBER
DESCRIPTION
AGENCY
PAGE 1
PROJECT CHARTER [PROJECT NAME]
2.2 BUSINESS OBJECTIVES
USE THE FOLLOWING TABLE TO LIST MEASURABLE BUSINESS OBJECTIVES
NUMBER
DESCRIPTION
BUSINESS
OBJECTIVE 1
2.3 TECHNICAL OBJECTIVES
NUMBER
DESCRIPTION
TECHNICAL
OBJECTIVE 1
2.4 IMPACT ON ORGANIZATION
The impacts on the organization are areas that need to be addressed by the project through its
planning process. They may not be internal project risks, but they can impact the success of the
project’s implementation.
AREA
DESCRIPTION
END USER
BUSINESS
PROCESSES
IT OPERATIONS AND
STAFFING
OTHER
2.5 TRANSITION TO OPERATIONS
The transition to operations areas include items that are asked in the certification form to assure
that the project has accounted or will account for these matters in its planning and requirements
specifications.
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2
PROJECT CHARTER [PROJECT NAME]
AREA
3
DESCRIPTION
PRELIMINARY
OPERATIONS
LOCATION AND
STAFFING PLANS
DATA SECURITY,
BUSINESS
CONTINUITY
MAINTENANCE
STRATEGY
INTEROPERABILITY
RECORD RETENTION
CONSOLIDATION
STRATEGY
3.0 PROJECT/PRODUCT SCOPE OF WORK
In its efforts to move from the high level business objectives to the desired end product/service
the project team will need to deliver specific documents or work products. The State of New
Mexico Project Management Methodology distinguishes between the project and the product.
Project Deliverables relate to how we conduct the business of the project. Product Deliverables
relate to how we define what the end result or product will be, and trace our stakeholder
requirements through to product acceptance, and trace our end product features and attributes
back to our initial requirements
3.1 DELIVERABLES
3.1.1 PROJECT DELIVERABLES
This initial list of project deliverables are those called for by the IT Certification Process and
Project Oversight memorandum, but does not exhaust the project deliverable documents
Project Charter
The Project Charter for Certification sets the overall scope
for the project, the governance structure, and when signed is
considered permission to proceed with the project. The
Project Charter for Certification is used to provide the
Project Certification Committee with adequate knowledge of
the project and its planning to certify the initiation phase of
the project
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PROJECT CHARTER [PROJECT NAME]
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Certification Form
The Request for Certification and Release of Funds form is
submitted when a project goes for any of the certification
phases. It deals with the financial aspects of the project, as
well as other topics that indicate the level of planning that
has gone into the project. Many of the questions have been
incorporated into the preparation of the project charter
Project Management Plan
. “Project management plan” is a formal document approved by
the executive sponsor and the Department and developed in the
plan phase used to manage project execution, control, and project
close. The primary uses of the project plan are to document
planning assumptions and decisions, facilitate communication
among stakeholders, and documents approved scope, cost and
schedule baselines. A project plan includes at least other plans for
issue escalation, change control, communications, deliverable
review and acceptance, staff acquisition, and risk management.
plan.”
IV&V Contract & Reports
“Independent verification and validation (IV&V)” means the
process of evaluating a project to determine compliance with
specified requirements and the process of determining whether the
products of a given development phase fulfill the requirements
established during the previous stage, both of which are performed
by an organization independent of the lead agency. Independent
verification and validation assessment reporting. The Department
requires all projects subject to oversight to engage an independent
verification and validation contractor unless waived by the
Department.
IT Service Contracts
The Department of Information Technology and the State
Purchasing Division of General Services have established a
template for all IT related contracts.
Risk Assessment and
management
The DoIT Initial PROJECT RISK ASSESSMENT template
which is meant to fulfill the following requirement:
“Prepare a written risk assessment report at the inception of
a project and at end of each product development lifecycle
phase or more frequently for large high-risk projects. Each
risk assessment shall be included as a project activity in
project schedule.” Project Oversight Process memorandum
Project Schedule
PAGE 4
A tool used to indicate the planned dates, dependencies, and
assigned resources for performing activities and for meeting
milestones. The defacto standard is Microsoft Project
PROJECT CHARTER [PROJECT NAME]
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Monthly Project Status
Reports to DoIT
Project status reports. For all projects that require Department
oversight, the lead agency project manager shall submit an agency
approved project status report on a monthly basis to the
Department.
Project Closeout Report
This is the Template used to request that the project be
officially closed. Note that project closure is the last phase of
the certification process
3.1.2 PRODUCT DELIVERABLES
The product deliverable documents listed here are only used for illustration purposes
Requirements Documents
Description -
Design Documents
Systems Specifications
Systems Architecture
System and Acceptance
Testing
Operations requirements
3.2 SUCCESS AND QUALITY METRICS
Metric are key to understanding the ability of the project to meet the end goals of the Executive
Sponsor and the Business Owner, as well as the ability of the project team to stay within schedule
and budget.
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PROJECT CHARTER [PROJECT NAME]
NUMBER
6
DESCRIPTION
QUALITY METRICS
1
4.0 SCHEDULE ESTIMATE
The schedule estimate is requested to provide the reviewers with a sense of the magnitude of the
project and an order of magnitude of the time required to complete the project. In developing the
schedule estimate, certification timelines and state purchasing contracts and procurement lead
times are as critical as vendor lead times for staffing and equipment delivery. Project metrics
include comparisons of actual vs. target date. At the Project Charter initial phase, these times can
only be estimated.
5.0 BUDGET ESTIMATE
Within the Project Charter budgets for the project can only be estimated. Original budgets
requested in appropriations or within agency budgets are probably not the numbers being worked
with at project time. Funding sources are asked for to help evaluate the realism of project
objectives against funding, and the allocation of budget estimates against project deliverables.
Please remember to include agency staff time including project managers as costs.
5.1 FUNDING SOURCE(S)
SOURCE
AMOUNT
ASSOCIATED
RESTRICTIONS
5.2. BUDGET BY MAJOR DELIVERABLE OR TYPE OF EXPENSE ITEM
COST ESTIMATE
5.3 BUDGET BY PROJECT PHASE OR CERTIFICATION PHASE
PAGE 6
.
PROJECT CHARTER [PROJECT NAME]
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6.0 PROJECT AUTHORITY AND ORGANIZATIONAL
STRUCTURE
6.1 STAKEHOLDERS
Stakeholders should be a mix of agency management and end users who are impacted positively
or negatively by the project.
NAME
STAKE IN PROJECT
ORGANIZATION
TITLE
6.2 PROJECT GOVERNANCE PLAN
A diagram of the organization structure including steering committee members, project manager
and technical/business teams would be helpful.
6.3 PROJECT MANAGER
6.3.1 PROJECT MANAGER CONTACT INFORMATION
NAME
ORGANIZATION
PHONE #(S)
6.3.2 PROJECT MANAGER BACKGROUND
6.4 PROJECT TEAM ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
ROLE
RESPONSIBILITY
PAGE 7
EMAIL
PROJECT CHARTER [PROJECT NAME]
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6.5 PROJECT MANAGEMENT METHODOLOGY
The Department of Information Technology certification process is built around a series of
certification gates: Initiation, Planning, Implementation and Closeout. Each of these phases/gates
has a set of expected documents associated with it. The gates and the associated documents make
up the certification methodology.
For some projects such a framework might be sufficient, where for some projects the solution
development life cycle (SDLC) with plan, define, design, build, close might be more appropriate.
Put most simply how is the project to be structured into a methodology or framework and where
do the project and product deliverables fit into this roadmap?
7.0 CONSTRAINTS
NUMBER
DESCRIPTION
8.0 DEPENDENCIES
Types include the following and should be associated with each dependency listed.
Mandatory dependencies are dependencies that are inherent to the work being done.
D- Discretionary dependencies are dependencies defined by the project management team. This may also
encompass particular approaches because a specific sequence of activities is preferred, but not mandatory
in the project life cycle.
E-External dependencies are dependencies that involve a relationship between project activities and nonproject activities such as purchasing/procurement
NUMBE
R
DESCRIPTION
9.0 ASSUMPTIONS
NUMBER
DESCRIPTION
PAGE 8
TYPE M,D,E
PROJECT CHARTER [PROJECT NAME]
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10.0 SIGNIFICANT RISKS AND MITIGATION STRATEGY
Risk 1
Probability
Description -
Impact
Mitigation Strategy
Contingency Plan
Risk 2
Probability
Description -
Impact
Mitigation Strategy
Contingency Plan
11.0 COMMUNICATION PLAN FOR EXECUTIVE REPORTING
12.0 INDEPENDENT VERIFICATION AND VALIDATION - IV&V
IV&V focus depends upon the type of project, with various emphases on project and product
deliverables.
The following check list is based on Exhibit A of the OCIO IV&V Contract Template, and the
Information technology template. . It is included here to provide a high level of the type of IV&V
accountability the project envisions:
Project/Product Area
Project Management
Quality Management
Training
Requirements Management
Operating Environment
Development Environment
Software Development
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Include
–
Yes/No
PROJECT CHARTER [PROJECT NAME]
System and Acceptance Testing
Data Management
Operations Oversight
Business Process Impact
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10
PROJECT CHARTER [PROJECT NAME]
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13.0 PROJECT CHARTER AGENCY APPROVAL SIGNATURES
SIGNATURE
DATE
EXECUTIVE SPONSOR
BUSINESS OWNER
PROJECT MANAGER
14.0 PROJECT CHARTER CERTIFICATION APPROVAL
SIGNATURE
SIGNATURE