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Project Charter Template

A complete, practical project charter: purpose, measurable objectives, scope, milestones, budget, governance, PM authority, risks and sign-off, with guidance.

Free

Free Word template. A complete, practical project charter: purpose, measurable objectives, scope, milestones, budget, governance, PM authority, risks and sign-off, with guidance. Download it, add your project details and use it today: no sign-up for software, no paywall.

A practical project charter template for project managers, PMP candidates and sponsors. It captures why the project exists, measurable objectives and success criteria, in-scope and out-of-scope items, key deliverables, high-level requirements, milestones and delivery approach, and a budget summary with contingency. The governance section defines key roles, forums, escalation paths and a clear table of project manager authority. Assumptions, constraints, risks, dependencies, communication and closure criteria complete the picture. Writing guidance, a quality checklist and tips for running a charter review help you get genuine sponsor commitment. Suitable for ERP, IT and business change projects.

What's inside

  • Project Charter
  • Document Control
  • 1. Project Purpose and Justification
  • 1.1 Purpose
  • 1.2 Business Case Summary
  • 1.3 Strategic Alignment
  • 2. Objectives and Success Criteria
  • 3. Scope
  • 3.1 High-Level Scope Description
  • 3.2 In Scope
  • 3.3 Out of Scope
  • 3.4 Key Deliverables
  • Guidance notes and placeholders so you can fill it in quickly

How to use it

  1. Meet the sponsor to agree the purpose, objectives and success criteria before drafting the rest.
  2. Define scope and key deliverables, listing explicit exclusions.
  3. Add milestones, delivery approach and a budget summary with the estimate accuracy stated.
  4. Complete the governance section, especially the project manager authority table and escalation path.
  5. Record top assumptions, constraints, risks and dependencies with owners, then copy them into the RAID log.
  6. Run the quality checklist and hold a review meeting with the sponsor and key stakeholders.
  7. Obtain formal approval and reissue the charter through change control if objectives, budget or milestones change.

Who it's for

Project and program managers, PMP candidates, PMOs and delivery leads.

Let's connect

I'm Pranshu Shubham, a Microsoft Dynamics 365 F&O Solution Architect and PMP-certified program lead with 8+ years of ERP and AI transformation across the USA, Europe and APAC. I created this resource from real project experience, and I'd love to hear how you use it.