A Project Charter describes the work you intend to do by identifying the process to be improved and known problems that you may pursue.

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For a simple Quick Win project, your Project Charter should have:

Enter the name typically used by your organization to identify the process you intend to improve. If there is no generally accepted name, create a simple, descriptive title. Here are some examples:

Identify who manages the process—this person will be considered the Process Owner. If there is no specific manager of the process, determine who would have to approve any changes you propose. If there are multiple people, choose the one who is most involved with the process.

Consider if there are known problems within the process that you would like to solve. If there are none, leave this portion blank.

The Process Purpose describes the reason the process exists. In answering this, consider what the process delivers. Some examples are:

You may be working on the process by yourself, or you could have others helping you. If there are others, list them in your team. While you may be able to do this alone, more eyes looking at the process will find more opportunities!

When you complete the Project Charter, discuss it with the Process Owner and your supervisor, who may request changes. You can update this screen as needed.

For more complex problems/processes (Root Cause Exploration project), your Project Charter will need the following information:

The Problem Statement should address questions like:

When you read this statement, it should be clear why you chose to work on this issue.

The Business Case & Benefits section is where you quantify what the improvement will yield to your organization to the best of your ability. The benefits can combine hard financial savings (such as reduced scrap, rework or even inventory levels) or soft savings (such as increased customer or employee satisfaction).

The Scope In/Out section contains two segments. First, use the Process Start/End to define the first and last steps of the addressed process. For example, if your goal is to reduce the time it takes to deliver an order, the process start might be "take the order," and the end might be "deliver the order to the customer."

The second segment is what's In/Out. Use this segment to help define the constraints of the project. What limitations on resources are there? For example, sponsors may say "capital investments over $50,000" are Out in some cases. "No additional personnel" could also be listed under Out, whereas "current process flow" or "Current policies/procedures" could be In.

The Timeline section will ask for you to input dates. When will you start each of the 4 steps? Again, determined this by the process you are studying. How much of your day will you utilize to work on this project? How long does it take to collect the baseline data from the process?

We know this may be the first time you have pursued an improvement project, and therefore, you may not have a clear idea of how long each step will take, but enter your initial thoughts. We have included suggested ranges for each of the steps. You can adjust this schedule as you proceed through your project.

List the names of the people who will be working on this project. We recommend that you list the job function or title of each team member and not simply list them as a "team member." Be sure to list yourself in this section.

Kure guides you through each step to create your Project Charter by asking simple questions and providing guidance along the way. Powered by our Process Optimization Path® (artificial intelligence), Kure will help you and your teams collaborate to complete process improvement projects together.