CPI Project Charter Guidelines 1. What is the purpose of a project charter?

The charter is a contract between the Champion and the project team created at the outset of the project. Its purpose is:

o To clarify what is expected of the team o To keep the team focused o To keep the project and team aligned with organizational priorities o To transfer the project from the champion to the team

Project Charter Do’s

o Make problem statement specific o Focus on observable symptoms o Use Charter to set direction and goals o Address project questions early o Champion driven

Project Charter Don’ts

o Assign blame in the problem statement o Set non-obtainable goals o Make the Charter wordy o Completed without the Champion

2. Field Definitions / Guidance

Project Type: Choose either Six Sigma, Lean, VSA (Value Stream Analysis), or EPS (Executive Planning Session)

Project Name: Enter the project name in the following formats using keywords:

o NAVMED

− (Region)-(MTF/SupCmd)-(Dir)-(Dept)-FY##: Use Keywords o BUMED

− BUMED-(Code)-FY##: Use Keywords

Project Start Date: Enter the date the project will start.

Project Champion: Enter the name of the Champion, e.g., the CO, XO, or even a Director.

Process Owner: Enter the name of the Process Owner, e.g., the Director, Dept.

Head, or even a Senior Leader/Manager.

Command Black Belt: Enter the name of the Command Black Belt, e.g., the Lead Black Belt who is managing all Lean Six Sigma Projects in the command.

Mentor (BB/MBB): Enter the name of the Black Belt Mentor.

Lead Belt: Enter the name of the either the Black /Green Belt who is assigned to lead the project.

Financial Subject Matter Expert (FSME): Assists belt with obtaining financial

data such as cost information and metrics. They are a part-time member of the team.

Problem Statement: A brief statement that states the pain being felt and why a

project should be initiated to mitigate that pain. If data is known it should be included to strengthen the problem statement. This should succinctly communicate why a project is being undertaken. Questions that help focus the problem statement include:

o Keep it simple initially and use noun and verb statements (e.g. Patient has

headache) o This simple format can be supplemented by a detailed narrative elsewhere. o Short descriptions of the associated processes' most pressing problems. o Define "defect" in the context of this project. o Define defect categories (imagine a pareto chart). o Be sure root causes are not identified in the opportunity statement. o Cost of Poor Quality (COPQ) estimate.

What is the nature of the problem?

What happens? What type of problem is it? What do we know about it?

Where does the problem occur?

Where is it physically located? What step of the process is it in?

When does the problem occur?

Day, time of day, shift, month, season, annual cycle? When doesn't it occur? When is the problem greatest?

Who is involved?

Who are the customers that are involved? Who are the suppliers that are involved? Who else is involved?

Which is involved?

Which department is involved? Which machines are involved?

Why is it important?

Expected Benefits: The business case states the importance of the project in

relation to other strategic goals of the company. It should be prepared so that it will help sway management to allocate resources to support the team’s efforts to find a reasonable solution.

o Will the benefit of the project outweigh the cost of the project? o What's the worst thing that could happen if this project is not done? o What is the "burning platform" for this project, e.g. incentive for change? o Why is this project and its business processes important to the organization's

mission? o Which elements of the corporate plan does this project support?

Meaningful Manageable

Impacts the external customer Organization has bought in Promotes organization strategy Has likelihood of success Has financial benefit Resources and expertise Has sense of urgency Scope is realistic

o Type 1 Benefits

Elimination of non-labor cost Reduced Contract Support Services (CSS) Support Elimination of whole work-year(s) and associated billet(s) Reduction to budgeted overtime

o Type II Benefits

Improved resource utilization to produce a product Reduce maintenance costs Work-year reduction, but does not eliminate a billet Improved capital equipment utilization Share resource between organizations Partial footprint reduction

o Type 3 Benefits – “All projects have Type 3 benefits”

Improves safety Improves customer satisfaction Improves quality and work-life No financial validation required

Goal Statement / Proposed Outcomes: The goal statement should describe

the expected outcomes and results of the project.

o The SMART acronym is sometimes seen as:

Specific Measurable Attainable Realistic Timely

o The goal statement could change dependent upon the team’s understanding of the

Voice of the customer. The team uses the SMART acronym to determine if the goal statement is well written. A strong, well-written goal statement can help a team to focus on accomplishing its overall mission.

o The goal is not any arbitrary target. It should be based on a methodology, such as %

of Process Entitlement, % of a Benchmark. The statement may be re-defined in Measure, when more data is available. In some cases, the statement needs to be re-defined because some “x’s” are off limits for improvements.

Metrics: Enter the output metric and how is the defect being measured.

Project Boundaries:

o Process Start and End Point: Enter the start of the process and the end of the

process. “Point A to Point B”. Use keywords!

o In and Out of Scope: The scope sets the boundaries of what is included or excluded from the charter. Look for a balance when defining the project between too narrow and too broad. The scope should be viewed as a contract between the team and the business affected by the project. If not, the business will tend to expand the scope through the project, this is known as scope creep.

o Tips:

An important element in the charter Process the team will focus on Boundaries of the process (Start point & Stop point) Resources available Any out-of-bounds issues Any constraints Seeks a balance A contract to avoid scope creep

o Consequences of Poor Scoping: Determining appropriate project scope is very

difficult to do the first time. It takes a lot of experience. It is not unusual for projects to be refined during the Measure phase of the project. The most typical scoping problem is the project starts too big. If the project is drastically cut down, however, it might compromise the cost benefit used to select and prioritize the project in the first place. The team roster might also need revision.

Is It Too Broad

Includes many projects leading to poor focus Takes too long a time Requires many disciplines in the team Other?

Is It Too Narrow

Will not return enough benefits to be worthwhile May not solve enough of the identified problem Other?

o Scoping Tools

SIPOC Diagrams Fishbone Diagrams Pareto Analysis Tree Diagrams Affinity Diagrams Force Field Diagrams Matrix Diagrams

Planned Tollgates: Select the project type and enter the end date of that

phase. This is the date the project lead will brief the Executive Project Sponsor (Champion), Project Sponsor (Process Owner), and the Gate Approver (Command Black Belt).

Team Selection: Enter the team members and their role (Subject Matter Experts (SME), Co-Lead Black Belt, Co-Lead Green Belt, Admin Support, Team Member, and Team Leader).

Project Charter Signatures: The Project Champion to sign to approve and start

this project.

Project Closure Signatures: The Project Champion will sign after the Control Phase / Post-Event to accept the new process and pass over to the Project Sponsor.