The Difference Between Project Charter and Project Scope Statement

Ever wondered what the difference is between a Project Scope Statement and a Project Charter? Do you really need both?  Read more to find out.

Both are used throughout to make sure we are going in the right direction. The importance can’t be underestimated. Studies have shown that 39% of projects fail due to lack of planning. These are two essential documents that can help you avoid being part of that statistic. If you’ve researched both you are probably scratching your head and wondering what the difference is. Do I really need both? Read on to find out what each document is all about and how you can put them to good use!

The Project Charter

This where we document why a project is being undertaken. What will it deliver? What are the benefits it will bring?

It’s an essential project document as this is where you agree with stakeholders and clients what you will be delivering.  37% of projects fail due to an inability to meet the requirements. This is often caused by a lack of a charter.  In many cases, this will require sign off before it can even be started. 

So what do we include in this project?

You should include a description and reason.  Something brief that gets across what it is and why we need it. If someone joins, they should be able to get a good understanding by reading the charter.

Confusingly, we include the scope as part of the charter.  Essentially, the charter contains an overview of the scope and the project scope statement breaks it down into more detail. The scope should be clear and concise.  There should be no ambiguity around what the outcome will be.  To make it clear there is something you won’t deliver, write it in the charter. If the project was for a new marketing website the scope might state we will deliver the homepage, blog, ad landing pages and product features page. You might also state that the e-commerce part of the site is out of scope. Don’t fall into the trap of unmet expectations or delivering the wrong thing.  Make sure the charter states clearly why the project is being undertaken and what it will deliver.

Other things to include in the charter are:

• Staff and stakeholders
• High-level requirements
• Basic milestones
• High-level risks
• Budget
• Success criteria

Make sure everyone reads, understands and agrees on it. Next, we’ll go through how to expand the scope into a Project Scope statement.

The Project Scope Statement

This takes the scope from the charter and expands on it. It’s essential that this is done collaboratively with the team. As a result, you are much more likely to get buy-in from your whole team. While the audience for this is mainly the team it’s also useful when reporting to stakeholders.

In the scope statement we can define the following (among others):

• What the deliverables are. If we are delivering a software we might also need to deliver a help manual and training material.
• What constraints are in place. Does the team lack a certain skill? Is a key member not available 100% of the time?
• What assumptions are we making about how well things will go. Are we assuming we have access to a certain piece of equipment that we need?
• What are the risks? Is there a member with a highly specialised skill? What happens if they leave??
• What is out of scope. Is there anything we need to make clear that we won’t deliver? Is there any “non-goals” that need to be stated?

The important thing to note about this document is that it is a living document. Therefore, it should be updated and reviewed as new information comes to light. As a result, its only finished when the project is!

Do you really need both?

As you can see there is some overlap in content and audience for these documents.  If you feel that its overkill to maintain both, go ahead and merge them into one. There are no hard and fast rules about this and it mostly depends on the type of projects you do and who they are for.  If they are mainly internal to your company you might not need the separation. The main thing is you cover the details that are important to you and your team.

Make this work for your project!

The good news is MindGenius Online can help!  MindGenius Online is a collaborative online planning and management solution.  Using the unique mapping interface you can brainstorm with your team to ensure don’t miss important details.

Use MindGenius Online to create both before switching to the timeline view and task board for task scheduling and delivery.