Project Charter

The project charter is a structured document that outlines the key elements of a project, ensuring clarity in its purpose, scope, success criteria, involved stakeholders, and expected outcomes. A project charter includes fundamental details such as the project title, description, budget, schedule, risk factors, team members, communication methods, and stakeholders.

Creating a Project Charter

Project charters saved in the project are created from templates. To add a project charter, you must first create at least one project charter template.

Here’s how to create a project charter template: Create a project charter template.

Creating a Project Charter

1. Open the project where you want to create a project charter.
2. Go to the Project Charter tab.
3. Click the Add button. A list of available project charter templates will appear.
4. Select the relevant template and click Add.
5. In the next window, enter a custom name for this charter (if different from the template name) and click Add.
6. The new project charter is now created with a Draft status.

Creating a New Version of a Project Charter

1. Open the project where you want to create a new version of a project charter.
2. Go to the Project Charter tab, where a list of existing charters is displayed.
3. Click the name of the charter you want to base the new version on.
4. Click New Version. A window will open, allowing you to rename the version.
5. Confirm by clicking Add. The new version retains the previous charter’s data and is available for updates.

Completing the Project Charter

The project charter consists of sections defined by the assigned template.

You can learn how to make your project charter template by following these steps: Create a project charter template.

Filling Out the Project Charter

1. Open the project where you want to create a new version of a project charter.
2. Go to the Project Charter tab, where a list of existing charters is displayed.
3. Click the name of the charter you want to fill out.
4. Click each section and fill in the required information.

Read-Only Fields and Restrictions

Some fields (e.g., budget, schedule) may be read-only based on template settings or approval status.

Approved charters cannot be edited.

Sorting Tasks and Milestones

If the charter contains tasks or milestones:

• Click column headers (WBS, Name, End Date, etc.) to sort the list.
• The sorting order applies when exporting or printing the charter.

Exporting the Project Charter

1. Open the project where you want to export the project charter.
2. Go to the Project Charter tab.
3. Click Export. If the charter has been approved through an approval process, two options appear:
   • Without approval — exports the charter content only (as before).
   • With approval — exports the charter together with the full approval path.

   Otherwise, the export starts immediately.

4. A PDF file is generated.

When With approval is selected, the exported document shows:

• The name of each approver.
• The date of each approval.
• Any comments added during approval — including formatted text, links, and images entered in the comment window (see Enhanced approval comment window).

New PDF preview behavior: when you click Export with the PDF format selected, the document opens in the browser’s built-in PDF preview in a new tab instead of being downloaded directly. From the preview you can save the file, print it, or close it — using the standard browser controls.

Project Charter Acceptance

Accepting the Project Charter Without an Acceptance Path

1. Assign a project charter to the project and complete all necessary fields.
2. Click Send to Acceptance to open the approval window.
3. (Optional) Select whether the Schedule and Budget sections should be included.
4. Ensure the Acceptance Path field is empty.
5. Click Approve Baseline. The charter status updates to Approved.

Sending the Project Charter for Approval

1. Ensure that at least one acceptance path is configured in the system.
2. Assign and complete the project charter.
3. Click Send to Acceptance to open the approval window.
4. (Optional) Choose whether to include Schedule and Budget sections.
5. Select the Acceptance Path name from the list.
6. Click Approve Baseline. The charter status updates to In Progress. Users assigned to first level of the selected acceptance path will receive notifications.

For more details on approval workflows, refer to Acceptance path

Accepting a Project Charter via the Approval Path

1. Go to the Project Charter tab and open the selected charter.
2. Click Acceptance or follow the approval link in the email.
3. In the Baseline Change window, enter a description in the My Acceptance field.
4. Choose one of the options: Accept, Needs Work, or Reject.
5. Click Confirm to store the approval response.

For information on how to create acceptance paths, refer to Creating acceptance paths