What is the difference between sow and project charter

Some companies in the real world, as you say, do not follow the recommendation and put the budget in the SOW and not the project charter; that is why the Wikipedia article you mentioned talks about the SOW. The important thing to remember is that there are certain things that need to be done before the project starts, and the high-level budget is one of them. But an important function of the SOW is to tie the budget to two different things: the market need for the product that the project will produce the external need , and the strategic goals of the organization the internal need.

Even if the SOW authorizes the project to start in terms of financial resources, the project charter has another important function, and that is the give the project manager the authority to run the project. This is particularly important in an organization that is not projectized, but organized along traditional functional lines. The project manager would not have authority over the project members otherwise.

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Sign me up. Already have a WordPress. Log in now. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! In this chart, the elements 1 and 3 from the above chart on the Project Statement of Work correspond to the first element of the Project Charter, and element 2 from the above chart corresponds to the second element of the Project Charter. For the purpose of completeness, I am copying from my previous post a description of the elements of the Project Charter.

This is a high-level description of the project, which will be progressively elaborated into a description of the scope of the project as part of the Project Scope Statement. If the purpose of the project is to produce a product, service, or result, then this is a description of what a successful project will be.

This may be related to the Summary schedule, budget item below. This is a high-level estimate or ballpark figure used for preliminary approval of the project. These may be considered as the high-level constraints for the project which are elaborated later during the Define Scope process.

Who is the person or persons within the organization who will green light the project and what criteria will they use for doing so? How is this different from the Project Statement of Work?

Well, the project statement of work is initiated by the a sponsor or the b customer, so that in case b , you are the supplier or the seller. If you are producing that product for the customer, and in order to produce it you need a subcontractor to do part of your work, then you become the buyer and some other company is the seller.

However, the Procurements Statement of Work is derived from the portion of the Product Scope during the process To them, it is a project; to you it is a subproject, or a project within a project. Filed under: Uncategorized. Thank you so much for such clarity on the Project Scope Statement, in relation to the Project Charter. Finally, some body got through to me! I will now keep an eye on your site. Thanks, Janice, for your kind comment. When I was leading our study group, and somebody would be confused about a topic, it would spur me on to think of an example they could relate to.

Good point, Allison. An SOO is more likely to be used in a public sector project. Thanks for breaking this down in such detail. Thank you for sharing Jerome. The information though similar is simply being elaborated as you move forward in the project. Thank you, William. The Project Statement of Work contains the broadest description of the product that the project will create; the project charter elaborates this to a high-level broad description, and then this is elaborated even more in the project scope statement.

The project charter an the project scope statement can further describe the product by including exclusions sometimes called boundaries to make it clear what features are NOT going to be included in the project. This helps prevent unnecessary changes down the line. After reading your post, it is much clearer now.

The BEST explanation. Thank you!! That was a very good article. Cleared my concept. I want to read the rest of your articles on PMP. PMP Exam Tips. Solution: D The Project Charter is the go to document for authorization proof. It is the formal document to kick off the project and allow spending of project budget. The name of the project manager i.

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