Well, even though they are important, the irony is that there are no set standards as far as the content of a project charter is concerned. The content varies depending on the type of industry and may include a mix of the following issues related to the implementations:
-Core Project Objectives: This section lays out the basic goals and objectives of the suggested quality improvement project
-Process Improvement: This section lists all business processes that need to be improved
-Process Specific Problems: This section lists core problems associated with each individual business processes
-Project Parameters: This section defines the parameters or boundaries of the quality improvement initiatives
-Basic Project Requirements: This section provides detailed information about the tools, techniques, concepts and methodologies that are to be utilized during the implementations
-Cost of Poor Quality: Referred to as COPQ for short, this section describes the common reasons that might be responsible for rising operational costs and decreasing efficiency
Why It Has Become Necessary To Add More Value to Project Charters
Well, the most obvious reason is that the business environment has changed dramatically over the years. The above issues may still be important, but since Six Sigma projects are now becoming increasingly customer oriented, businesses have no other option but to include new issues and topics that might add more value to project charters.
Most project charters that are created nowadays describe the needs, requirements, and expectations of the target audience (i.e., existing as well as potential customers). They also explain how the improvement initiatives are linked directly to customer needs and expectations.
This allows implementation team members to understand the real purpose of the improvement projects, necessary for carrying out the implementations in the desired manner.
How to Add More Value to Project Charters
Well, the first thing that businesses need to do is identify the exact needs and requirements of the target audience. Here, businesses need to be very specific because if needs are defined in terms such as "better quality" or "low price", it's highly unlikely that the project will achieve any real results.
What actually needs to be done is quantify the needs and requirements into measurable terms such as "a 20 percent improvement in product or service quality" or "a 20 percent reduction in the list price". Such quantification will make the basic project objectives quite clear to the implementation team members, something that will pave the way for the project's successful completion.
However, businesses should never forget that project charters act as the blueprint and that even small mistakes can lead to serious problems during implementations. For best results, it is recommended that businesses go slow and take the necessary precautions while adding new content or value to Six Sigma project charters.
Although you may find some of the content of Six Sigma Project Charters to be similar, the key ingredients vary considerably - and to be more precise, it varies from company to company.
Some of these areas that help in forming the core of the Project Charter consist of the following aspects:
-Project Goals: Just as the name suggests, this aspect contains the objectives that are planned and defined by measuring the effectiveness of the plan (i.e., the predetermined goals that are to be included in the Six Sigma Project Charter).
-Measuring the Project: After the goals are clearly defined, the next thing on your agenda is to measure all the tools that are required with respect to assessing the results derived with respect to complying with the objectives of the project charter.
-Cost of Poor Quality (COPQ): When we talk about the Cost of Poor Quality, the first thing that comes to mind is identifying the causes for increases in processing costs and identifying the causes of any inefficiencies.
-Quality Improvement Processes: When we talk about Six Sigma, we always talk about quality improvement. This aspect is always given more emphasis when drafting the Six Sigma Project Charter.
-Elimination Factor: This is another aspect that we can't forget with respect to the Six Sigma Project Charter. That's because quality improvement can be brought about only after the elimination of the defects - and defects can be eliminated only after the root causes of the problems that are affecting the organization are known.
Saying "Yes" to Content Quality
Adding more quality to the Six Sigma Project Charter content calls for the organization to provide more detailed information that helps in defining the needs of the customer, thereby setting up a benchmark for existing, as well as future, competition in the market.
Sometimes, aspects such as better quality products and services for customers may not be enough. It should also be kept in mind that in addition to customer expectations with respect to products and services offered, there should be no compromise with respect to quality whatsoever.
Overall customer satisfaction should be the top priority on any organization's list of objectives - and once that objective has been complied with, it will mean that the Six Sigma Project Charter has done its job.
Whenever additions are made to the Six Sigma Project Charter, keeping the content quality in mind, the implementation process becomes much easier - thereby contributing to the overall success of Six Sigma.
Tony Jacowski has sinced written about articles on various topics from University, Six Sigma and Information Technology. Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solution's Six Sigma Online offers online six sigma training and certification classes for six sigma pro. Tony Jacowski's top article generates over 90500 views. Bookmark Tony Jacowski to your Favourites.