Process 1 of 49

Develop Project Charter

Formally authorizes the project and gives the project manager the authority to apply resources. The charter is the project's birth certificate — without it, the work has no mandate.

Process Group Initiating Knowledge Area Project Integration Management

Developing the charter turns an idea or business case into an authorized project. The sponsor, not the PM, issues it, but the PM usually drafts it, and it is the document that names the PM and grants authority to spend resources. It captures the high-level purpose, objectives, success criteria, key stakeholders, and constraints — just enough to align everyone on what the project is and why it exists.

Develop Project Charter: key inputs and outputs
The key inputs feeding Develop Project Charter and the deliverables it produces — full ITTOs are listed below.

The real work is alignment: linking the project to strategic objectives, agreeing measurable success criteria, and surfacing the assumptions and constraints people are quietly carrying. The PM gathers the business case and any agreements, then facilitates the conversations that turn vague intent into a signed mandate.

Common pitfalls. Treating the charter as paperwork to rush past; vague objectives with no measurable success criteria; starting real work before authorization exists; and a charter that names a PM without actually granting authority to decide.

Inputs, Tools & Techniques, and Outputs

Inputs

  • Business documents
  • Agreements
  • Enterprise environmental factors
  • Organizational process assets

Tools & Techniques

  • Expert judgment
  • Data gathering
  • Interpersonal and team skills
  • Meetings

Outputs

  • Project charter
  • Assumption log

How This Process Connects

Every process hands artifacts to other processes. Follow the flow of this one:

Where its inputs come from

Where its outputs go

More in Project Integration Management

Develop Project Management PlanProcess 3 · PlanningDirect and Manage Project WorkProcess 27 · ExecutingManage Project KnowledgeProcess 28 · ExecutingMonitor and Control Project WorkProcess 37 · Monitoring and ControllingPerform Integrated Change ControlProcess 38 · Monitoring and ControllingClose Project or PhaseProcess 49 · ClosingProject Integration ManagementView the full Knowledge Area →

In the Domains & Principles View

The PMBOK® Guide frames this work through performance domains and principles:

Development Approach and Life Cycle Performance DomainPerformance DomainProject Work Performance DomainPerformance DomainRecognize, evaluate, and respond to system interactionsPrincipleEnable change to achieve the envisioned future statePrinciple

In the Eighth Edition

This process describes the framework as set out in the Sixth and Seventh Editions. The Eighth Edition reorganized it into 6 principles, 7 performance domains and 40 processes.

Initiate Project or Phasewhat this becamePMBOK 8 Crosswalkwhat changed, item by item

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