Introduction
As a temporary endeavor that focuses on the production of unique operational entities, a project plays a vital role in nursing. Projects’ outcomes help either solve particular negative problems or create positive issues, such as new clinical procedures, practices, and products. Therefore, project management may be regarded as a complex process that requires proper overview, planning, organization, and evaluation for the most successful results. Project scope and charter are among tools designed to facilitate the planning and implementation of a project. In this paper, these tools, their functions, and their significance for project management will be addressed.
Project Scope
As a matter of fact, a project scope has a great impact on the outcomes of any project. As in an efficient project, time, budget, standards, and stakeholders are considered, “managing project scope is the best solution to eliminating any ambiguity and uncertainty” in it (Ajmal et al., 2019, p. 483). Documented in a specific scope statement, it implies the identification and recording of all project decisions. In other words, the scope includes the project’s goals, objectives, steps, tasks, purposes, timeline, and budget. In addition, a project scope identifies deliverables, risks, constraints, limitations, and everything out of it.
The significance of a project scope is determined by the fact that this document provides assistance for the project team and all stakeholders in their work towards goals’ achievement within the agreed budget and timeframe. That is why the scope statement should be elaborated on by all people involved in the project to represent a comprehensive overall plan with key elements accessible for examination. In addition, with defined project scope, a project manager may present a project to stakeholders in the most appropriate way as its expedience and benefits will be easily observed.
Project Charter
A project charter is a crucial element of planning as it is traditionally used throughout the whole lifecycle of a project. In general, a charter is a formal short, though official, document that addresses a project’s objectives, reasons, an overall plan and how it will be implemented, stakeholders and their responsibilities, the project’s scope, risks, benefits, budget, and timeframe (“What is a project charter?” 2021). Similar to a project scope, a project charter is elaborated on at the beginning and both documents serve as guidelines that define the project’s steps for its successful implementation and appropriate results.
The importance of a project charter is primarily determined by its official status. In other words, if a charter is not officially approved, “there is no proof or official document that an authorized project manager defined and presented a project and gained its approval from stakeholders to proceed” (“What is a project charter?” 2021, para. 5). In addition, along with its basic function of sharing understanding and creating the project’s vision, a project charter empowers a project manager, predicts success, identifies the levels of objectives’ importance, and ensures stakeholders’ awareness.
Conclusion
It goes without saying, that any project related to nursing will be unsuccessful without appropriate planning and understanding of its main goals, objectives, and purposes. Project scope and a project chart are highly essential project management tools that help efficiently plan a project for its successful implementation in the future. Using these tools, a project manager, project team, executive leaders, and other stakeholders have a clear vision of their project’s potential outcomes, barriers, and risks.
References
Ajmal, M., Khan, M., & Al-Yafei, H. (2019). Exploring factors behind project scope creep -stakeholders’ perspective. International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, 13(3), 483-504. Web.
What is a project charter? (2021). Web.