Quality Improvement: Project Charters
About project charters
This tool can assist with documenting what it is that you want to achieve, why this is important and how it is that you will measure the success of your project. Project charters contains several elements, one of which will be your aim statement. This should provide the rationale behind your improvement project, a description of what changes you are testing and how it is that you will measure the impact of your tests of change. There are four elements to an aim statement: What, Where, By how much and When.
Supporting protocol work – how you might use this tool
When adapting and implementing a local mental health and substance use protocol, this tool can assist with:
- Providing a shared vision and a means to communicate what is to be achieved and why this is important.
- Providing the scope of the work and identifies barriers and facilitators.
- Assisting leadership in seeing the value of the project, how it aligns to strategic objectives, secure buy in and resources.
- Providing a definition of how improvement will be measured and shared.
- Empowering teams and assist with developing QI skills.
- Providing clarity on who will be involved, their roles and their responsibilities.
Planning your sessions
You may need several sessions to complete your project charter to the necessary detail. These could be done virtually or in person. Consideration will be needed from your team to identify which method of engagement will work best, or if a combination of approaches will best suit your needs. The resources section has further tools and guidance to support your planning.
What you need to do before
- Share the project charter template with the team so that they are familiar with the format and what is needed to complete the template.
- An understanding and the rationale for improving your system/service.
What you will need for the session
- If the session is remote, a platform that allows for the sharing of virtual ‘post-its’ such as JamBoard or Miro.
- Facilitation to complete the template.
Who should be involved
- Staff from across the system or service who will be in the improvement project team.
What to do after the session
- Share complete project charter with the team for sense checking and correction.
- Share with senior management or leadership to obtain buy in for your improvement work.
- Ensure that the project charter is kept as a living document that guides the rest of your improvement work.
- Use the project charter to inform your work and for use in completing other QI tools (driver diagram).
