Achieving organizational-wide support: The effective use of a project charter in an enterprise project
Mountainside State University was undertaking a large change project: the replacement of the Learning Management System (LMS) for the university. While the need for the LMS was endorsed by the university community, there was significant skepticism toward the successful implementation of the project. The university retained Terrance Lau, a professional project manager to lead the project. As the project required the support of the entire community, one of the critical success factors was effective communication. Lau needed to recommend a sound approach to the governance team. As he was preparing for the governance team meeting, he was pondering these key questions: (1) What should be the primary focus of the project communication? (2) Was there an optimal project management deliverable that could provide a reliable source of information? (3) What were the vital components of this deliverable? (4) Who should be involved in the approval process?
In completing this assignment, students should be able to:
1. Describe the importance of project communication in enterprise projects, especially on influencing stakeholder support
2. Evaluate the project and project environment and address the key challenges
3. Determine the project management deliverables that provide a credible source of project information
4. Analyze the process and the roles involved in the development and approval of this important project deliverable
Application
This decision-based critical incident was designed for use in entry-level project management, innovation management, and general management courses on the challenges of project implementation.