CRM Implementation Project Charter
This is a practical guide to building a project charter for a crm implementation project — the short authorising document that names the sponsor, states the objective and gives the manager authority to run the project, adapted to the realities of deploying a customer relationship management system to improve sales and service.
What a Project Charter is
A project charter is the short authorising document that names the sponsor, states the objective and gives the manager authority to run the project. For the full concept and how it works in general, see Project Charter. On a crm implementation project it plays the same role, tuned to this kind of work.
Why it matters for a CRM Implementation project
CRM Implementation projects live or die on deploying a customer relationship management system to improve sales and service. A well-built project charter gives the team a shared, explicit reference for exactly that — reducing ambiguity, aligning stakeholders, and making problems visible early enough to act. Skipping it, or doing it generically, is how crm implementation projects drift into avoidable delay and cost.
What to include
- Purpose and business justification
- Objectives and success criteria
- High-level scope (in and out)
- Budget and timeline summary
- Key stakeholders and sponsor sign-off
CRM Implementation-specific considerations
Tailor the project charter to the risks that most often derail crm implementation projects:
- Poor data quality on migration
- Low user adoption
- Integration with existing tools
Example
On a real crm implementation project, the project charter would be shaped by deploying a customer relationship management system to improve sales and service. In particular, it should explicitly account for the project’s biggest risks — poor data quality on migration, low user adoption, integration with existing tools — rather than treating them as afterthoughts.