A team charter is “… a clear description of the team's mission, as well as the authority and resources provided to accomplish that mission. The charter typically includes a statement of mission, objectives or statement of work; background; authority or boundary conditions (scope, constraints, resources, and schedule); membership; requirements or specifications, and interface responsibilities.”1

This template can be used and modified accordingly, when teams are created to help the team develop their mission and mandate, to identify the individual roles and responsibilities of team members, and clearly define the boundaries of the team. This charter, once complete, should be then approved by the team sponsor (this may be an individual, a group of individuals or committee), so that the expectations of the team and the team members are clearly defined and understood.

Each item listed below should be determined (preferably by all members of the team) when developing a team charter. A brief description of each item is provided in the adjacent column, followed by meeting ground rules for the team.

Item	Brief Description	
Project Mandate	If there is an over-arching project from which the team’s creation was
spurred.	
Sponsor	The individual(s) who have asked for the team’s creation	
Team Mandate (Scope)	The purpose/ mission of the team	
Boundaries (level of authority, constraints)	The constraints that the team is working with, for example what authority does the team have to make decisions, and what technologies will be used
by the team (pre-determined)	
Clients/Customers	Who is the team’s mission to serve	
Stakeholders	In who’s interest is the success of the team	
Deliverables	What is the team to deliver at the end of it’s mandate	
Life Cycle	How long is the team to exist	
Team Membership Roles/Responsibilities	Who is in the team, what is their role and what are they responsible for	
Resources	What does the team have at-hand	
	Financial	Is there a budget for the team, who is responsible	
	Human	Are there other resources available to team members (eg. Clerical staff)	
	Physical	Are there rooms that the team have access to	
	Equipment	Is there equipment, such as a laptop for meeting etc. that team member	
On going Team Communication Plans	How will the team communicate amongst members (eg listserv etc.), how
often, who is responsible etc.	
Reporting (Relationship, To Who,
What, When, & How)	Who will report status updates of the team, to whom, how often,and in
what format	
Decision making process	How will decisions be made? eg. Consensus etc.	

1 Definition of team charter retrieved from http://www.npd-solutions.com/charter.html , February 17th, 2009

		
Action Plan	A list of the key components (itemized and prioritized) of the team’s action items, for example, the first could be to develop a team charter, the next to
research best practices etc.	
Timeline	When are the action items of the team and the deliverables to be
completed (milestones)	
Contingency plans	If milestones are missed or altered, what are the options available	
Key Success Factors	How will success of the team be measured	
Task Log	What is everyone working on (during the life of the team, this task log
should be visited (can be a working tool for reporting status of team)	
Training	What training is required (and for which team member) in order for the
team’s mandate be realized.	
Issue Tracking	How will issues be tracked and how will they be resolved	
Conflict Resolution	How will conflict be managed within the group	
Progress Tracking/ Evaluation	How will team progress be tracked and how will that progress be evaluated	

Meeting Ground Rules	
Frequency:	How often	
Start/Stop Time:	When (how long)	
Agenda :	How is the agenda created for each meeting, when is it distributed, who is
responsible, and how will be distributed	
Meeting Notes:	Who is responsible for taking meeting notes, what should be captured, where filed and who has access	
Location:	Where will the meetings take place