LEAD 4033 Module 1 Project Charter Example

Project Charter: Opening a Second Clinic for a Louisville Veterinary Practice

Student Name

American College of Education

LEAD4033: Project Management

Module 1 Assignment

Instructor Name

October 12, 2026

Introduction

I am the operations manager of a veterinary practice in Louisville, Kentucky, with three veterinarians, fourteen support staff and one clinic on the east side of the city. The practice is a composite based on clinics I know, and its numbers are illustrative. For two years, our appointment book has been full three to four weeks ahead, and about a fifth of new clients now drive in from the southeast suburbs. The owners have decided to open a second clinic in leased space in Jeffersontown and have asked me to manage the project. This charter formally authorizes that project. It sets out why the project exists, what it will deliver and what it will not, the main milestones and budget, who is involved and what authority I hold, and how we will know whether it succeeded. The later papers in this course will build the schedule, budget, risk plan and team plan on the foundation set here.

Why a Charter Matters

Turner and Müller treat a project as a short-lived organization formed to bring about a change, and it needs its own authority, goals and boundaries because it sits alongside the permanent work of the business (Turner & Müller, 2003). That description fits our situation closely. Every person who will work on the new clinic also has a full day of patients, phone calls and inventory at the existing one. Without a document that says what the project is, who leads it and what it may spend, the work would compete informally with daily operations and lose. The charter gives the project a name, a sponsor and a limit, and it gives staff a reference point when a request falls outside what was agreed.

Business Case

Demand clearly exceeds our capacity. New clients wait an average of 23 days for a wellness appointment, and our front desk refers roughly fifteen callers a week elsewhere. Adding a fourth veterinarian at the existing building is not possible, because all five exam rooms are in use throughout the day. A second clinic about twelve miles southeast would serve clients already traveling to us, relieve pressure on the original building and open a growing suburban market with only one competing general practice within three miles. The owners' financial review projects that the new clinic will cover its operating costs by its fourteenth month and repay the investment within six years. The project is not an expansion for its own sake but a response to clients we are already turning away.

Project Objectives

The project has five objectives, each specific and measurable. First, open the second clinic to clients on September 13, 2027. Second, complete the project for no more than $1,200,000, including a contingency reserve of $110,000. Third, hire and train two veterinarians and six support staff before opening day, with every staff member completing orientation on our practice software, safety procedures and client service standards. Fourth, obtain every permit and registration needed to operate, including the certificate of occupancy, the controlled substance registration for the new address and the registration of the x-ray unit. Fifth, schedule at least 300 appointments in the first eight weeks after opening.

Scope

The project includes negotiating and signing the lease for about 4,200 square feet in a retail center, designing and building out the space with four exam rooms, a surgery suite, a treatment area, a pharmacy, a laboratory corner, kennels and a reception area, buying and installing medical equipment, furniture and technology, recruiting and training staff, obtaining permits and registrations and running a launch campaign for local residents. The project ends ninety days after opening, when a closeout review is complete and the clinic is handed to its own medical director and lead technician.

Out of Scope

Several items are deliberately excluded. The project will not offer boarding, grooming or emergency overnight care, which remain at the original clinic or with partners. It will not change the practice software, pricing or client policies, which the new clinic will adopt as they are. Renovation at the original clinic, although the owners have discussed it, is a separate decision. Excluding these items protects the schedule and budget and gives me a clear answer when ideas arise during the build.

Deliverables and Milestones

The major deliverables are a signed lease, approved architectural plans, a completed build-out with a certificate of occupancy, installed and tested equipment, a hired and trained staff, all registrations and a launched marketing campaign. The summary milestones are as follows: charter approval by January 15, 2027; lease signed by February 26; design approved and building permit issued by April 30; construction complete by July 30; equipment installed and tested by August 13; staff training complete by September 3; soft opening for existing clients on September 7; and public opening on September 13. Module 2 will break these into a full work breakdown structure and schedule.

Summary Budget

The approved budget is $1,200,000. At the charter stage, it is allocated in broad categories: build-out and design, $520,000; medical equipment, $410,000; technology and phones, $45,000; furniture and fixtures, $35,000; opening inventory, $40,000; payroll for staff hired before opening, $25,000; launch marketing, $15,000; and contingency, $110,000. Spending from the contingency reserve requires approval from the sponsor. Module 3 will refine these figures and set out how resources are shared between the project and the original clinic.

Stakeholders and Authority

The project sponsor is the practice's managing partner, who approves the charter, the budget, any change to scope and any use of contingency. The two other partners are key stakeholders and will be consulted on design and hiring. I serve as project manager, with authority to sign contracts up to $25,000, direct the work of the project team and approve vendor invoices within the approved budget. Other stakeholders include the landlord, the architect and general contractor, equipment vendors, the staff at the original clinic, whose schedules and workloads will be affected, current clients in the southeast suburbs and the new clinic's future neighbors. Each will receive communication suited to their role, as set out in Module 5.

Assumptions, Constraints and Early Risks

The charter assumes that a suitable lease can be signed at no more than $26 per square foot, that construction prices will hold near the contractor's preliminary estimate and that two veterinarians can be recruited by early summer. The project is constrained by the fixed budget, the opening date chosen to fall before the busy autumn vaccination season and the fact that the team has full-time duties at the original clinic. Early risks include delays in the building permit, long lead times for the x-ray and anesthesia equipment and a tight market for veterinarians. Each of these moves into the Module 4 risk register, where someone is named to watch it and a planned reply is written beside it.

How Success Will Be Judged

Meeting the date and the budget matters, but those measures alone would not tell the owners whether the project was worth doing. Atkinson (1999) argued that cost, time and quality are only part of success and that the benefits delivered to the organization and its stakeholders also count. Shenhar et al. (2001) likewise judged success on more than one scale, starting with how tightly the work ran and stretching later to what clients and the firm gain in the years after. This charter therefore adds two measures beyond the objectives above: client satisfaction at the new clinic, measured by the practice's existing survey, should match the original clinic's average within six months, and the average wait for a new client wellness appointment across both clinics should fall below ten days within a year.

Approval

Approval of this charter by the managing partner authorizes the project, commits the budget described above and confirms my role as project manager. Changes to the objectives, scope, budget or opening date after approval will follow a change request process, described in Module 4, that records the reason for the change and its effect on cost and schedule. With a clear purpose, firm boundaries and agreed measures of success, the project can now move into detailed planning.

References

Atkinson, R. (1999). Project management: Cost, time and quality, two best guesses and a phenomenon, its time to accept other success criteria. International Journal of Project Management, 17(6), 337-342. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0263-7863(98)00069-6

Shenhar, A. J., Dvir, D., Levy, O., & Maltz, A. C. (2001). Project success: A multidimensional strategic concept. Long Range Planning, 34(6), 699-725. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0024-6301(01)00097-8

Turner, J. R., & Müller, R. (2003). On the nature of the project as a temporary organization. International Journal of Project Management, 21(1), 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0263-7863(02)00020-0