The Project Charter should contain a high-level timeline so that expectations can be set and preliminary commitments established. If not enough is known at Charter time to be reasonably certain of this timeline, then it should be noted as to when the baseline schedule will be established.

The timeline will contain elements that depend on your organization’s methodology. You will want to note target completion dates for major milestones and phases. Here is an example for a software development project:

• Requirements – Jan 31
• Design – Feb 23
• Development/Unit Testing – April 8
• System Testing – April 30
• User Acceptance Testing – May 21
• Transition to Production – June 8
• Production Stabilization – July 8

For projects not involving software, your phases and major milestones will be named according to the nature of the project. Here is an example where the project is to order and install new equipment in several locations:

• Scope established – Jan 15
• Products Ordered – Jan 30
• Products Tested – Feb 21
• Products installed in pilot locations – March 15
• Products installed in all locations – June 1