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DMAIC project charter template
A project charter is the one-page agreement that starts a DMAIC or Lean Six Sigma project. It says what the problem is and what it costs, what the team will achieve by when, how success is measured, what is in and out of scope, who is on the team and when each phase should end, and the sponsor signs it before any analysis starts. Page 1 of this template has the business case, the problem and goal statements, a metrics table with the primary metric and the ones that must not get worse, scope, team and milestones. Page 2 has the estimated benefits with Finance's check, risks, sign-off and a 20-point tollgate checklist for the five phases. The Excel version works out the planned dates from the start and the weeks per phase, days late and status as of any date, the share of the gap closed on the primary metric, an estimate of hard savings for a rate metric, and percent done at each tollgate.
Free to use: print it, copy it and edit it for your team. Enter your name and work email once to download.
When to use it
When to use a DMAIC project charter
- At the start of every Green Belt or Black Belt project, before the Measure phase.
- When a project has a sponsor but no agreed goal, scope or end date.
- When projects keep growing in scope or run on with no finish.
- To compare candidate projects on the same page before choosing which to start.
How to fill it in
- 1
Write the problem statement
What is wrong, where, since when and how big, in numbers. No cause and no solution: those come out of Measure and Analyze.
- 2
Set the goal and the metrics
From what to what by when, on one primary metric. Add one or two secondary metrics that must not get worse, such as cycle time when you are cutting scrap.
- 3
Draw the scope
Where the process starts and ends, which lines, products and shifts are in, and what is out. A SIPOC helps.
- 4
Name the team and the time
Sponsor, process owner, project lead, members and someone from Finance, with the hours each can give a week.
- 5
Plan the phases and the tollgates
Weeks per phase and the date of each tollgate review. The sponsor signs each phase off before the next starts.
- 6
Estimate the benefit and have Finance check it
Keep hard and soft savings apart. Finance confirms the hard savings at the Control tollgate, not at the start.
What each tollgate needs
The DMAIC tollgate checklist: 20 items over five phases
On page 2 of the charter, and on its own sheet in the Excel version. The sponsor signs a phase off when its four items are done, and the next phase starts after that.
Define
What the problem is, why it matters and who owns it
- 1Charter signed by the sponsor and the process owner
- 2Problem and goal statements written with a baseline and a date
- 3Scope agreed, in and out, with a SIPOC of the process
- 4Customer requirements turned into a primary metric and secondary metrics
Measure
How the process performs today, with data you trust
- 5Operational definition of each metric and a data collection plan
- 6Measurement system checked (gage R&R or attribute agreement) before the data is used
- 7Process mapped as it runs today and baseline data collected
- 8Baseline confirmed on the primary metric and the goal checked against it
Analyze
Which causes drive the problem, proven with data
- 9Possible causes listed from the process map, a fishbone and the 5 Whys
- 10Causes tested with data and on the floor, not voted on
- 11Root causes confirmed and their effect on the primary metric sized
- 12Causes ruled out recorded with the evidence
Improve
Fix the confirmed causes and prove the fix works
- 13Solutions chosen against the confirmed causes, with cost and risk weighed
- 14Pilot run and its results compared with the baseline
- 15Risks of the change reviewed (FMEA updated) and approvals in place
- 16Implementation plan with owners and dates
Control
Hold the gain and hand the process back
- 17Control plan written and standard work or SOPs updated
- 18Monitoring in place with a reaction plan (control chart or KPI with limits)
- 19Results held over the agreed period and savings verified by Finance
- 20Project closed with lessons shared and the process handed back to its owner
A filled-in example
Illustrative, not a benchmarkAn example: short-shot scrap on an injection molding line (illustrative).
- Problem: from January to June 2026, short shots on Line 3 housings averaged 4.2% of parts made (31,500 of 750,000), against a plant goal of 1.5%. At $1.20 a part that is $37,800 in six months.
- Goal: from 4.2% to 1.5% by 30 November 2026, without the cycle time going over 38 s or flash defects over 0.6%.
- Scope: Line 3, presses 3A and 3B, the housing family, all shifts. Out: mold redesign, other lines, a resin supplier change.
- Plan: start 6 July, Define 2 weeks, Measure 4, Analyze 4, Improve 6, Control 4, ending 23 November. Estimated hard savings: (4.2% − 1.5%) × 1,500,000 parts a year × $1.20 = $48,600 a year.
By 1 October Measure and Analyze had each closed 4 days late and the pilot in Improve had scrap at 2.1%, 78% of the way from 4.2% to the goal, with cycle time and flash both inside their limits.
Common mistakes
A solution in the problem statement
'Scrap is high because the dryer is too small' decides the answer before the data. State the problem; let Analyze find the cause.
Scope that covers everything
'Reduce scrap in the plant' never finishes. One line, one product family, one defect type.
No secondary metrics
Scrap can be cut by slowing the press. Name what must not get worse and watch it.
Savings nobody checked
A savings figure Finance has not seen is a guess. Agree how it is worked out at the start and have it verified at Control.
Never revisiting the charter
Measure often shows the problem is bigger or smaller than thought. Update the charter at the tollgate and have the sponsor sign again.
Download the template
Free to use: print it, copy it and edit it for your team. Enter your name and work email once to download.
Run this template in LeanSuite
In LeanSuite each project type has its own methodologies, such as A3, PDCA or DMAIC, with phases and days per phase, so due dates fill in from the methodology's timing, late phases trigger alerts, and each project tracks more than one KPI with its own target and result.
In the lean glossary
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FAQ
DMAIC project charter template: common questions
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