You are a manager at Winsome Manufacturing Company, a company that produces plastic storage containers and sells them to the home consumer through home sales events. At the company's quarterly meeting, the head of marketing described a new product to be introduced in the first quarter of the next fiscal year, approximately nine months from now. The product will be a room-sized plastic storage unit suitable to the outside of the home; it is similar to a competitor's product but will have significantly more features. This product will open new markets for the sales channel, lay the foundation for add-on products, and generate new revenues. You have only seen preliminary sketches of the potential product but are very excited by the new product.

The project will require participation from the design, production, purchasing, shipping, sales, and marketing departments. Winsome Manufacturing owns a line of injection molds suitable, so all manufacturing will be done in-house. The project manager for this project has not yet been selected, but that decision is expected to be made in the next week.

You have been asked to come to a preliminary project initiation meeting that will result in the identification of the project sponsor and creation of the project charter.

In preparation for the meeting, answer the following questions:

• Who are the project stakeholders? How will they be involved in the project?
• Who should be the project sponsor? Why?
• From which department should the project manager come? Why?
• What are the expected results of the project?
• What is the project charter? 
  • What value will it add?
  • What problem will it solve?
  • What are the ramifications for not doing it?
• Answer the questions listed, and prepare to submit them with the charter. 
• Then write your charter, which should include the components of background, problem statement, and rationale. The background should identify the person/role/department requesting the project. The problem statement should describe the business opportunity the project will address. The rationale should describe the impact of not doing the project and may refer to a business case that you create. You should define the business value expected from the new product.
• Length of the charter should be 1-2 pages, approx. 4-6 paragraphs.