Project Roles and Responsibilities

Project Sponsor / Executive / Senior Responsible Owner

The Project Sponsor is ultimately accountable for the success or failure of the project.

The Project Sponsor has to ensure that the project is focused on achieving its business objectives and delivering the forecast benefits. The Project Sponsor has to ensure that the project gives value for money and adopts a cost effective approach which balances the demands of the business, users and suppliers. Throughout the project the Project Sponsor is responsible for the business case and needs to be able to take a balanced view of the project on behalf of the wider organisation.  

This role will normally be undertaken by someone operating at a senior level within the business organisation with significant executive and natural authority. The responsibilities of the Project Sponsor include:

• Securing budgets and ensuring appropriate financial controls are in place
• Appointing the project management team including other members of the Project Board
• Advocating the project both internally and externally
• Supporting the project manager to successfully deliver the project
• Signing off project deliverables  

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The Project Manager ensures that the project deliverables are produced within the agreed time and cost and of the required quality to deliver the benefits defined in the business case.

The Project Manager is also known - or better regarded as - The Project Leader as he or she must provide leadership to deliver the project for the Sponsor. The Project Manager runs the project from day to day on behalf of the Project Sponsor and represents the business' interests.  

The responsibilities of the Project Manager include:

• leading  the project
• directing the project team
• managing the project plan
• maintaining the risk register, issue and change control logs
• reporting on progress to the Project Sponsor, Project Board and other stakeholders
• ensuring communications is in place for all stakeholders  

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Senior User

The Senior User represents those groups who will use or gain benefit from the project and must be empowered to make decisions on their behalf.

The Senior User is likely to be responsible for realising the business benefits and may have "business as usual" service commitments after the project is completed.

This role will normally be undertaken by someone operating at a senior level within the user organisation with significant executive and natural authority. The responsibilities of the Senior User include:

• Ensuring user needs are understood and accurately specified
• Commiting user resources
• Communicating between the user community and the project team
• Ensuring that the solution meets user expectations, satisfies user needs and contributes towards realising the business benefits

In larger or more complex projects a User Advisory Board can be set up to represent wider user interests. In such cases the Senior User will chair this group.  

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Senior Supplier

The Senior Supplier represents those groups who will design, develop, facilitate, procure and implement the project and must be empowered to make decisions on their behalf.  

This role will normally be undertaken by someone operating at a senior level within the supplier organisation with significant executive and natural authority. The responsibilities of the Senior Supplier include:

• Ensuring project plans, proposals and specifications are feasible and realistic
• Committing supplier resources and ensuring any divergence from budgeted supplier costs is appropriately managed
• Ensuring the quality of the project deliverables and the overall technical integrity of the project
• Ensuring that the project deliverables are reliable, appropriately integrated and can be maintained efficiently

In larger or more complex projects a Supplier Advisory Board can be set up to represent wider supplier interests. In such cases the Senior Supplier will chair this group.  

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Procurement Adviser

The Procurement Adviser Provides professional advice and guidance for the procurement elements of the project. 

This role is mandatory on projects with total external spend (across 4 years) over the OJEU threshold.  

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Programme Manager

and Programme Owner

The Programme Manager is responsible for the overall integrity and coherence of the programme, ensuring that the benefits the programme is there to bring to the business are delivered through its projects, and develops and maintains the programme environment to support the projects.

The Programme Manager is responsible for successful delivery of the programme of which the project is part. The role requires effective coordination of the projects and their inter-dependencies, including IS and other resources, and any risks and other issues that may arise. The Programme Manager works with the Programme Owner to deliver a prioritised list of projects, balancing and resolving conflicts on resourcing and cost across the projects, and is a point of escalation for project managers where resources or costs become an issue . For projects with no Senior Supplier the Programme Manager will take on the responsibilities of the Senior Supplier role.

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Portfolio Manager

and Portfolio Owner

The Portfolio Manager is responsible for the overall integrity and coherence of the portfolio, ensuring a coherent set of programmes and  individual projects to deliver the strategic aims of the business.

The Portfolio Manager is responsible for overall delivery of programmes and projects across the portfolio. The role requires effective coordination of programmes and projects and any inter-dependencies, including IS and other resources, and any risks and other issues that may arise. The Portfolio Manager works with the Portfolio Owner to deliver a prioritised list of projects, grouped into programmes as required, balancing and resolving conflicts on resourcing and cost across the projects, and is a point of escalation for programme managers where resources or costs become an issue .

Project Board

The Project Board provides direction and management for the project.

The Project Board is the overall authority for the project and is accountable for its success or failure.   

A project board for a small project can be very small though the roles of Project Sponsor, Senior User and Senior Supplier are essential - but an individual can be Project Sponsor and also Senior User.

Members must have sufficient authority to carry out their responsibilities effectively.  

The collective responsibilities of the Project Board members include:

• Accepting and demonstrating ownership for the project
• Working as a team to provide collective and unified direction
• Effective delegation with appropriate project tolerances and exception management processes
• Facilitating cross functional working ensuring that the project structure is recognised and respected by line management
• Commiting all of the resources required to successfully complete the project
• Effective decision making including risk, issue and change management
• Project assurance and quality control
• Ensuring timely and effective communication within the project and with external stakeholders
• Ensuring that the project deliverables are reliable, sustainable and can be maintained efficiently

All projects require an effective governance structure. As a minimum the Project Board should include the Project Sponsor, Senior User(s), Senior Supplier(s) and Project Manager. Other staff such as the Programme Manager can provide support to the Project Manager as required.

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The Technical Lead on a project provides guidance and advice and responsibility on technical matters, can advise on and clarify technical issues for business partners, and leads on helping to achieve expected quality of technical outout.

• Central point of communication for technical tasks and issues
• Arbiter of significant technical decisions
• Able to provide confident liaison with business partners of varying degrees of technical knowledge at all stages of project
• Provide initial triage for technical issues raised during all project stages
• Provide technical quality assurance, oversight and support for project team at all project stages
• Ensure technical tasks are proceeding as planned
• Owner and manager of project technical risks
• Raise issues around standards, quality to Project Manager and/or Senior Supplier as required
• Raise need for skills and training to Project Manager and/or Senior Supplier as required  

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The Business Analysis has the task of understanding business change needs, assessing the business impact of those changes, capturing, analysing and documenting requirements and supporting the communication and delivery of requirements with relevant stakeholders.

• Understand the big picture
• Through Analysis
  • Clarify Scope
  • Clarify Stakeholders
  • Clarify Business Requirements
  • Set Acceptance Criteria
  • Set Traceability for the project
• Support Design and Traceability
• Support Build and Traceability
• Run UATand Traceability
• Support Delivery

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Senior Advisor on Strategic Review

Senior Advisor on Strategic Review  will provide the technical expertise to the strategic review

Within the context of this project, the Senior Advisor will

• take ownership of the work assigned
• understand the current network
• understand the long term requirements for the university
• provide advice to the project team
• provide the analysis needed to set out the strategic review recommendations
• providing the project documentation
• communicating to the project manager immediately any delay, any issues preventing work, any re-evaluation of the estimate of the effort required, the risk to completing a task in the expected time

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