Adapted from Tanner James Management Consultants Pty Ltd

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• Project Manager
• Project Steering Committee
• Project Sponsor
• Senior Supplier
• Senior User
• Project Assurance

The overall responsibilities of the Project Manager are to:

1. ensure that the project produces the required deliverables, to the required standard of quality and within the specified constraints of time and cost;

2. ensure that the project deliverables are capable of achieving the benefits stipulated in the agreed Project Plan; and

3. control each stage, delegating technical control of deliverable creation/delivery to the project staff.

The specific responsibilities of the Project Manager are to:

1. oversee production of the Project Plan and agree content with Project Steering Committee;

2. plan and monitor the project;

3. obtain Project Steering Committee approval for who will undertake Project Assurance roles;

4. agree the technical and quality strategy with appropriate members of the Project Steering Committee;

5. set targets for preparation of Stage Plans by appropriate staff, and agree content with Project Steering Committee;

6. set targets for production of deliverables by project staff;

7. manage business and project risks, including the development of any contingency plans required by Project Steering Committee;

8. be accountable to the Project Steering Committee for overall progress and use of resources, and initiate corrective action where necessary;

9. report to the Project Steering Committee through each stage;

10. liaise with the Project Steering Committee and Project Assurance roles to assure the overall direction and integrity of the project;

11. undertake or delegate formal communications with external suppliers; and

12. prepare the End Project Report, and any Follow-On Action Recommendations required.

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The joint overall responsibilities of all members of the Project Steering Committee are to:

1. approve all major plans within project constraints;

2. sign-off completion of each stage of work as acceptable;

3. ensure that required resources are committed to the project; and

4. arbitrate on conflicts within the project or negotiate a solution to any problems that arise between the project and external bodies.

The joint responsibilities of all members of the Project Steering Committee at the beginning of the project are to:

1. ensure the project complies with any program or corporate directives;

2. ensure that the Project Plan complies with the relevant organisational standards and policies;

3. confirm with program management constraints upon project tolerances;

4. agree with the Project Manager that person's responsibilities and objectives;

5. delegate project assurance responsibilities and ensure they are fulfilled;

6. specify any external constraints on the project such as quality assurance; and

7. approve the Project Plan as accurate and satisfactory.

The joint responsibilities of all members of the Project Steering Committee as the project progresses are to:

1. commit resources to the project as required by approved Stage Plans;

2. review and approve Stage Plans;

3. take ownership of identified project risks as allocated during plan approval;

4. promote and maintain focus on the desired project outcome;

5. review each completed stage and approve commencement of next stage; and

6. decide action required on changes that have been escalated to Project Steering Committee level.

The joint responsibilities of all members of the Project Steering Committee at the end of the project are to:

1. approve the End Project Report and any Follow-On Action Recommendations and ensure they are passed to the appropriate authorities; and

2. establish arrangements for a Post-Project Review or other means for examining the actual benefits realised against those defined in the Project Plan.

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The Sponsor’s overall responsibilities are to:

1. ensure that the project delivers value for money to the organisation, by representing the business perspective as custodian of the Project Plan;

2. give final approval for the Project Plan;

3. authorise project expenditure;

4. balance the demands of the business, user and supplier perspectives; and

5. chair the Project Steering Committee.

At the beginning of the project the Project Sponsor is to ensure that appropriate deliverables and resources for the project are set out in the Project Plan.

As the Project progresses the Project Sponsor is to:

1. agree the outputs and resources for each stage;

2. arrange and chair Project Steering Committee meetings;

3. brief corporate or program management about project progress; and

4. make recommendations to corporate or program management if project budget or timeframe is to be exceeded.

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A Project Steering Committee Senior Supplier ensures the proposals for designing and developing the deliverables are realistic and likely to achieve the results required by the Senior User within the cost and time parameters of the Project Plan. A Senior Supplier’s overall responsibilities are to:

1. represent the interests of those supplying the project deliverables;

2. commit supplier resources to the project; and

3. ensure appropriate specialist skills are involved in supply of the project deliverable(s).

At the beginning of the project the Senior Supplier is to agree objectives for any specialist activities and approve the Project Plan accordingly.

As the Project progresses the Senior Supplier:

1. ensures that supplier resources are made available to the project;

2. contributes supplier opinions to Project Steering Committee decisions on proposed changes;

3. approves Deliverable Descriptions for specialist deliverables;

4. resolves supplier requirements and priority conflicts; and

5. briefs and advises non-technical management on all significant technical matters concerning the project.

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A Senior User is accountable for ensuring the Project’s deliverables are fit for their intended purpose and the solutions meet user needs and fall within the constraints of the Project Plan. Specifically, the Senior User is responsible for:

1. ensuring that the project adequately considers and addresses the needs of all users, being those:

   • who will directly use the project's deliverables;

   • for whom the project will achieve an objective; and

   • who will need the project deliverables in order to be able to deliver benefits;

2. ensuring the desired outcome of the project is correctly and completely specified;

3. committing user resources, including user assurance members, to the Project;

4. monitoring the outcome of the Project outputs against user requirements agreed by the Board;

5. ensuring the desired outcome of the project is correctly and completely specified; and

6. setting priorities on any proposed changes to the specification or acceptance criteria and contributing user opinions on Project Steering Committee decisions on whether to implement such changes.

At the beginning of the project the Senior User is to ensure that the desired outcomes of the project are specified in the Project Plan.

As the project progresses the Senior User is to:

1. ensure that user resources are made available to the project;

2. set priorities and contribute user opinions to Project Steering Committee decisions on proposed changes;

3. approve user aspects of Deliverable Descriptions and sign-off deliverables against these aspects;

4. resolve user requirements and priority conflicts; and

5. brief and advise user management on all significant matters concerning the project.

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The jointly held overall responsibilities of all Project Assurance members are to ensure that:

1. the right people are involved in the project;

2. there is an audit trail of quality control being performed;

3. time-scales, costs and risks are being appropriately managed; and

4. the correct official procedures and standards are being used in the implementation.

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