3.2 Managing The Project Board


	3.2 Managing The Project Board

.1 Purpose

This material is designed to help a Project Manager and project team work more effectively with the Project Board. Properly managing your Project Board will promote your project's ability to deliver successful business results.

.2 Overview

Effective communications with the Project Board regarding project roles, responsibilities, scope, status, and critical issues are fundamental to good project management and project success.

.3 Project Proposal and Feasibility Checklist

Use this checklist to help evaluate whether a request for project work has justification and should proceed to the Project Initiation Process.

Has a Sponsor been identified?

The Sponsor has responsibility for justifying the business benefits, securing funding, and recruiting Project Board members. MSD gets involved in each of these activities, but the Sponsor owns the responsibility for them.

	Define the preliminary scope of the proposed project.
	Prepare a 'rough' estimate of costs and benefits for the proposed project.

Be sure to involve key business resources.

Review the proposed project for compliance with the appropriate corporate standards.

Review the proposed project against the business strategy and/or Objectives, Goals, Strategies, and Measures of the company.

Should the proposed project proceed to Project Initiation? Document this decision stating the reasons for the decision.

.4 Project Board Selection

Once it has been decided that a project will proceed, a key task to be completed is the initiation of a Project Board. The Project Chief and the Project Sponsor work together to accomplish the following tasks:

Select and Recruit Members

The Project Board's mission is to guide the project through successful completion and ensure business needs are met.

The Project Board should be made up of the following roles:

	Project Chief
	Project Sponsor
	Senior Business Manager
	Senior Procurement Manager

Individuals selected for the Board should be at the appropriate level of management: 'high' enough to possess the level of influence needed for the project, and a 'low' enough level to have a direct interest in the outcome of the project.

NOTE: Specific guidelines on selecting members are included in the 'Techniques' section under 'Project Assignment'.

All Board members, along with the Project Manager, are responsible for maintaining active and ongoing communication with all Key Stakeholders. This includes those directly affected by the project, indirectly affected by the project, or financially involved in the project development or long term ongoing operations. This communication is critical to project success.

This is the standard Project Organization model that should be used to set up the Project Organization.

Click the "thumbnail" image below to view a full size image of the Project Organization model.

Roles and Responsibilities

The Project Manager and Sponsor draft a first cut of Project Board roles and responsibilities prior to the Project Board kickoff meeting. This draft will be used in the kickoff meeting as a starting point for negotiation.

A standard role description to use as a starting point follows:

	Communicate to the Project Manager and Team Members all environmental and business changes that may have an impact on the project.
	Make funds and resources available.
	Ensure key requirements are defined:

Viable business case
Clearly defined and managed project scope
Clearly defined and managed user requirements
Clearly defined and managed business requirements

	Set tolerance levels around the project scope, budget, costs and quality.
	Review and approve all project plans and schedules.
	Participate in end-of-Process reviews, and sign off on each project Process.
	Monitor progress during each Process of the project.
	Review and authorize project exception plans.
	Identify the critical needs and issues that are specific to your project. Determine at the kickoff meeting who will be responsible for each item on the list.

The roles and responsibilities are added to, changed, or moved to another role by the Project Manager, Sponsor, and Project Board members. These are finalized in the Project Board kickoff meeting.

The finalized set of project roles, responsibilities, and organization is documented by the Project Manager after the kickoff meeting and distributed to all team members.

Kickoff Meeting

Once the Project Manager, Project Chief and Sponsor have met to select the Project Board and discuss roles and responsibilities, the next step is to have the kickoff meeting. The following agenda should be tailored to fit the project:

Example Meeting Agenda

Purpose:

Project Board clarifies and agrees to roles and responsibilities.

Agenda:

Project Board join-up/introductions.

Review the Project Management process to be used.

Review the project scope, objectives and benefits.

Establish Project Board roles and responsibilities.

Define critical issues and tasks.

Work out any current project issues, address risks, costs, and constraints.

Discuss meeting norms and ongoing communication format and frequency.

Checklists

Checklists may be used in the kickoff meeting to give each Board member a guide through the project to help them understand what to do and what questions to ask at each Process. It also provides an overview of the standard Project Management process. The following checklists are in the 'Deliverables' section of this Guide under 'Checklists':

	Project Initiation
	End of Process (including Project Control)
	Project Closure

Checklist can be customized to fit any project.

Outcome of the Meeting

The output includes documentation of roles and responsibilities that is agreed to by all Board members. This serves as a written agreement of the negotiated roles and responsibilities and should be reviewed and re-evaluated by the Project Board at the end of every project Process.

.5 Ongoing Communications

Ongoing communication with your Project Board is critical to the success of your project. You should communicate project status, resolve issues and have meetings at the end of each project Process to obtain approval for the next Process.

.6 Status Reports

An essential part of ongoing communication is regular status reports. These should be provided at agreed to intervals regardless of the level of activity unless the Board agrees otherwise. The status report is written in business terms to the Project Board by the Project Manager and should be shared with the entire Project Team.

Sample Format

Agenda:

Description:

Opening Paragraph

State the intent of the report, the specific time period, topics you will be covering and what you want the Board to do.

Background

Review the purpose of the project and provide some background information.

Status Summary

Organize your discussion section around time periods:

	What happened during the past time period (versus Plan)
	What progress is expected during the next time period
	In this section, refer to attached material that shows progress against plan (Gantt charts, etc.)

Unresolved Items

List outstanding issues, problems, decisions needed and unclear scope items that must be resolved.

Conclusions

Help the audience understand your overall views on the status of the project and recommend solutions to issues.

Key Next Steps

Include milestones for the current period.

.7 Critical Issues

Project issues will emerge throughout the life of every project. The critical issues must be communicated quickly in written form and addressed by the Project Board. These are typically issues that take the project out of predetermined tolerances.

A Project Board meeting should be held to discuss and resolve the critical issue. Follow up the meeting with written documentation of issue resolution. The format should include:

	Critical Issue – Description of the issue and what it is affecting.
	Background – Information concerning how the issue developed, its impact and its status.
	Options – Options for solution of the problem or issue. Include the effect on scope, quality, cost and timing of the project.
	Recommendations – Specify the options you recommend and provide supporting detail.

.8 End of Process Meeting

Every project, regardless of the Project Life Cycle approach used, conducts end of process review meetings with the Project Board. These meetings are an opportunity for the Project Manager to get commitment, funding, and resources from the Project Board as well as guidance and coaching. A suggested agenda is given below. This can be tailored to fit any project.

Example - End of Process Review Agenda

Purpose:

Approve results of completed Process and obtain commitment to next Process.

Agenda:

Review project deliverables.

Discuss plans for the next Process.

Discuss needs for the next Process, such as: funds, resources, project board tasks, etc.

Review Business Case -- is it still viable?

Gain approval and commitment.

End of Process Checklist

The End of Process Checklist can be used by the Project Manager and the Project Board throughout each project Process to manage interactions and activities of the Project Board. It ensures that all-important Project Board related activities are accomplished. In addition, it is a good source of agenda items to include in the end of Process reviews. The End of Process Checklist is included in the Reference section under 'Checklists'.

.9 Review Managing The Project Board