Project board

Skills and attributes

The project board members should be able to:

-Understand project plans and monitor progress against plan;
-Understand and act on those factors that affect the successful delivery of the project;
-Broker relationships with stakeholders within and outside the project;
-Provide delegated authority, as required, to ensure the project meets its objectives;
-Be aware of the broader perspective and how it affects the project.

Specific responsibilities

The project board's executive (the SRO) is responsible for:

-Appointing the Project Sponsor/Project Director (and Project Manager, where these roles are combined) and agreeing his/her remit and delegated authority;
-Signing off the Project Brief and Project Initiation Document or equivalent;
-Agreeing all major plans;
-Authorising any major deviations from the agreed stage plans;
-Signing off the completion of each stage, including the deliverables, and giving approval to start the subsequent stage;
-Communicating information about the project to the organisation(s) and stakeholder groups as necessary;
-Ensuring that the required resources are available;
-Resolving any conflicts escalated by the project team, client or supplier;
-Agreeing the project tolerances for time, quality and cost;
-Providing overall strategic guidance for the project;
-The risk(s) associated with the project;
-The quality assurance for the project;
-Providing advice and direction to the Project Sponsor/Project Director;
-Approving the end project report and the lessons learned report;
-Ensuring that a post implementation review (or post project review) is scheduled and takes place;
-Resolving deviations from plans or escalating as necessary;
-Resolving conflicts between project team, end users and suppliers or escalating as necessary.

 

Purpose

The SRO is responsible for providing approvals and decisions affecting project progress and delivery throughout the project. To fulfil these responsibilities, the SRO may require the support of a project board. Project board members should be formally appointed by the SRO, with specific remit to assist in decision-making and on-going progress of the project.

The project board should always be chaired by the SRO, who takes executive responsibility for decisions relating to the project. Its membership should include a single individual who represents those senior managers who have an interest in the project and whose activities will be affected by the project; this individual should also represent the end users to promote their concerns and interests. In addition, a senior representative of the suppliers can be invited to the board to provide their perspective and expertise. Depending on the nature of the project other people's expert opinion may be sought to provide input to decisions made by the SRO as the board's executive. For example, the views of corporate or programme management, technical specialists, other key stakeholders (perhaps from other departments) may be required. However, it is important to note that the membership of the board should not exceed the SRO as executive, the stakeholder representative and a senior technical expert (typically from the supplier organisation).

The Project Board provides the owner with stakeholder/technical input to decisions affecting the project; ultimate authority and accountability resides with the SRO.