Customer / Executive

•  The person who is paying for the project is called the customer or executive. The person who is going to use the results or outcome of the project, or who will be impacted by the outcome of a project, is called the user. On some projects, the customer and user may be the same person. The person who provides the expertise to do the actual work on the project (ie will be designing and building the outcome) is called the supplier or specialist. All of these people need to be organised and co-ordinated so that the project delivers the required outcome within budget, on time and to the appropriate quality.

Project Board

• Each PRINCE2 project will have a Project Board made up of the customer (or executive), someone who can represent the user side and someone to represent the supplier or specialist input.
• In PRINCE2, these people are called: Customer Senior User Senior Supplier.
• The Project Manager reports regularly to the Project Board, keeping them informed of progress and highlighting any problems he/she can foresee.
• The Project Board is responsible for providing the Project Manager with the necessary decisions for the project to proceed and to overcome any problems.

Project Assurance

• Providing an independent view of how the project is progressing is the job of Project Assurance.
• In PRINCE2, there are three views of assurance; business, user and specialist.
• Each view reflects the interests of the three Project Board members.
• Assurance is about checking that:
  • the project remains viable in terms of costs and benefits (business assurance)
  • checking that the users’ requirements are being met (user assurance)
  • the project is delivering a suitable solution (specialist or technical assurance).
• On some projects, the assurance is done by a separate team of people called the Project Assurance Team, but the assurance job can be done by the individual members of the Project Board themselves.

Project Administration

• On most projects there is a lot of administrative work needed:
  • keeping everyone informed
  • arranging meetings
  • keeping plans up-to-date
  • chasing things up keeping files, etc.
• Project Managers often do all this work themselves, particularly on smaller projects. But if there are a number of projects going on at the same time, a Project Support Office can be setup to help the Project Managers with this work

Roles

• Configuration Librarian
  • Custodian and guardian of all master copies of the projects products, perhaps to also maintain the Issue Log for the Project Manager
• Customer
  • The person or group who commissioned the work and will benefit from the end results.
• Producer
  • Involved in the Quality Review procedure, this person represents (or is) the creator(s) of the product and ensures actions are carried out that find solutions for the reported errors.
• Project Board
  • Primarily responsible for making decisions and supplying resources to the project, tends to manage by exception though reports and communication from the Project Manager.
• Project Executive
  • Ultimately responsible for the project, must ensure the project gives value for money and balance the demands of business User and Supplier.
• Programme Management
  • The organisational structure that includes the Programme Executive, Director, Manager, Assurance, Support, Change Manager and Design Authority.
• Project Management Team
  • Includes the Project Board, Manager, Team Management, Assurance and Support.
• Project Manager
  • Responsible to ensure that the project produces the required products to the required quality standard they have the authority to run the project on a day to day basis and will usually come from the customer organisation.
• Project Support
  • Provides advice on project management tools, guidance & administrative services, can be referred to as Project Support Office and include Configuration Management
• Quality Review Chairperson
  • Involved in the Quality Review procedure, this person chairs the meetings and ensures they are run correctly.
• Reviewers
  • Involved in the Quality Review procedure, this is a qualified person who is able to evaluate the products of the project.
• Scribe
  • Records the notes of the Quality Review including details of whose responsibility it is to find solutions and who's it is to check these.
• Senior Supplier
  • Represents the Business Case for the Supplier on the Project Board.
• Senior User
  • Represents the Users needs and expectations, ensuring these are meet within the constraints of the Business Case
    Team Management