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Roles Of The Sponsor – Feedback Required

Paul Naybour Paul Naybour

Published: 17th February 2016

List and describe five activities which the sponsor performs during the
project lifecycle ?

Own the business case
Directs the project
Engages with Stakeholders
Assesses change controls
Risk Management
The sponsor will own the business
case throughout the project lifecycle from the point of its inception at the
concept stage. They must ensure that the business case is justified and
achievable and are accountable to the sponsoring group. They provide the
challenge to the project manager and prevent the project from moving out of tolerance
using the business case as a reference.
The project sponsor directs the
project, and is the point for decision making since they own the business case.
For example the project sponsor would make the go / no decision as part of a
gate review at the end of each phase of a project. As they own the business
case they are able to assess with all relevant information presented to the
sponsoring group whether the business case is justified and the project should continue.
The project sponsor engages with
stakeholders and acts as a door opener at a strategic level. For example where
the project manager needs specialised resource from the Network IT team when
building a new site, a sponsor may be able to intervene and have resource made
available through a conversation with the IT Director at a strategic level. The
Sponsor will also help deflect any criticism of the project and promote its
vision.
The project sponsor will assess
change controls and will decide whether they are accepted, rejected or deferred
until later. The project sponsor owns the business case and therefore they have
a vested interest in controlling the scope of the project. If the project
sponsor is not part of change control decision making then changes could be
approved which might mean the business case is no longer justified.
The project sponsor will play a
key role within risk management for the project. At a strategic level the
sponsor will help identifying new risks which may not have been immediately
obvious to the project manager due to their sensitive and confidential in nature
(e.g. reduction in staffing levels by 10%). The project sponsor will play a key
role within the mitigation planning for the risks identified including
identifying any contingency budgets. For example the need to work overtime to achieve
a critical path milestone when a key resource goes off work sick.