Natalie Lamb and the APM Project Management Qualification: Project roles and responsibilities

Members of my team recently attended a course on project management so I borrowed the APM Project Management Qualification Study Guide (2014) to give myself a bit of an insight into project management and how it links into PhDs or other similar research. This post is part of a series of posts I have produced to better split project management into a few easily digestible sections. 

Main project roles and responsibilities 

Steering group

• May nominate the sponsor
• Help influence and manage key stakeholders
• Supports and advises sponsor
• Authorises business case

Sponsor

• Own the business case and realisation of benefits
• Helps the project manager manage stakeholders and resolve problems
• Has a collective responsibility for the effectiveness of the implementation of a project and its deliverables
• Help identify key strategic and business risks
• Can agree scope changes
• Has the final say about which user requirement has priority
• Resolve disputes among users
• Have varying levels of input at different times

Project manager

• Managers the project so it follows the project management plan
• Manage the team
• Reports progress
• Seeks support from the sponsor
• Accountable for effective project deliverables
• Owns and updates the project management plan
• Manages stakeholders
• Liaises with end users
• Manages suppliers with a contract

Team

• Delivers products to time, cost and quality parameters
• Help identify changes, risks and issues
• Support the project manager

Suppliers

• Can help identify technical aspects and constraints
• Can provide proposals
• Can manage other suppliers
• Work using a contract, which they must follow the terms of
• Must report progress
• Ensure issues and risks are communicated

Users

• Define what is required in formal terms
• Advise sponsor on suitability of delivered products
• Operate products, acting as their owner
• Liaise with project manager about changes to plans and deliverables
• Need to accept the sponsor authority, as they have accountability for the final solution

Glossary

• APM = Association for Project Management
• Steering Group = a committee that decides on the priorities or order of business of a project
• Sponsor = ensures the project and project manager have support and guidance
• Project Manager = managers the project so it follows the project management plan
• Team = a group who work together to deliver the project
• Supplier = supplies goods and services
• User = receive the operative outputs of a project 
• Project = an enterprise that is carefully planned to achieve a particular aim
• Programme = a co-ordinated range of projects 

References

• Association for Project Management (2014), APM Project Management Qualification Study Guide, Association for Project Management, Buckinghamshire.