Project Launch Process L100

Blog: Biz-Performance, David Brown

L100 – Define Organisation, People and Support Requirements

DEFINITION

Based on the Path Plan, the project’s organisation should be defined and agreed. This includes both the internal project team structure, and the management structure (including steering committee etc) and specialist support (eg database administration).

SUMMARY

Once the project’s position within the overall organisation structure has been defined, the project’s organisation structure should be defined. Project management and team structures should be appropriate to the project’s objectives, size and scope, and may need to change as the project progresses. For medium and large projects, a project office may be established to take responsibility for project administration and to facilitate the project planning, control and reporting process.

Roles and responsibilities should then be defined, from which project team descriptions should be developed for all team members, and group “charters” (defining responsibility) for project groups. The deliverables from this process then provide a key input to Process L130 (Detail/ Revise Staffing, Team Structure and Organisation) which includes staff selection.

PATH PLANNING GUIDANCE

This process is normal practice.

DEPENDENCIES

Prerequisites (Finish-Finish):

Review/Confirm ToR, Scope, Objectives (L010)
Select Paths (L030)
Do Quality Plan (L080)
Produce Path Plan (L090)

Dependent procedures (Finish-Finish):

Agree Project Launch Deliverables (L110)
Detail / Revise Staffing, Team Structure and Organisation (L130)

RECEIVABLES

Project Constitution (L010)
Quality Plan (L080)
Path Plan (L090)

DELIVERABLES

Project Organigramme
Project Job Descriptions and Charters

TOOLS

Guidelines: PROLES – Project Roles
ITPM Core Guide

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF TASKS

Define the Project’s Position within the Overall Organisation Structure

The project manager should define the project’s position within the organisation, and in so doing should meet with key senior managers to:

evaluate relative levels of support for the project within corporate divisions / departments,
identify primary influencers (and key areas of resistance) among the senior management group (some of this may have been done in process L050 Define & Agree Change Management Approach) and other processes looking at change issues,
determine the degree of interaction required with existing bodies such as technology executive committees or project standards boards etc,
target potential members for the project’s steering committee.

Design the Project Organisation Structure

Designing the project organisation structure involves defining:

the project management structure – This would normally include team management, project office management, quality assurance management, the project manager, the project steering committee, project sponsor and director, and any user groups. A project management structure differs from a line management structure because a project demands tighter control and a more focused management orientation. For this reason there should be more management positions (with fewer people reporting to a manager) than in a line organisation.

SIIPS Example of a project structure.PNG

the project team structure – The size and complexity of the project generally dictates how the project teams will be organised, but there are general guidelines to be followed (see ITPM Core Guide) covering, for example, the integration of functional and technical roles within teams, the integration of sub-contractors into teams, and not exceeding recommended team sizes or staff-manager ratios.

The project office has a key role in the effective running of medium to large projects. It provides a central coordination point for all project related information, and allows the project manager to delegate project administration to a specialist function. The project office should ensure that project planning, monitoring, reporting and control mechanisms are in place, and support team leaders / managers in the development of their detailed work plans.

The organisation structure should be viewed as dynamic, and changes should be anticipated by the project manager as the project evolves; the organisation should be reviewed as part of the detailed (segment) planning process to ensure the structure is appropriate for the work being planned.

Other formats of project organisation may be appropriate. The following two charts show example project organisations for the “Project Model” and “Design/Prototype/Construct” phases of a project to implement integrated SAP systems.

SIIPS Project Orhganisationfor Project Model.PNG

SIIPS Project Organisation for Design Prototyping and Construction.PNG

Document Project Roles and Responsibilities

The project organisation structure, type of project, size, methodologies used and functional / technical responsibilities of the teams will influence the roles and responsibilities identified and their definition, but these would typically cover:

Project sponsor – “Champion”, owner and financier of the project,
Project director – Executive agent of project sponsor,
Steering committee – Responsible for executive project oversight, direction setting, decision making support,
User group – User acceptance of major deliverables,
Project manager – Overall project co-ordination, management and control,
Team leaders / managers – Day-to-day management and control of detail work plan efforts,
Project team members – Task completion.

Develop Project Job Descriptions and Charters

Project – Job Descriptions -These should be developed for all team members, defining reporting relationships, responsibilities and skill / experience requirements. The roles, responsibilities and reporting structure may be represented on an “organigramme” organisation diagram.
Charters – For groups (eg steering committee and user group) formal charters should be prepared. They should be concise and document the primary purpose/ objective of the group, responsibilities, membership and meeting frequency.

Select the Project Team

Key participants such as the project’s sponsor, Project Director and Project Manager will normally have been identified by this stage. The selection or acquisition of other required resources normally takes place as part of Process L130 (Detail / Revise Staffing, Team Structure and Organisation), and the deliverables from this process are a key input.

Further details on the type of resources and the structuring of project teams may be found in Process L130.