Project Team Roles

Executive
The Executive is ultimately responsible for the project, supported by the Senior User and Senior Supplier. The Executive’s role is to ensure that the project is focused throughout its life cycle on achieving its objectives and delivering a product that will achieve the forecast benefits. The Executive has to ensure that the project gives value for money, ensuring a cost-conscious approach to the project, balancing the demands of the business, user and supplier.

Throughout the project, the Executive ‘owns’ the Business Case.

The Project Board is not a democracy controlled by votes. The Executive is the key decision maker because he/she is ultimately responsible to the business. He/she is supported by the Senior User and Senior Supplier.

Senior User
The Senior User is responsible for specifying the needs of those who will use the final product(s), for user liaison with the project team and for monitoring that the solution will meet those needs within the constraints of the Business Case in terms of quality, functionality and ease of use.

The role represents the interests of all those who will use the final product(s) of the project, those for whom the product will achieve an objective or those who will use the product to deliver benefits. The Senior User role commits user resources and monitors products against requirements. This role may require more than one person to cover all the user interests. For the sake of effectiveness the role should not be split between too many people.

Senior Supplier
The Senior Supplier represents the interests of those designing, facilitating, procuring, implementing, and possibly operating and maintaining the project products. This role is accountable for the quality of the products delivered by the supplier(s). The Senior Supplier role must have the authority to commit or acquire supplier resources required.

It should be noted that in some environments the customer might share design authority or have a major say in it.

If necessary, more than one person may be required to represent suppliers.

Project Manager
The Project Manager has the authority to run the project on a day-to-day basis on behalf of the Project Board within the constraints laid down by the board.

The Project Manager’s responsibility is to ensure that the project produces the required products to the required standard of quality and within the specified constraints of time and cost. The Project Manager is also responsible for the project producing a result capable of achieving the benefits defined in the Business Case.