1. Portfolio, Programme and Project
Roles and Responsibilities
October 2018

2. The Members of the Portfolio Board are accountable for ensuring that all programmes and projects in the portfolio align to and deliver the elements of the strategy for which the portfolio is responsible. They will ensure programme and project benefits are realised , identify any gaps in achieving strategic ambition and remove any redundant or duplicate programmes.
Responsibilities include:
Ensuring that the activity in the portfolio delivers the change required to fulfil university strategy
Ensuring that the portfolio is sufficient to achieve the desired contribution to strategic objectives
Ensuring that all initiatives are necessary to achieve the desired contribution to strategic objectives
Ensuring that initiatives proposed comply with portfolio governance; pet projects are not progressed

3. The Portfolio Manager is accountable for ensuring a portfolio strategy and plan is established, with a ‘roadmap’ of initiatives aligned to the University strategic objectives. They will ensure that all initiatives in the portfolio have been developed and are proposed on a consistent and reliable basis (particularly, costs, benefits and risks).
Responsibilities include:
Coordinating portfolio prioritisation
Identifying and managing portfolio risks, issues and dependencies
Preparing a regular portfolio dashboard for the Portfolio Board
Ensuring resources are identified and deployed effectively

4. The Members of the Programme Board are accountable for ensuring that the programme mandate and objectives align to the organisational strategy, and that the combination of projects together will achieve the expected outcomes. They will ensure that the programme is resourced appropriately, has a credible plan, that its benefits are identified and risks are mitigated effectively. The members will also identify and resolve any gaps in achieving the programmes objectives.
Responsibilities include:
Ensuring that the programme governance is effective and momentum is maintained through ensuring that decisions are made in a timely manner
Ensuring that the internal programme dependencies are managed effectively and external dependencies are identified and tracked.
Ensuring that opportunities to improve programme outcomes through the initiation of new projects are identified and taken when appropriate.

5. The Programme Manager is accountable for ensuring that a programme plan is established with a logical sequence which consists of inputs from projects plus overarching programme activity. They will ensure the accurate reporting of progress, including escalation of risks and issues to the appropriate Governance Board. The Programme Manager will also ensure that proposed project benefits align with identified Programme benefits and outcomes.
Responsibilities include:
Tracking progress including coordinating projects to deliver coherently as required by the Programme objectives.
Identifying and managing risks, issues and dependencies.
Working closely with stakeholders to deliver the change required by the programme.
Developing and communicating the programme narrative

6. The Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) is the visible owner of the overall business change being delivered by the programme, accountable for successful delivery (this should be an important measure of their individual performance) and is recognised as the key leadership figure in providing direction and driving the programme forward.
Responsibilities include:
• Owning the programme vision and ensuring it is ratified by the appropriate governance board
• Securing the investment required to set up and run programme and transition activities which ensure benefits are realised.
• Managing the interface with key senior stakeholders keeping them engaged and informed
• Monitoring delivery of the objectives and benefits and taking appropriate risk mitigation action to ensure their successful delivery
• Ensuring the continued strategic fit of the programme
• Ensuring that a post implementation and benefits realisation review is carried out and considered by all stakeholders following delivery

7. The Project Sponsor is the ‘champion’ of the project and is accountable for the delivery of project objectives to cost, quality and time, and key project deliverables including Business Case and the realisation of the projects benefits.
Responsibilities include:
Defining and chairing Project Board 
Issue resolution and risk management
Liaising with all governance committees on project progress
Supporting and guiding the Project Manager

8. The role of the Project Board is to provide direction, guidance and timely support to the project.
Responsibilities include:
Two-way communication with colleagues across the University
Ensuring that the project meets its objectives
Approving major project outputs
Discussing updates on progress against budget, quality, time, risks and issues
Supporting and guiding the Project Manager
Issue resolution and risk management

9. Senior Users speak for the people / constituencies who will use the end product(s) and can include Academics, Professional Service and / or Student representatives. 
Responsibilities include:
The identification of users who can inform the project
Act as project link with users who will be affected by the changes
Represent other users' views and opinions at the Project Board
Be an advocate for the project
Help to describe, prioritise and agree requirements 
Review and support the testing of outputs from the project to ensure they meet the end users' needs
Acceptance of the delivered product on behalf of the end users
Commits user resources to the project
Demonstrates that project benefits are realised (post-delivery)

10. The Senior Supplier represents those delivering the technical solution
The Senior Supplier represents those delivering the technical solution. The Senior Supplier may be internal and/or external.
Responsibilities include:
The quality of the solution, or system integrations where the system is 3rd party
Ensuring the technical solution is delivered in line with the solution architecture design
Planning how the outputs will be maintained and operated after the project has finished
Making decisions on significant delivery issues that relate to a technical solution
Communicating with suppliers and supporting resolution of significant supplier issues

11. The Project Manager delivers the project
Responsibilities include:
Building and leading the project team 
Defining, planning and documenting the project 
Managing the project budget
Day-to-day control of the project
Escalating issues and risks which the team cannot resolve
Delivery of project outputs to cost, quality and time

12. The Business Analyst liaises with key users to identify and articulate business needs and translates them into outputs to facilitate that change
Responsibilities include:
Understanding the context of the change, the business objectives and how they fit the strategy
Eliciting, documenting and analysing user requirements and the resultant benefits
Mapping current and desired processes
Supporting Stage 0 and producing the Stage 1 Business Cases
Working with IT Services, Solution Architects and external suppliers to facilitate the design of systems and interfaces
Providing support for the testing processes and ensuring acceptance/completion criteria are accomplished
Validating delivery of the identified benefits

13. The Solution Architect is the lead decision authority for the end-to-end Solution Architecture design
Responsibilities include:
Assessing solution options to meet user requirements
Leading the design of the overall solution, defining how systems fit to the University’s information technology landscape and target architecture
Producing project solution architecture design artefacts
Work with IT Services and Suppliers in all aspects of project solution design
Support project implementation – change requests, updating and reviewing architecture design if needs change, etc.
Contributing to post-implementation reviews

14. The Implementation Officer works closely with project stakeholders to embed the project
Responsibilities include:
Leading the implementation of the system into the University, focusing on internal system configuration and setup for new systems, working with the supplier as appropriate
Understanding the requirements and advising as to how the system can be used to meet the requirements and remain aligned with the solution architecture design
Leading the user testing and training
Ensuring that documentation and training notes are provided and are up to date

15. The Change Management Team can support programmes and projects by analysing the stakeholders affected by a project or programme and developing engagement interventions and communications to ensure objectives and benefits are realised.
More information is available here: