Portfolio, Programme and Project

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 includeAcademics, 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 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: https://www.bris.ac.uk/planning/change-internal/