Appoint Management

objectives inputs & outputs approach actions exceptions checklist texts

Objectives top

To appoint the members of the Project Management Team (the Project Board, the Project Manager and the Team Manager(s)).

Inputs and Outputs top

Inputs	Outputs
Bid File (Provisional Project Materials) including the draft Project Mandate	Project Startup Confirmation
Resource Requirements from the Bid File	First draft of the Project Initiation Document (the accepted Project Mandate, the structure of the Project Management Team and Job Descriptions for its members)
Resourcing Agreements signed by Resource Manager(s)	Individual Job Descriptions (agreed and signed by the relevant members of the Project Board and Project Management Team)
Resource Availability Reports from Resource Managers	Draft Resourcing Agreements to formalise the assignments of the Project Board and Project Management Team, for signature by their Resource Manager(s)

Approach top

Appoint the Project Executive….

Before anything can happen someone must be appointed to take responsibility for a Project. This is the Project Executive who will be appointed either by Corporate Management or the Project Sponsor.

…and the Project Board

If there is a Project Board it is led by the Project Executive. Its members will be identified and appointed by the Project Sponsor and the Project Executive.

Agree the Project Mandate

The basis for the appointment of the Project Executive is the Project Mandate. This may have been produced during the Bid. If not the Project Executive will extract the relevant details from the Provisional Project Materials to produce one. Either way the Project Mandate will be presented to the Project Sponsor for agreement and then signed and formally accepted by the Project Executive.

Starting the Project formally

The Project Startup Confirmation

Having agreed and accepted the Project Mandate, the Project Executive issues formal confirmation that the Project has started by sending a Project Startup Confirmation to Financial Control, the Project Sponsor (and possibly) the Senior User or Customer. This will:

register in the Project Control Folders and the company's accounting systems that the Project is Live, and should be subject to our routine business processes
confirm that the Project has Authorisation to spend effort on getting things moving, and in particular to produce the first version of the PID ready for Approval and Authorisation
trigger the production of the PID and the Project’s Commercial Plan (see Produce a Commercial Plan).

Appoint the Project Manager

Next the Project Executive appoints the Project Manager. They will then work together to set up the rest of the Project Management Team (Project Support and Team Managers).

Initial Planning

Planning starts with the production of some parts of the Project Initiation Document - the agreed Project Mandate, the structure of the Management Team and the details of how the team is resourced.

Resourcing

Activate existing Resourcing Agreements…

The Provisional Project Materials will include the details of the Project Management Team envisaged when the Bid was prepared (Price Solution). This information will be described in the Resource Requirements, the Resource Availability Reports and the draft Resourcing Agreements signed by the Resource Managers for all members of the Project Management Team (including the Project Executive).

These documents represent the Resource Managers' agreement in principle to provide the preferred candidates. Now it is time to activate these Agreements. If the candidates are still available the Resourcing Agreements should be signed and returned to the Project Executive for the Project Files.

..or find Alternative Candidates

If any candidate is no longer available, the Project Executive may have an alternative candidate already identified or may need to re-issue the Resource Requirements, seeking Resource Availability Report(s) in response. Having found a suitable alternative, a Resourcing Agreement should be issued for Signature by the appropriate Resource Manager.

Agree Job Descriptions

There is bound to be some consultation, and a degree of negotiation with the members of the Project Management Team, over the details of their Roles (the Job Descriptions). A particular issue which must resolved at the outset is the authority and responsibility delegated to the Project Manager, and how much discretion he/she will have (his/her Tolerance(s)). The objective of the Project Executive should be to give the Project Manager a suitably free rein, so that he/she can get on and run the Project without continual reference back to the Project Board.

Actions top

Item	Responsible	Action
1	Project Sponsor	Appoint Project Executive
2	Project Sponsor and Project Executive	Confirm and Appoint the members of the Project Board
3	Project Executive and Project Sponsor	Finalise, agree and sign the Project Mandate returning a copy to the Project Sponsor
4	Project Executive	Issue completed Project Startup Confirmation
5	Project Executive	Appoint Project Manager
6	Project Executive and Project Manager	Design Project Management Team Structure
7	Project Executive, Project Manager and Resource Manager(s)	Finalise Resourcing Agreements
8	Project Manager	Appoint members of the Project Team (with agreed Job Descriptions)

Exceptions top

Exception 1 : A candidate for the Project Management Team is no longer available

Item	Responsible	Action
1	Project Executive	Find an alternative (re-issue the Resource Requirement if necessary)
2	Resource Manager(s)	Provide a Resource Availability Report
3	Project Executive	Prepare a draft Resourcing Agreement
4	Resource Manager	Sign and return the Resourcing Agreement

Checklist top

None

Texts top

None