Executive sponsor

Executive sponsor

Executive Sponsor (sometimes called Project Sponsor) is a role in project management, usually the senior member of the project board and often the chair. In smaller organisations (or small projects within larger organisations) the executive sponsor may also be the project manager but typically (especially where a methodology such as PRINCE2 is used) the project sponsor will be a senior executive in a corporation (often at or just below board level) who is responsible to the business for the success of the project.

Where the role of executive sponsor exists as a separate role the person in that role rarely becomes involved in the running of the project. Their role centres around:
* Championing the project
* Obtaining budgets for the project
* Accepting responsibility for problems escalated from the project manager.
* Signing off documents such as the business case and project initiation document

Due to the problem solving needs of the role the executive sponsor often needs to be able to exert pressure within the organisation to overcome resistance to the project. For this reason the executive sponsor will ideally be a person with great executive/political authority and natural authority.

A few research studies have been published that not only detail the role of this individual within project management but also provide a way to ensure that the success of a project is greater increased if this individual plays a more active role.

One such research study, published by Elazar Lechtman (Elli Lechtman) and Professor Lessing Labuschagne (both at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa) titled "A Holistic Framework for successfully sponsoring IT projects from an IT governance perspective"; provides one of the first detailed masters-level dissertations on the role of the individual.

The dissertation, available from [http://etd.rau.ac.za/theses/available/etd-09012006-130759/] addresses both the formal and informal aspects of the role of the project sponsor and has provided guidance to organisations and professional associations in defining the role and responsibilities of the project sponsor within a corporate governance framework.

Additional studies have been conducted by members of the Project Management Institute, in particular, Dr Lynn Crawford and Christine Brett (both at the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia). The research study is titled "Exploring the Role of the Project Sponsor" and is available from [http://www.projects.uts.edu.au/resources/pdfs/PMINZ2001CrawfordBrett.pdf]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • executive sponsor — Supplies, supports, guides, and directs a postal reengineering project core team. The executive sponsor seeks funding for the effort, creates the management review board, and picks the project manager …   Glossary of postal terms

  • Executive Branch Reform Act — The Executive Branch Reform Act (USBill|110|H.R.|984) is a bill under consideration in the Congress of the United States which would require thousands of federal officials to report into a government database the names of persons who contact them …   Wikipedia

  • Unitary executive theory — In American political and legal discourse, the unitary executive theory is a theory or doctrine of Constitutional interpretation that holds it is unconstitutional for Congress to create independent agencies, authorities, or other entities that… …   Wikipedia

  • Michael Johns (executive) — Michael Johns Michael Johns exiting Tavern on the Green, New York City, April 4, 2008. Born September 8, 1964 (1964 09 08) (age 47) Allentown, Pennsylvania, U.S …   Wikipedia

  • Lloyd Braun (media executive) — Lloyd Braun (born 1958) has been a creative force behind a number of successful television programs. His first major success came with producer David Chase for their idea for the show The Sopranos . [cite web|title=Yahoo! appoints Lloyd Braun… …   Wikipedia

  • Joint application design — (JAD) is a process used in the Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) to collect business requirements while developing new information systems for a company. The JAD process also includes approaches for enhancing user participation, expediting… …   Wikipedia

  • PRINCE2 — PRojects IN Controlled Environments 2 (PRINCE2) is a structured project management method endorsed by the UK government as the project management standard for public projects. The methodology encompasses the management, control and organisation… …   Wikipedia

  • management review board — (MRB) A select group of stakeholders in the outcome of a USPS business process reengineering. It is the directing body of a reengineering body composed of peers of the executive sponsor. The MRB members are selected by the executive sponsor to… …   Glossary of postal terms

  • MRB — management review board (MRB) A select group of stakeholders in the outcome of a USPS business process reengineering. It is the directing body of a reengineering body composed of peers of the executive sponsor. The MRB members are selected by the …   Glossary of postal terms

  • project manager — (PM) For each postal reengineering project core team there is a project manager (PM). The PM is selected by the executive sponsor to administer the activities of the reengineering. The PM will be the day to day postal resource placed full time on …   Glossary of postal terms

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”