Your comments on the answer below would be much appreciated.
a) Project sponsorship involves having overall accountability for a project. This will involve making sure the projects deliverables are met, and that any risks which may have a negative impact on the user have been minimised. Project Sponsorship also involves ownership of the Business Cass which will look to identify the best course of action to fulfil the user’s needs and how this will be carried out.
b) Four key responsibilities of a Project Sponsor are as follows:
– Manage Key Stakeholders
Although the Project Manager may manage some stakeholders on a day to day basis, the Sponsor may have to manage stakeholders who are of high importance and who have a high influence on the project and/or the user’s reputation. An example of such a stakeholder may be a journalist reporting on some key issues relating to the project.
– Manage key risks
The Sponsor will be responsible for managing key risks throughout the project, especially when they have a high potential to affect the final project deliverables. This responsibility begins during the creation of the Business Case (e.g. in choosing the preferred option which minimises these risks) through the project lifecycle and also in the benefits realisation phase.
– Make sure key deliverables are met
As the Sponsor is the individual accountable for the project, they are also responsible for making sure key deliverables are met at the end of the project. They will make reference back to the deliverables defined within the Business Case, and also continued involvement throughout the benefits realisation phase in order to confirm overall success of the project.
– Approval and sign off of the Project Management Plan (PMP)
This is an important responsibility of the Sponsor as the PMP reflects the requirements of the Business Case and reflects how the project will be implemented and managed. The Sponsor must make sure that the PMP covers all the key areas of management of the project, and that if followed, the project should meet all of the deliverables/objectives set in the Business Case. The Sponsor is also responsible for any changes to the PMP made throughout the project.
