Richard GreenhillProject Officer| National Parks and Wildlife ServiceLismore, New South Wales, Australia
Hi guys,
I'm in week 3 of a new project with a new organisation and I am keen to ensure the governance arrangements are set up well. Does anyone have a Project Governance Charter template and a Project Governance Management Plan template that they are willing to share?
Many thanks
Richard Saving Changes...
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Stelian ROMANProject Manager| MicroSafetyCarlingford, New South Wales, Australia
Hi Richard,
Governance is specific to the organisation. It's for the first time when I hear about a separate plan at the project level. Eve in the same organisation there may be various levels of governance depending on the size, complexity and importance of the project. Whoever needs it should define what and why they need it.
The Governance frameworks/methodologies should not be built by a PM. If there is a need for Governance that should come form the organisation or from the Sponsor/SteerCo. It's pretty easy to get something from Dr. Google but will that template be relevant for you?
In most cases the weekly report is enough to fulfil the governance needs and if the project need more than that then the requirements must be already documented in the Steering Committee charter or in the PMP template. Saving Changes...
Thomas WalentaGlobal Project Economy ExpertHackenheim, Germany
Richard,
project governance is indeed specific to the organization. If you do not define it, it will establish itself. I do not have a template, but I established it in all my projects. Governance is even more important for programs. There is a PMI Guide about governance who talks about project governance.
My experience: Governance is about establishing the power and reporting structure of a project, or the relationships between key stakeholders. It is mostly documented in an orgchart, the roles&responsibilities and documents that establish authority like charter, change control board, contracts and mandatory regulations (e.g. for safety audits, funding approvals, gateway process).
The orgchart is the most important governance instrument for a project manager, with that reporting and participation lines are established that bind the stakeholders at any level once the orgchart is approved. It should include sponsor, steering committee (incl who sits on that), project manager, customer roles, PMO, team structure, support groups (e.g. a user board, architecture, QA functions), external parties and whatever you need on the project to obtain power from.
Often there is a power distribution within teams that is not documented, but also influences the project.
If I am asked to review a troubled project, the first thing I ask for is the current orgchart. It shows me the key stakeholders and the expected power distribution. I then do 1:1 interviews with them and know the problems after 1 day. Saving Changes...
Gordon AlexanderSenior Principal - Global Programme Director| IndepndentChelmsford, Essex, United Kingdom
Hi Richard, I agree with Stelian and Thomas that its specific to an organisation and would normally fit within the organisational governance structure which gives levels of authority from C-level down, financial, authority to sign on behalf of the company etc.
The structure will also depend on the size and type of project or programme, a small project would only need light governance where a large multifunctional programme would have stricter controls in place with a wider stakeholder group. As they have said already no one structure fits all organisations or even projects. If you have a PMO they should have templates used within the organisation on previous projects, this will ensure you align with that. If there is nothing available connect with me, I have some generic governance models I've used before including RACI Matrix (excel) and R&R (doc). Saving Changes...
It seems you are working within a government/ public sector environment. Hopefully a robust governance structure is already in place to define roles, responsibilities, and accountabilities outside of a project environment. A governance structure is something that is not initiated from the bottom-up, but rather from the top down, and usually takes some time to complete as many entities/ people are typically involved that will have a say in the reporting structure. The link below may help, but it does not specifically mention a particular governance structure.
