I am looking for some insight into best practices when crafting a committee charter for a senior management group dedicated to making value based PM support decisions around project portfolio composition and governance.
Some background;
My company is currently in the process of formalizing some of its PM practices. The firm utilizes a "Project Steering Committee" made up of Senior Leaders within the organization. The assumed purpose of this committee is to review and acknowledge project risk across the portfolio at a very high level. As far as I am aware, there is no charter explicitly authorizing the formation, role and authority of this group.
I would like to begin leveraging the seniority of this group to make more informed, value based decisions to better shape and direct our project portfolio and project governance.
I believe that a committee charter can help provide this group the necessary authority to make these decisions, and will help clarify and set expectations for the participants.
I come to this forum seeking examples, best practices and institutional guidelines for creating and formalizing a committee charter.
Please let me know if I can clarify my request in any way. Appreciate everyone's help in advance,
While you are referring to it as a project steering committee, that term is usually used to denote a temporary body established to help steer a specific project to its successful completion.
What you are describing sounds more like a portfolio governance committee.
I would suggest keeping the charter fairly simple to begin with and iterate with the members. Things that you'd want to cover include:
- What is the scope of their jurisdiction (i.e. enterprise portfolio, IT portfolio)
- Who serves on it
- What are the key roles
- Any defined practices
Kiron Saving Changes...
Thomas WalentaGlobal Project Economy ExpertHackenheim, Germany
Rudy,
good and interesting target.
A way I used was to start with a workshop with these individuals and let them find out what their problems are and if they come up with solution ideas, prioritize them.
And look at ERM, enterprise risk management, there is an ISO 31000 standard that might give you some ideas.
You might end up chartering in parallel a PMO supporting the steering committee, and funding it initially. And developing a project management policy, which is a wider scope and might include the demand for a steering committee and a PMO. A policy is approved by the Board or the CEO and hence has a stronger impact than a merely chartered committee.
This committee will take decisions and excert power that is now in other hands. So be aware about the politics involved. Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
What you asking for is usually defined into the project/program/portfolio governance process , at least in my experience. Between other things it will state the frecuency of meetings, the amount of information shared and the degree and type of participation needed to solve each type of issues/risks. With it the stakeholder management process is needed. In my case, one of the key things we presented into each kickoff is all this stuff to assure everybody is clear about the need of involvement along the initiative. Saving Changes...
It sounds like you may be trying to merge 2 specific steering team functions: process governance and reviewing the projects themselves.
While you may have many of the same senior managers reviewing both, they are often split into 2 forums since the supporting cast is different. Developing best practices for projects, the participants are typically focused on the high level processes independent of individual project (design, build, quality, supplier management etc.). Evaluating individual projects requires the support of people working that specific project. The representatives on individual projects may be different for each project, and not the same people with prime responsibility for the process architecture. Saving Changes...
