| All members and chair | Comprise the Board | - Representing the interests of areas within their expertise (22)
- Removal of roadblocks within the scope of their authority and social capital
- Ensuring they have the information they need about project status
- Supporting the Chair's timely and informed decision-making
- Advising the Project Manager on contextual (for example, inter-agency) changes that may affect strategic alignment
- Support the Project Manager with difficult decisions and resourcing
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Senior Responsible Official (SRO) Also known as: - Project/Program Sponsor
- Senior Accountable Officer
- Senior Responsible Owner/Officer
To note: - For the largest (Tier 1) projects, the SRO is usually a Senior Executive Band 2 or Band 3 official.
- The SRO is typically the Chair of the board.
- For major digital projects, the SRO is accountable to the Agency Accountable Authority (for example, Secretary/CEO).
| Chair of board | The Senior Responsible Official (SRO), is the official with ultimate accountability for a project meeting its objectives, delivering the projected outcomes and realising the required benefits within the policies set by Government. The SRO is the owner of the business case and accountable for all aspects of governance. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to: - delivery of the project according to its business case, measured against the agreed baseline
- ensuring the policy/business need is well defined and being addressed
- assuring ongoing viability – including through effective use of assurance under the Assurance Framework for Digital and ICT investments
- engaging key stakeholders
- providing the team with leadership, decisions and direction
- ensuring the delivered solution meets the needs of the agency and its stakeholders
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Senior User Also known as: - Business Owner
- Senior User
- Benefit Owner
- Operations Manager
- Asset Manager
| Member of board | A business owner/senior user must be identified for all projects, no matter the size or complexity. There may be one or more senior users or operations managers at varying managerial levels depending on the size of the project. These are typically senior operational or policy staff who will benefit, or whose stakeholders will benefit. The senior user is a core member of the governance board. Responsibilities may include, but are not limited to: - providing subject matter expertise throughout the project, to ensure that business requirements are communicated, and products are tested and fit for purpose
- representing the user experience
- supporting change management and implementation
- managing project outputs for their operational use
- securing resources for the ongoing maintenance of the asset/solution
- being accountable for the measuring and reporting of project outcomes
- being responsible for the realisation of benefits from the investment
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Independent Board Adviser To note: - This role could be filled by a representative from another agency or by an externally-engaged specialist.
- For the largest, most complex projects (Tier 1), the DTA may fulfil this role consistent with the Assurance Framework for Digital and ICT Investments.
| Member of board | An independent board adviser provides scrutiny and constructive challenge to help keep the SRO and board focussed on what must go right for the project to succeed. They are free from material conflicts of interest to ensure they can faithfully discharge their responsibilities. Responsibilities may include, but are not limited to: - bringing their expert judgement to scrutinise project performance and identify emergent areas of risk drawing on past experience
- probing and challenging project reporting to support high-quality decision-making
- providing strategic foresight to assist the SRO and board in remaining focussed on what will 'make the difference' in ensuring the project succeeds
- supporting the SRO to maximise the value of the board in enabling good decision-making
- actively engaging in assurance planning to maximise its value in effectively managing key areas of risk
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| Assurance providers | Independent advice and assurance to Board | Providing impartial, expert advice and assurance to support informed decision-making and successful delivery of digital initiatives. To achieve this, assurance providers conduct objective assessments of project health, delivery confidence, and risk exposure. They also help identify early warning signs and recommend corrective actions to support successful outcomes. |
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| DTA | Central Oversight and Monitoring | The DTA's role on digital project boards usually includes: - representing whole-of-government digital strategy and policy (including the Assurance Framework and Benefits Management Policy), and ensuring alignment, transparency, and value in digital investments
- sharing insights and lessons learned from across government to uplift delivery capability and advise on creating conditions for success
- encouraging continuous improvement in digital governance practices
The DTA has a mandated role for Tier 1 projects as well as projects experiencing delivery difficulty. Advice will be provided to relevant projects. |
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| Project Management Office (PMO) | Support | Providing support, for example, on reporting, project management and project governance standards. PMOs may also advise on adherence to agency project governance frameworks, methodologies, and assurance processes; promote continuous improvement and uplift in project delivery maturity across the agency; and provide insights into interdependencies, capacity, and delivery risks across the agency and wider portfolio. |
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| Secretariat | Support | Providing support to the Board to comply with corporate and project governance requirements and standards, for example, with meeting administration and ensuring accurate records of meetings. |
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Project Risk Manager/Lead | Support | The purpose of the risk role is to take the lead in ensuring that the project has effective processes in place to identify and monitor risks, has access to reliable and up-to-date information about risk and uses the appropriate controls and actions to deal with risks. This role should also ensure that these processes are aligned with enterprise and whole-of-government risk management policy. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to: - establish and maintain a project risk register, integrating where necessary with the enterprise risk register
- assist in the identification and ongoing management of risks by running risk workshops and conducting risk review activities
- ensure that all risks have a nominated owner and actioner; take a proactive stance in ensuring that risks are proactively managed across the project and its stakeholders
- ensure that the agreed risk responses are planned, resourced and implemented
- establish consistent mitigation and contingency plans for risk that should be tackled across the project
- assess and monitor the effectiveness of risk processes and refine as necessary
Depending on the size of the project, part or all of the risk manager's role may be subsumed within the project manager's role. |
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Project Director Also known as: - Program Manager
- Project Manager
- Delivery Manager
- Stream Lead
- Deputy SRO
To note: - In larger, more complex programs there may be multiple Project Directors reporting to a Program Director who is accountable to the SRO.
| Reports to board | The project director is accountable to the senior responsible officer for establishing the governance framework and for the day-to-day management of the project, to deliver the outputs and desired outcomes, and realise the required benefits. Responsibilities may include, but are not limited to: - ensuring the solution is designed and business case and plans prepared
- defining the approach, accountabilities, work scope and targets for the team
- timely monitoring, forecasting and reporting overall progress against the plan
- resolving risks and issues and controlling change within their delegation and escalating to the board those outside their delegation
- delivering the required outputs and outcomes
- monitoring and managing supplier performance
- engaging and communicating with stakeholders
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Change Manager To note: - Change Manager will sometimes report to a business lead or business owner
- Duties may be integrated into another PMO role such as Director/Manager role
| Reports to board | Change managers may report directly to the project manager or PMO, but can also report to a business lead, business owner, or a separate change management function. These duties may also be integrated into another role such as Director/Manager role. The primary responsibility of an organisational change manager is to develop and implement change management strategies and plans that maximise employee adoption and usage of required changes. The change manager's goal is to drive faster adoption, higher ultimate utilisation of changes, and proficiency with the changes that impact employees who must use the changes in their daily work. These improvements increase benefit realisation, value creation, ROI, and the achievement of results and outcomes. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to: - Leverage a change management methodology, process and tools to create a strategy to support adoption of the changes required by a project or initiative
- Lead changes (to business processes, work practices, organisational structure, training, communications, roles and responsibilities, and so on) to ensure the realisation of business benefits
- Conduct impact analyses, assess change readiness, and identify key stakeholders
- Communicate with stakeholders, particularly those who are directly affected either by the change itself or by the response to the change
- Provide input, document requirements, and support the design and delivery of training programs
- Evaluate the extent to which business change activities have contributed to the realisation of business benefits
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Benefits Manager To note: - Duties may be integrated into another role such as the Project Manager role
| Reports to board | The purpose of the benefits and value role is to ensure that a consistent 'fit for purpose' approach to benefits and value management is applied across the portfolio or program and that benefits realisation is optimised from the organisation's investment in change. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to: - lead and facilitate the benefits identification and mapping workshops
- develop and maintain a benefits map and accompanying benefits profiles
- facilitate agreement of the benefits realisation plan
- develop and maintain the benefits management framework and ensure alignment with activities
- work with business change managers and their teams to promote more effective benefits management practices
- maintain the benefits forecast and escalate issues with benefits realisation
- set the standards for, and monitor post implementation reviews to compare benefits realised with benefits forecast to capture lessons in relation to benefits management for wider dissemination
Duties may be integrated into another role such as Project Manager role and may be sourced from the PMO. |
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| Senior Supplier | Reports to board | The Senior Supplier represents the interests of those designing, developing, facilitating, procuring and implementing the project's product/s. This role is accountable for the quality of the product/s (and its components) delivered by the supplier(s) and is responsible for the technical integrity of the project. If necessary, more than one person may represent the suppliers. The Senior Supplier may be within the agency, for example the CIO, or an external integration partner. Depending on the customer/supplier environment, the customer may also wish to appoint an independent person or group to carry out assurance on the supplier's products (for example, if the relationship between the customer and supplier is a commercial one). Responsibilities may include, but are not limited to: - providing supplier expertise throughout the project to ensure that technical requirements are understood and that the products are fit for purpose
- representing the supplier's interests, ensuring the project team has the necessary resources (people, technology, funding) to create the solution
- being accountable to the project executive for the technical aspects of the project, including progress reporting and issue resolution
- being responsible for the technical viability of the solution, making sure it can be built, tested, and implemented successfully
- communicating technical standards and guidance on areas such as technical compliance
Note: Vendors should not play any Board role in decision-making regarding their own work, such as vendor selection, progress payments, change requests, or readiness assessment. |
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