Project sponsorship

Project sponsorship is the ownership of projects on behalf of the client organization.West, D. (2010) 'Project Sponsorship: An Essential Guide for Those Sponsoring Projects Within Their Organizations', Gower Publishing, Farnham, {{ISBN|978-0-566-08888-9}}

There are two main differences between project sponsorship and project management. Firstly project sponsorship includes the identification and definition of the project whereas project management is concerned with delivering a project that is already defined, if only quite loosely.

Secondly the project sponsor is responsible for the project’s business case and should not hesitate to recommend cancellation of the project if the business case no longer justifies the project.

Project sponsors can encourage separation of decision making responsibilities between project manager and project sponsor, accountability for the realisation of project benefits, oversight of the project management function and can carry out senior stakeholder management.Sponsoring change - A guide to the governance aspects of project sponsorship, Association for Project Management, 2009. {{ISBN|978-1-903494-30-1}}

Skills

The project sponsor or executive sponsor needs a range of skill sets, or at least access to skill sets which include appreciation of corporate strategy; ability to prepare a business case and profound knowledge of the organization’s operations. The project sponsor also needs to know his or her way around the organization and command respect within it. The project sponsor and project manager should form an effective partnership with the project manager orchestrating all players involved in delivering the project e.g. designers, manufacturers and contractors, whilst the project sponsor coordinates all departments of the client organization and associated stakeholders so as to integrate the delivered project into the client organization and take full benefits from it such that the business case is fulfilled.{{cite web|title=What to expect from a Project Sponsor|url=http://www.projectmanager.com/what-to-expect-from-project-sponsor.php|publisher=ProjectManager.com|accessdate=24 May 2013|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130609160330/http://www.projectmanager.com/what-to-expect-from-project-sponsor.php|archivedate=9 June 2013}}

Because the project sponsor is the ‘owner’ of the project from conception to commissioning and operation it is particularly important to achieve continuity of sponsor throughout the projectEnglund, R.L. and Bucero, A. (2006) Project Sponsorship: Achieving Management Commitment for Project Success, San Francisco, Jossey-Bass yet correspondingly difficult to achieve because of the extended duration of sponsorship compared to project management.

References

External links

[https://web.archive.org/web/20101008021806/http://www.ogc.gov.uk/User_roles_in_the_toolkit_project_sponsor.asp The Office of Government and Commerce for the United Kingdom toolkit for role of the project sponsor]
[https://www.apm.org.uk/body-of-knowledge/context/governance/sponsorship/ The United Kingdom's Association for Project Management definitions which includes definitions of project sponsor and project sponsorship.]
[http://www.projectauditors.com/Papers/Executive_Leadership_Role_of_the_Sponsor.pdf Executive Engagement: The Role of the Sponsor]

Category:Project management