This document provides templates for standard project organization structures including example organization charts and descriptions of common roles such as the project sponsor, steering committee, advisory committee, and project manager. It includes a generic organization chart that can be customized for specific projects along with role descriptions for project team members that also can be adapted. The organization charts and role descriptions are intended to help those writing a project plan by providing starting materials for the required human resources plan section.

1. Standard Org Chart and Role Descriptions
Introduction
This job aid supports completion of the Human Resources Plan section of a Project Plan,
which calls for an organization chart and role descriptions for different team members.
If you are writing a Project Plan, this job aid provides some materials to get you started.
 The generic organization chart can be your starting point – just customize the
organization chart to reflect the size and structure of your project
 Like the organization chart, the role descriptions provided here can be customized to
develop role descriptions for project team members
 If you are unfamiliar with Project Sponsors, Steering Committees, Advisory
Committees, and Project Management Offices, some introductory information is
provided for basic orientation
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2. Standard Organization Chart for a Project
Steering Committee
(Insert Name)
(Insert Member Names
Project Sponsor
or Titles)
Advisory Committee
(Insert Member Names
or Titles and Orgs)
(Insert Name)
Project Manager
Project Management Office (Insert Name of Team) (Insert Name of Team)
(Insert Name) (Insert Name) (Insert Name)
PMO Lead Team Lead Team Lead
(Insert Name) (Insert Name) (Insert Name)
Administrative Assistant Team Member Team Member
(Insert Name) (Insert Name)
Team Member Team Member
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3. Example Organization Chart for a Project
Shiekh Faisal Al-Thani
Secretary General Steering Committee
Advisory Committee Project Sponsor Dr. M Al-Asiri, Director of Finance
Mr. R Al-Muhannadi, MOH Ms. A Al-Qadi, Director of HR
Mr. S Al Rashed, MOI Mr. H Al-Humaidi, Director of IT
Ms. T Al-Sada, SEC Mr. K Al-Mannai, Director of Policy
Mr. H Al-Rumaihi, SCFA
Mr. S AlAmmar, MOF Dr. Nawal Al-Taweel
Project Manager
Project Management Office Design Team Research Team
Mr. Rashed Al-Ammari Ms. Hind Al-Naama Dr. Hamad Al-Kulfi
PMO Lead Design Team Lead Research Team Lead
Mrs. Hanna Gahl Ms. Sarah Al-Malki Mr. Jabor Al-Kuwari
Administrative Assistant Team Member Researcher
Mr. Ali Al-Kaabi Mr. Mohammed Al-Qadi
Team Member Researcher
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4. Sponsor
Sponsor Background: Sponsor Role Description:
The Project Sponsor is the manager or executive within  Approves Plan, Schedule, and Budget
an organization who oversees a project and delegates
 Ensures project is aligned with organizational
authority to the Project Manager.
strategy and compliant with policy
Sponsor Characteristics:
 Ensures project makes good use of assets
 Generally provides the project budget
 Maintains project focus on its goal and outcomes
 Has sufficient authority to direct all the staff
 Verifies project progress against its Plan
involved in a project – or as many as possible
 Monitors effectiveness of Project Manager
 Has sufficient authority or influence to get the
cooperation of key stakeholders  Chairs the Steering Committee
 Approves final deliverables
 Removes any roadblocks to project success
 Approves significant changes to the project scope,
timeline, budget, or quality
 Communicates about the project inside the agency
and with external stakeholders
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5. Steering Committee
Steering Committee: Steering Committee Role Description:
A group of senior managers responsible for business  Ensures project is aligned with organizational
issues affecting the project strategy and compliant with policy
They may:  Ensures project makes good use of assets
 Have budget approval authority  Assist with resolving strategic level issues and risks
 Make decisions about changes in goals and scope  Approve or reject changes to the project with a high
impact on timelines and budget
 Be the highest authority to resolve issues or
disputes  Assess project progress and report on project to
senior management and higher authorities
 Provide advice and guidance on business issues
facing the project
 Use influence and authority to assist the project in
achieving its outcomes
 Review and approve final project deliverables
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6. How do Sponsors and Steering
Committees “Govern” Projects?
What is Governance?
Oversight to ensure that Directors and Managers
 Act in the interests of the organization
 Are accountable for their use of assets
How is project governance carried out? Who can govern a project?
 Review project documents, such as Plans and  Senior manager of the funding organization as a
Status Reports, looking for evidence that the SPONSOR
project is in the interests of the organization and
 Senior mangers of the funding organization or
uses assets responsibly
stakeholder representatives as STEERING
 In discussions and decisions, advocate for what COMMTITEE MEMBERS
you believe is best for the organization and its
Who cannot govern a project?
stakeholders
 Project Manager or other team member
 Require that the Project Manager and team
demonstrate competence, ethics, and compliance  They will not be seen as objective judges of
with organizational policy their own work and conduct
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7. Advisory Committee
Advisory Committee Background Advisory Committee Role
An Advisory Committee is a group of people who  Provide insights to the team regarding
represent key project stakeholders and provide
 Stakeholder interests
advice to the Project.
 Technical advice
Like Steering Committees, Advisory Committees
are generally made up of Managers – often quite  Other relevant initiatives
senior ones. Unlike Steering Committees,
 Assist with resolving issues and risks
Advisory Committees do not make decisions
regarding a project.  Use influence and authority to assist the
project in achieving its outcomes
 Communicate about the project in their
organizations
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8. Role of a Project Manager
Project Manager Background Project Manager Role Description
Project Managers have overall responsibility for meeting  Supervise and provide technical direction to project
project requirements within the agreed to time, cost, team
scope and quality constraints outlined in the Project
 Provide weekly Project Status Reports to the
Plan.
Project Sponsor
Project Managers report to Project Sponsors, who have
 Chair Advisory Committee meetings
delegated their authority to the Project Manager.
 Chair weekly team status meetings
 Chair Risk and Change Control Committees (if
these exist for a project)
 Attend Steering Committee meetings and prepare
supporting materials with the Project Sponsor
(agendas, presentations)
 Execute project management processes: risk,
issues, change, quality, and document management
 Ensure Project Plan, Schedule, and Budget are up-
to-date; detect and manage variances
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9. Team Lead
Team Lead Background Team Lead Role Description
A Team Lead is a person responsible for managing one  Supervise and provide technical direction to sub-
part of a project, or a “subproject.” This position only team members
exists on larger projects.
 Review all sub-team deliverables
Team Leads ideally have project management skills,
 Hold regular sub-team status meetings
including human resource management, in addition to
relevant technical skills.  Provide regular status reports to Project Manager
 Attend Team Lead meetings and Project Status
Meetings
 Manage and resolve team-level risks, issues, and
changes
 Ensure team is using the project management
processes outlined by the PMO in its Process Plans
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10. Team Member
Team Member Background Team Member Role Description
A person assigned to a team who is responsible for In your role description for a team members, list the:
performing some of the project activities.
 Major activities they will do
Team members may:
 Deliverables they will produce
 Report directly or indirectly to the project manager
You can list other responsibilities and expectations,
 Be assigned to work part-time or full-time on the such as:
project
 Attendance at status meetings or other meetings
 Compliance with standards
 Participation in project management processes
such as risk, issue, and document management
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11. Why are PMOs are Needed on Large
Projects?
 Frees time of Project Manager to focus on
 Priority risks
 Priority issues
 Stakeholder alignment
 Technical challenges
 Ensures administrative tasks are completed
 Projects often have trouble competing for the time of administrative support staff
in the permanent organization
 Brings Subject Matter Experts needed in larger, more complex projects
 Financial management
 Human resource management
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12. A PMO Can Have Two Roles
A PMO can have two roles: (i) project management support and (ii) administration. Every time a PMO is established,
it must define its role. Use the lists below as a checklist or menu to choose from when determining the role for your
PMO.
1. Project Management Role 2. Administrative Role
 Support Project Manager by helping:  Maintain budget/bookkeeping
 Mobilize the team (project start up)  Process expenses
 Write and update PM deliverables:  Arrange travel
 Project Definition Document  Manage facilities
 Project Plan, Schedule, Budget  Procure supplies and equipment
 Project Manual  Manage contracts
 Status Reports  Manage documents – filing project deliverables,
 Manage project management processes: meeting minutes, contracts, logs
 Risk management  Support status meeting for team, Steering and
Advisory Committee – facilities, agenda, minutes
 Issue management
 Managing HR -- recruiting, orienting, and arranging
 Change control training for team members, keeping vacation
 Quality management schedules, conducting exit interviews
 Document management
 Configuration management
 Project evaluation
 Support and track approvals 12

13. Project Management Office (PMO) Lead
PMO Lead Background PMO Lead Role Description
The PMO Lead supervises the team that provides To construct the PMO Lead role description:
project management and administrative support to the
 Select from the menu of potential PMO
Project Manager.
responsibilities on the “PMOs Have Two Roles”
The PMO should have strong project management slide
technical skills, including the human resources
 If the PMO has a team working in it, include the
management skills to supervise others working in the
responsibilities found in the “Team Leader” slide
PMO effectively.
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14. Other Project Role Descriptions 1 of 2
Project Director Change Control Committee
The Project Director reports to the Project Sponsor and A committee responsible for approving or rejecting
supervises the Project Manager. This position is changes to the Project Plan. It is typically seen on IT
normally held by a senior manager with responsibility for projects, and members typically represent program and
more than one project. project management; software and hardware
engineering; testing; documentation; customer support;
It is common to use Project Directors when the Project
and marketing.
Manager is an External Consultant.
Responsibilities are as follows:
Responsibilities are as follows:
 Review and approve the Change Control Plan
 Oversee projects and work of Project Manager
 Ensure the change control process is executed
 Ensure integration of project with other projects
effectively
and organizational priorities
 Review changes and make decisions within the
limits of authority (re budget and timeline)
 Escalate changes to senior management that
require decisions above the committee’s level of
authority
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15. Other Project Role Descriptions 2 of 2
Risk Manager Risk Control Committee
The Risk Manager reports either to the Project Manager A committee responsible for overseeing and
or PMO Lead and takes responsibility for executing the participating in the project’s risk management process.
risk management process for a project. This role is Members should have business knowledge relevant to
usually only seen on large and sensitive projects. the project and should represent key stakeholders.
Responsibilities are as follows: Responsibilities are as follows:
 Identifying risks  Review and approve the Risk Management Plan
 Analyzing (quantifying and prioritizing) risks  Ensure the Risk Management Plan is executed
effectively
 Planning responses to risks
 Assist with identification of risks
 Ensures response plans are executed
 Advise on how to respond to risks
 Documenting and tracking risks
 Writing Contingency Plans
 Involving the team and external stakeholders in
the process as required
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