Three pillars of project governance

The decision making framework is supported by three pillars:

• Structure

This refers to the governance committee structure. As well as there being a Project Board^[1] or Project Steering Committee, the broader governance environment may include various stakeholder groups and perhaps user groups. Additionally, there may be a Programme Board, governing a group of related projects of which this is one, and possibly some form of portfolio decision making group. The decision rights of all these committees and how they relate must be laid down in policy and procedural documentation. In this way, the project’s governance can be integrated within the wider governance arena.

• People

The effectiveness of the committee structure is dependent upon the people that populate the various governance committees. Committee membership is determined by the nature of the project - other factors come into play when determining membership of programme and portfolio boards - which in turn determines which organisational roles should be represented on the committee.

• Information

This concerns the information that informs decision makers and consists of regular reports on the project, issues and risks that have been escalated by the Project Manager and certain key documents that describe the project, foremost of which is the business case.