The roles and responsibilities of project participants will vary. The requirements placed on participants will be determined and defined during the project planning process phase, however, the following is a good “rule of thumb” perspective:

▲    On a large project, individual role assignments may require full-time attention to the function.

▲    On smaller projects, role assignments may be performed part-time, with staff sharing in the execution of multiple functions.

▲    Tasking and individual responsibilities are often covered in the Organizational Breakdown Structure (OBS) as activity assignments are defined during the planning phase. Typically these assignments are shorter term and exist only to the completion of the activity deliverable.

A project team includes a diverse combination of people and skills who share the responsibility for accomplishing project goals.

Stakeholders are individuals and organizations who have a vested interest in the success of the project. The identification and input of stakeholders help to define, clarify, drive, change, and contribute to the scope, cost, timing, quality and, ultimately, the success of the project.

To ensure project success, the project management team needs to identify stakeholders early in the project, determine their needs and expectations, and manage and influence those expectations over the course of the project.

Stakeholders on every project include:

▲    Organizational Management, who define business needs, goals and objectives of the project as well as defining the policies and procedures governing the project

▲    The Project Manager, who has ultimate responsibility for project success

▲    The Project Team members, who are responsible for managing the performance of the project work activities. These could include:

■        Project management staff

■        Business development staff

■        Subject Matter Experts (SME)

■        Documentation (user and technical) staff

■        Training staff

■        Technical staff