Policy requirements

The following are the policy requirements:

• Accountability for projects: For adequate definition and responsible implementation of projects the sponsoring department must establish an accountability framework. This framework will have a manager appointed as a project leader. This project leader is accountable for each project assigned:
• All external aspects which includes the changing operational needs and wider government objectives. External aspects continuously evolve.
• All internal aspects which include general supervision to ensure that project managers meet the objectives approved for the project.

• Project management principles: Each department has to establish and approve sound internal policies, the guidelines and practices to be followed by project managers, project leaders and team members.
• Authorities and resources: The project undertaking or sponsoring department must elect authorities and allocate resources appropriate to the scope, complexity and risk of the project, allowing the project leaders to:
• Represent the sponsoring department on matters related to the project.

• Define objectives for every phase of the project.
• Be accountable for the achievement of each objective.

• Project scope: It is the responsibility of the project leader to define the scope for all projects. The scope is defined by consulting other departments or central agencies that are affected by the project. It consists of all the project objectives. Procurement review (specifying the vendors) and other environmental considerations have an impact on project scope.
• Management framework: A project management framework is established by the project leader for detailed project definition and to complete project implementations .Certain projects may have a simpler system with an internal, self-contained management office headed by a project manager. Other projects may use a complex management framework which includes many parallel activities and external agencies, each having its own manager or project officer. In both the cases the project manager maintains his accountability, through written agreement with any previous project leaders or project managers. This agreement defines the details of the task to be accomplished; it also includes finance and progress reporting arrangements.
• Project risk, complexity and economy: This is the duty of the project leader to ensure that project managers perform project planning to address the scope, size, risk, complexity, visibility and administrative needs of projects. Project leader also has to ensure that the proposed project management framework and allocated resources are based on the complexity and the risk assessed for each phase of the project. The identified risk and complexity will be managed and reduced in every phase and throughout the project life cycle.

• Project Profile and Risk Assessment (PPRA): During the initial stages of a project the project leader has to prepare a project profile and risk assessment after consulting the contracting authority. Once the PPRA is appropriated the project leader should use it for systematic dialogues with the project team and the Treasury Board Secretariat regarding the management framework and reporting baseline for the project.
• Project management practices: Project management practices are the basic practices followed by organisations for project management.. Adequate risk assessment and management is important for all projects, Project risk assessment and management guidelines provide a framework for conducting risk assessment. Departments should encourage the use of information technology to generate, store and retrieve key data relative to projects. A model agreement may also be used for interdepartmental arrangements with appropriate revisions. Project leaders should ensure that a project evaluation is performed for all projects. Project evaluations should be prepared within three months after completion of project implementation.