Principle 3: Co-operate with stakeholders and use a proper governance model
Project team members and stakeholders must thoroughly understand the project’s scope and focus on achieving its business objectives and operational drivers. To do this, a project charter must be shared at the beginning of the project to align stakeholders and facilitate the onboarding of the initial team as well as resources added later.
Roles and responsibilities must be defined in the initial engagement phase, so everyone involved understands the team structure, lines of communication, and who has the authority to make which decisions. Formal reporting, regular meetings of the steering committee, rapid escalation mechanisms, and a project team empowered to make the necessary decisions in a timely manner are instrumental in achieving project success. A strong executive project sponsor should assume responsibility for the success of the project from start to finish and clearly emphasize the success criteria and reasons for and benefits of the chosen solution. Audits at key milestones can ascertain the degree of compliance from both a business and regulatory perspective. Communication must be clear and transparent throughout the implementation – internally and with subcontractors, partners, and other stakeholders.
Rössing Uranium Limited, one of the winners in the SAP Africa 2019 Quality Awards, clearly demonstrated this principle last year as they noted the following: “Stakeholder buy-in was key for the success of the project to be delivered in a record time. The project organisation stakeholder structure was kept lean to ensure effective and fast communication and decision making, but was also robust enough to handle the complexities and challenges that the project presented”. Read more about their why their project was so successful here: https://news.sap.com/africa/2019/09/rossing-implements-sap-s-4hana-to-improve-visibility-and-boost-daily-operations/
