Roles and responsibilities for project teams

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Guidelines for space/asset projects

Project teams—General information

Project Teams are an internal vehicle for the communication of pertinent and essential information relative to the development, implementation and ongoing activities of a project.

The purpose of these guidelines is to provide clarity to the concept of project teams and the roles and responsibilities of various project team members.

The size and make-up of project teams is determined by the Project Leader (or Project Manager in the case of Other Government Departments (OGD) projects) based on the size, complexity and type of real property project. Project team position titles may also vary; however, the following descriptions represent typical position titles and primary roles and responsibilities.

Public Services and Procurement Canada team members

Project Leader

The Project Leader represents the interests of the Real Property Branch or the key sponsor on the project team. For space projects, the Project Leader is typically the Accommodation Manager/Client Accommodation Service Advisor (CASA). For asset projects in a crown owned building where Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) is the custodian, the Project Leader is typically the Property Manager. For Major Crown Projects, Project Directors represent the Project Leader. Finally, for OGD asset projects, the client department representative acts as the project leader.

They are accountable for all aspects of the project and are responsible to lead the project through the entire National Project Management System (NPMS) lifecycle from the Inception Stage to the Delivery Stage close out, seek approval and funding to implement the project and overall leadership of the project team. This includes on-going monitoring to ensure the project is within funding approval levels with support of financial analyst. Responsibilities may include:

Accommodation Manager/Client Accommodation Service Advisor

The Accommodation Manager/Client Accommodation Service Advisor (CASA) serves as a liaison between the client department and PSPC, and should be intimately familiar with the operations, culture and needs of the occupant department. The Accommodation Manager/CASA is instrumental in assisting, and articulating client operational/space requirements to the Project Team. Often the Accommodation Manager/CASA plays the role of Project Leader. Responsibilities as a project team member may include:

Project Manager

The Project Manager is responsible for carrying out the more detailed day-to-day management of project activities. These responsibilities include:

Architecture and Engineering Design Manager

The Design Manager is primarily responsible for providing strategic and technical design advice in the development and delivery of projects, ensuring the design service requirements of the project are of a level and quality that meet stakeholder expectations. Responsibilities include, without being limited to:

Architecture and Engineering Subject Matter Technical Expert

The subject matter experts ensure that the technical and conceptual design aspects of projects are well defined and correctly expressed and communicated. They protect the best interests of the Crown and ensure that requirements are compliant with Client and departmental standards, with technical regulatory requirements, and with codes and standards. They ensure, through quality assurance and quality control processes that service providers and consultants understand and apply these requirements at all stages of the project.

Leasing Officer

The Leasing Officer is responsible for the space acquisition process for leased accommodation. These responsibilities may include:

Acquisitions—Supply Officer/Specialist

The Acquisitions Supply Officer/Specialist provides advice/guidance on the procurement tools available (e.g. Standing Offers and Supply Arrangements, Buyandsell) for the various categories of services and office furniture and furnishings. These responsibilities may include:

Key accountabilities of the Acquisitions Real Property Contracting Officer can be found in the Procurement Management Manual – Accountability Framework for the Management of Real Property Contracting Footnote 1.

Asset/Property and Facilities Manager

Asset/Property and Facility Managers are responsible for the management of property and facility operations and maintenance in Crown-owned, leased or custodial assets/facilities. Their responsibilities may include:

Appraiser

Appraisers provide valuation and appraisal expertise to PSPC and OGDs when completing Real Property transactions such as buying and selling property, leasing space, and evaluating whether it is the crown's best interest to build, buy, or lease. The unit also provides internal stakeholders valuable appraisal and valuation services that are required when preparing reports such as Asset Management Plans and IARs. Responsibilities include:

Owner Investor/Financial Analyst

Owner Investor is the internal Real Property Branch (RPB) "banker" which interfaces and arranges for funding transfers from HQ to the region, and then works with internal regional stakeholders to transfer the required funding allotments required for RPS program delivery. Responsibilities include:

Move Officer (if used)

The PSPC move officer provides specific technical assistance to the project team and stakeholders in preparing and implementing all personnel, furniture and equipment moves.

Client

The PSPC Accommodation Manager normally represents the client in the Inception and Identification stage. Client should be engaged for preliminary space plan sign-off and to provide detailed requirements for cabling, security, and furniture throughout design review and project delivery stage.

Commissioning Manager

The roles and responsibilities for PSPC Commissioning Manager may include:

Change manager—Public Services and Procurement Canada or other government department projects

The client Change manager’s primary responsibility is to create and implement change management strategies and plans that maximize employee adoption and usage of the changes, and minimize resistance to them, thus helping to ensure the workplace transformation project meets its objectives. The Change manager also works to drive faster adoption and higher ultimate utilization of the workplace.

Change manager—Public Services and Procurement Canada Change management advisor (from Public Services and Procurement Canada Workplace Solutions Unit)

Provides change management expertise to departments who are modernizing their workplace. The PSPC Change management advisor is mostly working directly with the client Change manager.  

Appendix A—Project team meetings

Note

Scalability statement: The guidelines presented in this section are "ideal" and are not intended to be applied verbatim for every project. The level of detail and effort used is directly proportionate to the size and complexity of the individual project and/or the project team.

Meeting defined: Similar to the above statement, the term "meeting" can mean many project team members sitting around a boardroom table, or it can mean an electronic dialogue recorded between two members of the project team – It all depends on the scalability required.

The project team start-up meeting (see Appendix B—Project Team Start-up Meeting Agenda) should be held at the Inception Stage, or as soon as possible after the receipt of the client requirements or the identification of a potential project. Project team members' participation should be determined based on the size, scope, cost and complexity of the project.

Subsequent project team progress meetings and project delivery meetings (see Appendix C—Project Team Progress Meeting Agenda) should be held during other stages/phases of project delivery. Care should be taken to ensure that project team member participation at these meetings is appropriate to the purpose of the meeting at the relevant stage/phase of the project.

Project teams should endeavor to meet at the following stages/phases of the project:

Project inception – Project Leader: Typical chair

  1. After finalization and sign off of the statement of requirements (SoR).

Project identification – Project Leader: Typical chair

  1. Prior to finalization and sign off of the preliminary project plan
  2. Prior to finalization and sign off of the preliminary project complexity and risk assessment for projects over $1M
  3. Prior to finalization and sign off of the feasibility report and/or investment analysis report (IAR).

Project delivery – Project Manager: Typical chair

  1. After Lease award (if applicable); or prior to finalization and sign off of the project management plan
  2. Monthly to review scope, schedule and budget during fit-up
  3. Regularly throughout project implementation
  4. At project completion

Appendix B—Project team start-up meeting agenda

The following is a sample template for the first internal PSPC project team start-up meeting. This meeting is intended to review information on the project Planned Lease Activity Report (PLAR), Building Management Plan (BMP), Asset Management Plan (AMP) and Client Requirements Checklist, clarify/identify team members' roles and responsibilities, and discuss project requirements, schedule, service delivery options, and anticipated risks.

Depending on the complexity of the project, the suggested agenda items may be deleted and/or added to, and may need to be covered in two or more meetings.

Agenda

  1. Introductions
  2. Project Background Information (Review of PLAR, BMP and AMP)
  3. Client Accommodation Requirements Questionnaire Review (If questionnaire is not available, schedule another meeting to review it) if space based.
    1. Project Start Date and Term
    2. Amount of space requested
    3. General Purpose
    4. Special Purpose Space
    5. Full-time Employees (FTE)
    6. Non-Compliant Request
    7. Geographic Boundaries
    8. Technical Requirements (Floor loading, generator, other)
    9. Workstations, Screens/Furniture (Requirements and procurement strategy)
    10. Accessibility – Issues
    11. Security
    12. Cleaning
    13. Additional Items?
  4. Roles and Responsibilities
  5. Anticipated Project Issues
  6. Any Anticipated Project Risks
  7. Space Acquisition Process (if space based)
  8. Project Budget, Funding and project approvals (levels, process, etc.) – Estimate/range only
  9. Project Schedule (and contingencies)
  10. Next Steps
  11. Project Team Meetings/Teleconferences Schedule (time, location, etc.)
  12. Additional Items

Appendix C—Project team progress meeting agenda

The following is a sample template for subsequent internal PSPC project team progress meetings. These meetings are intended to review project matters and progress relative to scope, schedule and budget.

Depending on the complexity of the project, the suggested agenda items may be deleted and/or added to.

Project team meeting sample template

  1. Review Records of Decision (ROD)/Action Items from Previous Meetings
  2. Project approval Status and Amount
  3. Project Funding vs Project Expenditures
    • Year To Date (YTD)/Commitments/Forecast
    • Total Project (Multi Year Expenditures/Forecast)
  4. Project Schedule
  5. Project Scope
  6. Resource Requirements/Capacity
  7. Project Documents (Depending on Phase and complexity, may include documents such as: SoR, feasibility report, Project Plan, IAR, Design, Drawings, Change Orders, etc.)
  8. Project Issues/Roadblocks
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