Prince2 Roles

Project executive
The project executive is appointed by the business as the single point of accountability for the project
and is ultimately accountable for the success of the project. This accountability cannot be delegated.
The project executive secures funding for the project and is responsible for the business case and the
continued business justification of the project. They are responsible for effectively governing the project
in a way that is aligned to the business strategy, including ensuring longer-term thinking on topics such
as environmental or social impacts.

There cannot be more than one project executive role, and the role cannot be combined with the
project manager role. In organizations where there is a job-sharing scheme, there is still a one-to-one
allocation of the business role (job) to the project role (project executive). However, additional
arrangements may be needed to ensure there is clarity on how the single point of accountability will be
maintained by the job holders who share the business role. The business’ policies and guidance relating
to job-sharing are likely to address such scenarios, and they should be reflected in the project
executive’s role description and the project initiation documentation

Senior User
The senior user represents the user community and is accountable for the approach taken to capture
user requirements and the specification of benefits aligned to the business case. The senior user is
responsible for:
• Ensuring the approach gains user buy-in to the project monitoring the products against the
requirements in line with the business case
• Demonstrating to the business that the forecasted benefits in the business case are on track to being
realized
• Controlling change to requirements and benefits, whether arising from the users, the business, or the
project itself
• The successful handover and adoption of products into the business and continued realization of
benefits after the project has closed.

The senior user must ensure sufficient ongoing commitment from people in the user community to
support these activities, in particular where there is a longer-term commitment beyond the lifespan of
the project, such as the realization of benefits.

Depending on the scale and complexity of the user community, more than one person may be required
to represent the users, but this should be kept to a minimum

Senior supplier

The senior supplier represents the supplier community that is involved in all aspects of delivering the
project products. The senior supplier must ensure sufficient ongoing commitment of people and
resources from the supplier organization(s) to support the project work. The senior supplier is
accountable for the quality of the products delivered by the suppliers and for the technical integrity of
the project.

In many cases, the senior supplier also represents the interests of those who will provide the
maintenance services for the specialist products after closure of the project (for example, engineering
maintenance and support).

Exceptions to this do occur, however (for example, when the maintenance services are provided by the
business, such as an internal IT department, or are outsourced to a different supplier). In this instance
the operations and maintenance interests are more likely to be represented by a senior user. The
distinction is not really important; what matters is that operations, service and support interests are
represented appropriately from the outset.

Depending on the scale and complexity of the supplier community, more than one person may be
required to represent the suppliers, but this should be kept to a minimum.

Project Board
All PRINCE2 projects must have a project board comprising the project executive, senior user, and
senior supplier roles. On smaller and less complex projects, the role of the project executive can be
combined with the role of the senior user or the senior supplier. It is not recommended to combine the
senior user and senior supplier roles to avoid conflicts of interest in decision-making and ensure that
the perspectives and interests of the user and supplier communities are adequately represented on the
project.
The project board has authority and responsibility for the project within the project tolerances set by
the business, often captured in a project mandate. They are responsible for creating the right
environment for the project to succeed, including:
• Having sufficient funding, people, and resources to deliver the project objectives establishing clear
feedback loops to support adapting and evolving the project
• Assuring all aspects of the project’s performance and products independently of the project manager
• Ensuring business strategy and objectives are reflected in the business case
• Ensuring the project and its management approaches are aligned to the business’ environmental, social,
and governance (ESG) commitments
• Setting stage tolerances to enable management by exception
• Governing the project and determining the rules, constraints, shared values, and perspectives needed to
guide decision-making at all levels
• Establishing the tolerances and change budget to support effective decision-making
• Focusing on the safety and well-being of the project team
• Monitoring and supporting social cohesion within the project ecosystem
• Managing relationships at the interface of the organizational ecosystem and project ecosystem.

An effective project board requires the right level of authority for the nature and scale of the project
and credibility across the project ecosystem.

Project Manager
Project manager has the authority to run the project on behalf of the project board within the
agreed project tolerances and constraints. They are responsible for day-to-day management of a
project, including:
• Managing and, where appropriate, delegating the work to the team managers or team members
• Setting the work package tolerances and constraints for the team managers and project support roles to
work within
• Ensuring decisions are being made in line with the project board guidance and tolerances
• Managing relationships within the project ecosystem, including project assurance roles and the project
board
• Monitoring and supporting the safety and well-being of team members and the sustainability of the
project approach.

Depending on the scale and complexity of the project and the skill and capacity of the project manager,
the project manager may also perform the team manager and project support roles or delegate these
directly to team members. The responsibility of the project manager as a single focus means the role
should not be shared or combined with other roles.

In organizations where there is a job-sharing scheme, there is still a one-to-one allocation of the
business role (job) to the project role (project manager). However, additional arrangements may be
needed to ensure clarity on how the single point of accountability will be maintained by the job holders
who share the business role. The business’ policies and guidance relating to job-sharing are likely to
address such scenarios. The policies should be reflected in the project manager’s role description and
the project initiation documentation
Team manager

Team managers are responsible for delivering the work allocated to them within the tolerances and
constraints agreed with the project manager. The project manager allocates work to a team manager in
the form of work package, in line with the commercial management approach. The team manager is
responsible for:
• Delivering the products to the agreed specifications
• Setting the tolerances and constraints for team members to work within
• Ensuring any decisions their team needs to make is in line with the project manager’s guidance and the
tolerances
• Managing relationships both within their team and any interfaces with other teams, the project
manager, project assurance, and project support
• Monitoring and supporting the safety and wellbeing of team members and the sustainability of the
team’s approach.

Project assurance

Project board members are accountable for the assurance of their respective areas of concern
(business assurance, user assurance, supplier assurance). The project board is responsible for
establishing how project assurance will be undertaken, ensuring clarity in the roles and responsibilities
and how those appointed to assurance roles will interact with each other. Subject to who has the
knowledge, skills, and capacity to support the project team, the assurance tasks can be undertaken by
the board member themselves, appointed from the wider business, or selected from an external party.

Project assurance roles cannot be assigned to the project manager, team manager, project team
members, nor the project support. Where the project assurance roles are delegated, the respective
project board member remains accountable.

Project support

Project support is responsible for providing services such as, administrative support, facilitating
meetings and workshops, advice and guidance on the project tools, planning support, risk management,
issue management, and change management.

Although the role is the responsibility of the project manager, it can be delegated to suppliers,
individuals, or groups within the business or to other team members. This is dependent on the scale
and complexity of the project and the skills, knowledge, and capacity of the project manager.

Project support can help with integration across the project ecosystem, including gaining feedback to
aid improvements to the ways of working, the evolving project direction, and building social cohesion.

Project support must be kept separate from project assurance roles to maintain the independence of
assurance.