Integrated Project Management

The Project Sponsor

Every project must have a sponsor. As mentioned in the preceding text, a sponsor is someone within an organization who first discovers the need for a project and proceeds to get the project off the ground. If the project serves an external customer, the sponsor acts as the official contact with that customer. For new products and product improvement projects, the marketing manager is often the sponsor and the customer. For process improvement projects and Information Technology projects for operating departments, the sponsor is also the customer, because he or she has discovered the need and ordered that the work be done. The sponsor must be a person who is an executive or manager who has discretionary control over committing ...