Create Project Executive Board

The main objective of the project executive board (PEB) is to act as a guardian to the project,

ensuring that:

Creating a project executive board (PEB) can be contentious, particularly if a number of groups want to have a representative on the PEB. Here are a few tips:

   

Project team members probably will not be part of the PEB, although having the project manager on the PEB can be advantageous significantly. You’ll need to weigh the benefits of having the project manager on the PEB against the possibility that the project manager may not be able to be truly independent from the project, and may influence PEB decisions accordingly:

 

At a minimum, the PEB should include representatives from the following:

 

Executive sponsor: An executive sponsor is critical because building the CMDB will affect numerous IT and business organizations. An executive-level sponsor with responsibility for multiple IT departments gives the project both credibility and focus. Keep in mind that the more senior the sponsor, the higher the level of credibility that is associated with your project. The CIO is an excellent candidate; alternatively, look to others such as the vice president of IT support, director of infrastructure, or director of information communications. The key is to find an executive sponsor who shows a clear interest in the project and who will benefit from the CMDB.

 

Key stakeholders: Those organizations that plan to change their functions or processes to leverage the CMDB are key stakeholders, and they should be represented on the PEB since they will depend on the success of the project. Organizations that are contributing budget and resources to the CMDB project may also want to be represented on the PEB. These stakeholders might be from governance; the service desk; or asset, change, release, incident, problem, configuration, financial, availability, capacity, or service level management.

 

These key stakeholders may select a deputy to represent them, but the deputy should have the authority to make decisions on behalf of the sponsors.

 

CMS owner: Include the future CMS owner on the PEB; that is, the person who owns and manages the complete CMS, which is comprised of all the individual CMDBs. This representative is responsible for ensuring that the overall CMS and the individual CMDBs can be managed and maintained to the level defined in the CMDB goals and mission statement you will develop in next step, “Create and Agree on the CMDB Goals and Mission Statement.”

 

Main resource contributor: One team or organization will probably provide the bulk of the labor required to complete the CMDB project, and should be represented on the PEB. At heart, this is a project to define and build a database, so the sponsor and other stakeholders likely will not complete much of the work. This PEB member is responsible for ensuring that the necessary resources are supplied when required, and for making decisions if some tasks take longer than anticipated or require some more resources. Take great care to select the correct PEB members. Remember: The PEB should be an asset to the project — not an encumbrance.

 

Summary

Using the Project Mandate and agreed Project Manager Job Description(s) appoint the Executive (who will make the decisions) and Project Manager (who will plan and manage the project). Upon their acceptance and sign off of their Job Description(s) appoint them to their roles.

 

Author : SiddharthPareek