ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

a. Steering Committee. The concept of a steering committee stems from the need to secure executive or senior management involvement, representing both the user and information systems organizations, in directing and controlling the evolution of an organization's information systems. The steering committee is the "Board of Directors"

for information systems and information systems projects. The steering committee is composed of senior level executives and is responsible for:

o Assuring that the project is consistent with the bureau's strategic long range (mission) plan; overseeing the development of the long range information systems plans; and recommending resource levels based on those plans.

o Reviewing, monitoring and prioritizing projects; approving all projects; and requesting reviews of these projects.

o Authorizing project initiation, defining project scope, and selecting the project manager and delegating authority commensurate with the scope, size, and complexity of the project.

o Requesting independent reviews of the system at any phase of the life cycle.

o Reviewing the reports of the project manager at each phase and recommending a go/no go decision regarding the next phase of the life cycle. The committee can require the project manager to report progress periodically between phases.

The steering committee is formed to ensure the systems development efforts are accomplished in a cost-effective manner as possible, using appropriate technology, and ensures the solution meets the needs of the functional user. The committee is the focal point for overall control for ensuring compliance with the life cycle policies and

documentation standards. The steering committee may choose to exercise more rigorous control on their largest, most critical projects and may wish to delegate this responsibility to an oversight group of middle managers for the smaller, less critical projects.

b. Sponsoring Organization. The sponsoring organization is responsible for:

o Maintaining active senior level involvement - through the steering committee - throughout the development of the system.

o Initiating the project request for a new information system or modification to an existing system.

o Participating in project review activities and reviewing project deliverables.

o Selecting a functional manager (if not the project manager) as the key participant on the project team with responsibility for defining the functional/user needs.

o Describing functional requirements to the project manager/team and interfacing with others.

o Ensuring that the final product meets user requirements.

c. Project Manager. The project manager has overall responsibility for coordinating all management and technical aspects of the system development effort. The project manager is responsible for development of the project plan, completing the project within schedule and budget, meeting customer needs, reporting to the steering committee, and developing the project charter. The project manager is also responsible for:

o Determining the project team organization based on user and information systems organization recommendations.

o Providing detailed work assignments, making sure written tasks exist for all work. Developing measurement criteria that defines what constitutes acceptable performance of each task.

o Coordinating and/or performing system planning, design and implementation.

o Scheduling and directing milestone reviews and participating in reviews conducted by independent staff or review committee.

o Resolving problems related to all phases.

o Overseeing preparation of test plans and test reports and managing system tests.

o Overseeing preparation of required documentation and maintaining a project file. Meeting project standards as outlined in this manual.

Every system needs a clear charter, describing the objectives of the project and certain other key project attributes. The project manager develops the project charter prior to establishment of the project office. The charter is a written understanding between the project manager and the steering committee. The charter defines lines of authority and accountability; defines the reporting channels for accomplishing the objectives outlined in the project management plan; and sets forth the scope, activities, team organization, responsibilities, and the general methods of operation. The larger the project, the more detailed the project charter should be.

d. Project Team. The project manager is leader of the project team. Project team members bring technical and/or functional expertise to the project and each member plans

and performs tasks involving that individual's area of expertise. Team members may not necessarily serve on the project team for the duration of the project; however, all project team members must be identified in the planning phase of the project. Once the planning is completed, members whose contributions are scheduled for later in the project may not be active participants until shortly before their involvement. Team members who are involved at the beginning of the project and have made their contribution, may return to other duties long before the project is completed. Other members may be involved in the project throughout its life cycle, although not on a full-time basis.

The systems project transcends the boundaries of many organizational units. In order to derive maximum benefit from the life cycle methodology, certain key organizational concepts should be in place. These concepts provide a means for working within the structure of the life cycle. There are several components of organization which are integral to the life cycle and are discussed in the following paragraphs. When appointing team members, the project manager must clarify the member's non-project workload responsibilities. This clarification is required both by the individual and the project manager and will affect the workload estimates rendered by the project team member during the planning process.

Project team members (and number) will vary according to projects. A select number of team members and their responsibilities are described below.

Project User. User involvement is the most critical factor in achieving a high level of acceptance and satisfaction in the life cycle process. A key measure of success for an information system is the degree of user acceptance and satisfaction with the system. The establishment of user participation is an organizational strategy for obtaining input from the user's point of view, which is critical to the success of the systems development effort. The project user is a permanent member of the project team and interacts with the project manager in a customer-contractor relationship. As such, the project user is responsible for:

o Monitoring and coordinating, from the user perspective, system projects affecting the user's area.

o Providing input to all phases of the system life cycle.

o Defining the functional requirements and participating in development sessions to define data, system, and processing environment.

o Providing input to scope and implementation costs, screen design, application control flow, and report layouts.

o Assisting in system testing, participating in reviews, developing user manual and training material, conducting end-user training, collecting acceptance test data and conducting post-implementation reviews.

Data Administrator. The data administrator produces the products associated with the logical data model and its supporting documentation. The data

administrator assists the database administrator in transforming the logical data model to the physical database. The data administrator is responsible for:

o Identifying the system modules for each requested application and constructing the data entity list.

o Developing the project data model and validating/reconciling the data model with the organization data model.

o Maintaining information and data architectures.

o Identifying and formally defining new data elements.

o Reviewing existing data elements to determine their appropriate use and creating the data elements dictionary input for data elements and records.

o Participating in system demonstrations for the user organization and management.

o Collaborating with the database administrator to convert the logical model to a preliminary data structure diagram.

o Reviewing physical database design to ensure that it accommodates the logical design requirements.

Database Administrator. The database administrator is responsible for on-going management of the database throughout the system life cycle and for:

o Ensuring that the software and hardware forming the database system meet the needs of the users of the database.

o Monitoring and tuning performance of the database for optimal use and reducing unnecessary or redundant storage.

o Designing and implementing the physical database.

o Determining the record and set physical characteristics for the physical database.

o Facilitating sharing of data among users.

o Guaranteeing database security.

o Defining control procedures for data backup and recovery.

o Performing regular database backups and performing recovery (software and media) when necessary.

System Developer. The system developer is responsible for:

o Managing, supervising and controlling the project's technical activities and tasks.

o Participating in discussions regarding methodology, and tools to be used.

o Monitoring the technical portion of the project's schedule.

o Working closely with the project manager to ensure the project progresses according to schedule.

o Identifying technical tasks for each phase of the project development.

o Assigning and managing the resources to perform the technical tasks.

o Ensuring quality control of all products produced.

o Ensuring that all security aspects are being addressed during development.

Quality Assurance Manager. Every project manager should assure the quality of the information system output to the customer. The quality assurance function should be separated organizationally from the project development staff to avoid

the potential for and appearance of a conflict of interest. As such, the quality assurance manager is responsible for:

o Conducting reviews of the system life cycle products and providing feedback to the project team.

o Reviewing system for conformance to system requirements and design (post-implementation review).

o Assuring the quality of the data through the entire life cycle of the project.

o Participating in the testing of new or modified software.

o Participating in developing the disposition plan for the system.

Security Manager. The security manager is responsible for:

o Participating in design reviews to ensure security measures are being appropriately addressed in the design and development of the system.

o Reviewing security-related documentation (i.e., computer security plans, risk assessment/analysis, contingency plans, security test procedures) to ensure security requirements are being appropriately addressed.

o Defining and specifying the security of the system.

o Determining internal control requirements.

o Identifying security standards applicable to the development of the system including access, encryption, and privacy.

o Participating in test plans and system testing.

o Ensuring system certification prior to its operational use.

Procurement Manager. The procurement manager is responsible for:

o Providing expert advice to the project manager in planning for the acquisition of needed resources other than personnel. These resources include hardware, software, and contractor support services.

o Participating actively in other procurement activities of the system project.

Configuration Manager. The configuration manager establishes and maintains the configuration management records for the system and is accountable for the completeness and integrity of the configuration management records. The configuration manager is responsible for:

o Establishing procedures for configuration and change control.

o Maintaining a complete file and log of all change requests, including requests to modify system characteristics that are not yet approved and baselined, as well as requests to modify approved configuration plans.

o Recording the disposition of all change requests, including

approval/disapproval, and completion and implementation of the change.

o Preparing periodic reports of configuration status, as needed, and providing assistance and support to the performance of configuration audits.

o Developing and maintaining the program library of life cycle products.

o Providing physical control over baselined documentation (i.e., retaining at least one official copy of the documentation).

o Managing the movement of software and data among developments, test, training, and production environments.

System Tester. The system tester is responsible for:

o Developing and executing all test plans.

o Overseeing testing of the system and executing the test plan to ensure validity and completeness.

o Generating the test analysis report.

o Ensuring user is satisfied prior to acceptance.

e. Review Committee. Depending on the scope and complexity of the system development effort, an independent review committee may be established to conduct the review activities of each phase. The review committee role and responsibilities are outlined in the project charter. The review committee prepares review reports for the steering committee and the project manager. Life cycle phase issues checklists and phase review checklists are available in each phase.

Guidance is also provided to conduct the periodic system review and post-implementation review.