If you are responsible for IT projects in your organisation, you should already understand the importance of effective project governance. However, you may not be fully aware of exactly what proper project governance entails or how it can benefit your organisation.

What is Project Governance?

Project Governance refers to the processes, policies, and practices that organisations use to ensure that their projects are effectively managed and aligned with their overall business objectives. It involves establishing a framework that ensures that projects are properly planned, executed, monitored, and controlled.

The Importance of Project Governance in IT Projects

Having effective governance for your IT projects is critical for ensuring that they are delivered on time, within budget, and to the required quality standards. It provides a framework for managing risk, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements, and maximizing the return on investment (ROI) of your IT projects.

IT project governance also enables organisations to align their IT projects with their strategic business objectives by establishing clear communication channels and ensuring that all stakeholders are involved in the project planning and execution process.

Benefits of IT Project Governance

There are numerous benefits that organisations can derive from effective project governance. Here are some of the key benefits:

1. Improved Project Delivery: Effective project governance enables organisations to deliver IT projects on time, within budget, and to the required quality standards. By establishing clear project management processes and procedures, organisations can ensure that all aspects of the project are properly planned, executed, monitored, and controlled.
2. Risk Management: A project governance framework should include a process for managing risk. By identifying potential risks early on in the project lifecycle and implementing appropriate risk management strategies, organisations can minimise the impact of risks on project delivery.
3. Compliance: Project governance also ensures that your IT projects comply with any regulatory requirements. This is particularly important for organisations operating in regulated industries such as healthcare, finance, gaming and government.
4. Better Communication: A governance framework can help facilitate better communication between stakeholders. By ensuring that all stakeholders are involved in the project planning and execution process, organizations can ensure that everyone has a clear understanding of the project objectives, timelines, and deliverables.
5. Improved ROI: Everybody wants to maximise the ROI of their technology projects and by aligning your IT projects with strategic business objectives, you can ensure that you are investing in the right projects and delivering the expected benefits.

Key Elements of IT Project Governance

There are a number of key elements in any effective IT project governance model, including:
Project Management Processes: Establishing clear project management processes and procedures is essential for project governance. This includes defining project objectives, timelines, and deliverables, as well as identifying project risks and developing risk management strategies.
Stakeholder Engagement: Ensuring that all stakeholders are involved in the project planning and execution process is critical. This includes engaging with business stakeholders to ensure that the project aligns with strategic business objectives, as well as engaging with IT stakeholders to ensure that the project is technically feasible.

1. Project Oversight: Providing project oversight is a key component of any project governance framework and should include establishing a project governance structure that defines roles and responsibilities, as well as monitoring project progress and performance throughout the project.
2. Risk Management: Identifying and managing project risks can be the one major success factor for your project and must include the development of risk management strategies and the way you will monitoring risk throughout the project lifecycle.
3. Compliance: Ensuring that IT projects comply with regulatory requirements is critical and complying with data protection regulations, security standards, and industry-specific regulations are a must for every project.

Not every business is the same and there is no guarantee that an out-of-the-box framework will work for you and your projects. If you think you would benefit from a customised governance framework that is tailored specifically for your business, feel free to contact us and let’s talk.