Managing Successful Programmes (MSP) identifies the following principles of effective programme management and suggests how to put them into practice:
- Programme Management Organisation - giving people clear roles, responsibilities, leadership and lines of communication. There is a Sponsoring Group of senior executives including the Programme Director with ultimate accountability
- Programme planning - using a Programme Plan to ensure that control is established and maintained
- Benefits management - identifying, optimising and tracking expected benefits to ensure they are achieved
- Stakeholder management - ensuring all interested parties are appropriately involved in the programme
- Issue management and Risk management - having strategy for dealing with current and anticipated problems
- Quality management - ensuring that the end products of the programme are fit for purpose
- Configuration management - keeping monitoring information about the programme up-to-date and accurate
- Audit - ensuring that technical, statutory, contract and accounting standards are used