Your Process Sponsor

The Critical Role of the Contractor Management Process Sponsor 

If you want a company initiative, program, or process to be successful, it needs support up and down the organization. This article is about the critical role of the Contractor Management Process Sponsor. It explains how the Sponsor guides and supports the contractor management process and the stakeholders that make it run.

The Business Process Glossary defines the process sponsor as the person responsible for the entire process. The individual monitors the process as a whole and its inputs and outcomes.

In contractor management, the sponsor provides feedback and helps department leaders manage specific sub-processes or activities in their areas of responsibility. Access to the C-Suite is critical to the long-term success of contractor management. Therefore, the sponsor is typically a company executive, senior manager, or team leader.

An effective Sponsor shapes the process and the organization while moving the short and long-term objectives forward. The sponsor is not in charge of the day-to-day operation of the process but gives executive-level support and guidance.

The sponsor is not a full-time role. The function needs regular on-point leadership and engagement, but it is typically part of an executive, manager, or team leader's larger set of responsibilities. 

What does a Process Sponsor do?

Leadership, mostly. These are the areas where a Process Sponsor delivers the most value to an organization:

• Setting the direction – The Sponsor will drive and shape the company's support for the contractor management process. This involves ensuring internal stakeholders (like operations, supply chain, and HSE) and external stakeholders (contractors and, to a lesser degree, clients) are aligned with the process's goals, objectives, and tasks.
• Leading People – The Sponsor is responsible for developing and inspiring the stakeholders that contribute to or are impacted by the process. This includes building a culture that supports the objectives and tasks of the contractor management process.
• Creating the proper organizational structure – The Sponsor works with the process owner, management, field supervision, and line support groups to implement the right company structure. This includes the roles required by the process and their reporting relationships.
• Ensuring the appropriate level of authority and empowerment of the key roles, adequate resources, and capacity to support the process.

Process Sponsor Deliverables

The sponsor is responsible for the overall success of the process within an organization.

The key deliverables of the role are:

• Coordinating with stakeholder departments (field, supply chain, HSE, and administration) to ensure that effective individuals staff the key support roles. The roles of process owner, champion, and administrator are the most critical. In small companies, these roles are frequently combined and managed by a single person.
• Ensuring adequate resources are assigned to each role or task, including the time and budget required to implement and sustain the process.
• Overseeing compliance with standards and assessing task quality, delivery times, reporting, and overall value to the company.
• The sponsor works with the operational departments to ensure that the requirements of the contractor management standards are met. Broad objectives are the measurement of task completion and quality. Examples include:
  • Monitoring contract kick-off meetings for participation and agenda usage
  • Monitoring requirements for site-specific safety plans
  • Monitoring requirements of contractor mobilization checklists.
• The sponsor is responsible for understanding and working within the company's existing work processes and structure. This includes using the standard methods of getting work done and using the business language of the organization. A thorough knowledge of the terms and practices helps the sponsor understand what is happening within the organization while empowering the individuals they work with.

The Technical Sponsor

A technical sponsor may be required if the organization has adopted a third-party contractor management application or has developed its own software.

The technical sponsor is responsible for the success of the technology within an organization. The technical sponsor works with internal stakeholders and the vendor to understand the requirements of the technology and assist in implementation and sustainment.

The deliverables of this role include:

• Technical and operational knowledge of the application
• Application configuration
• Implementation planning, including change management for internal and external stakeholders.
• User training
• Report generation and distribution
• User management and support
• Monitoring and reporting of compliance to implementation and sustainment objectives.

Small Organizations

The contractor management process can be daunting for smaller general contractors. In no other organization is the phrase 'time is money' more accurate than for a small business. Small general contractors' often feel they don't have the resources or capacity to formally take on the roles and tasks described in this blog. Yet, in many cases, many leadership elements and individual tasks are being carried out informally nonetheless.

For example, for many organizations that are subscribed to a contractor registry, the in-house application administrator is, by default, doing many of the tasks of the Technical Sponsor. Likewise, senior management provides contractor management leadership through their daily work without the formalities of titles and responsibility statements.

Our guidance is to assess the benefits of a more systematic approach against the needs in staying competitive, meeting the obligations of your contracts, and opening up bigger business opportunities. Upgrade your processes when:

• a significant business need must be addressed, and
• the proposed new process is sustainable over the long term.

Your clients tend to like it when:

• you have a designated leader of your contractor management system (process sponsor), and
• you have a person who is your in-house expert that operates the system day-to-day (process owner).

Conclusion

New processes can bring significant value when the need is apparent and the organization is ready for adoption. And for many organizations in high-risk industries, an effective contractor management process is critical to long-term profitability and risk reduction. The success of the contractor management process is subject to many variables, but having the right people in critical roles is vital to success. The Process and Technical Sponsor roles can tremendously impact your contractor management efforts. Use best business practices and recruit, then support, the best available people for these critical functions.