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The executive sponsor is ideally a high-ranking member of management. He or she is the visible champion of the project with the management team and is the ultimate decision-maker, with final approval on all phases, deliverables and scope changes.

Executive sponsor duties typically include:

• Carry ultimate responsibility for the project
• Approve all changes to the project scope
• Provide additional funds for scope changes
• Approve project deliverables
  

Business analyst duties:

• Assist in defining the project
• Gather requirements from business units or users
• Document technical and business requirements
• Verify that project deliverables meet the requirements
• Test solutions to validate objectives
  

Successful projects are usually the result of careful planning and the talent and collaboration of a project's team members. Project can't move forward without each of its key team members, but it’s not always clear who those members are, or what roles they play. Here, we’ll describe five roles – project manager, project team member, project sponsor, executive sponsor and business analyst – and describe their associated duties.