SINGLE POINT OF CONTACT

As organizations or projects grow in size and their processes become more complex, it becomes increasingly difficult to determine who is responsible for specific activities, procedures, or processes—other than the project manager or the person at the top of a functional organization. This results in wasted time and effort to find the right person to contact. Establishing a single point of contact, whether for an activity, procedure, process, or project, can lessen the effects of growth in size and complexity.

There are other benefits to establishing single points of contact. It encourages a sense of responsibility and accountability. It also forces managers and project managers to delegate.

for Establishing a Single Point of Contact

• Define activities, procedures, processes, and so on.
• Assign a person as a single point of contact for a specific activity, procedure, process, and so on, or a group of activities, procedures, processes, and so on.
• Distribute the name and contact information for each single point of contact.
• Document responsibilities for each single point of contact.
• Determine the requisite level of skills and knowledge for each single point of contact.