Governance is the fifth domain in program management. It represents 14% of the 170 questions, or 24 questions, on the PgMP^® exam. Governance transcends program management from the beginning of the program when it is first approved to be part of the portfolio to the closure of the program.

In program management, there can be several types of governance structures—one used for program approval, one used to oversee the program at the stage gates and for periodic reviews of program progress, and one used by the program manager to oversee the projects in the program. These Governance Boards, often called Steering Committ4es, Oversight Groups, or Boards of Directors, each require a defined structure to promote efficiency and consistency among programs and their respective projects. In smaller organizations, a senior executive often performs these functions. A program governance plan is a best practice to describe policies, procedures, and standards that the Governance Board will follow and how the stage-gate reviews will be conducted, including the requirements for each one.

An issue escalation process also is a best practice as the program manager may wish to escalate risks and issues to the Governance Board for resolution, and project managers may wish to do the same to the program manager.

Key performance indicators (KPIs) are useful to measure program success and to help monitor benefits throughout the life cycle. They may include items such as risks, financials, compliance, quality, safety, and stakeholder satisfaction. The program management information system is used to help facilitate tracking these KPIs. A best practice to follow is to regularly evaluate new and existing risks that impact strategic objectives and update the risk management plan as required, presenting it to the Governance Board for approval. Also, the business environment should be monitored in order to ensure the program remains in alignment with the organization’s strategic objectives.

Further, emphasis is placed on contributing to an information or knowledge repository with program-related lessons learned, processes, and documentation to support organizational best practices. These lessons learned then are identified and applied to support and influence the existing program and future programs or improvements in the organization.

Note that in the Examination Content Outline, this domain is referred to as Governance, while in the Standard for Program Management—Third Edition (2013), it is titled Program Governance.

Following is a list of major topics covered In this domain. Use this list to focus your study efforts on the areas that may appear on the exam.

Governance Importance

• Governance and the program life cycle
• Practices and procedures
• Support to program success
• Governance at different levels
• Phase-gate reviews and the life cycle
• Aligning program goals with the strategic goals and objectives of the organization
• Ensuring value promised by the program is realized, and benefits are delivered
• Ensuring effective stakeholder communication
• Setting up measures to ensure compliance with policies
• Ensuring appropriate tools and processes are used in the program

Program Governance Boards

• Staffing
• Governance model
• Positioning the Board to address issues and questions
• Usefulness of a single Governance Board for the program
• Need for multiple Governance Boards

Program Governance Board Responsibilities

• Program governance and the organization’s vision and goals
• Program approval, endorsement, and initiating
• Program funding

Establishing a program governance plan

• Summary of the program’s goals
• Structure of the Board
• Definition of roles and responsibilities
• Planned meetings
• Phase-gate reviews
• Initiation and closure or transition criteria
• Periodic health checks
• Issue and risk escalation processes
• Success criteria, communications, and endorsement
• Key performance indicators
• Approving plans and the program’s approach
• Program performance support
• Reporting and control processes
• Quality standards and planning
• Monitoring progress and determining changes
• Other decision reviews
• Approving component initiation and transition
• Program closure

Program Governance and Program Management

• Collaborative relationship
• Shared responsibilities
• Program and project management standards

Individual Governance Roles

• Program sponsor
• Governance Board members
• Program manager
• Project managers
• Program team members

Governance of Components

• Component governance
• Program manager responsibilities

Other Governance activities

• PMO
• PMIS
• Program management knowledge management
• Identifying and applying lessons learned
• Audit support
• Evaluating new and existing risks
• Education and training
• Monitoring the business environment
• Developing and supporting the integration plan

1. Within the Acme Bearing Company, management uses the terms project management and program management interchangeably, and there is no consistency across programs. Furthermore, there is no executive support to facilitate issue resolution, no direction or leadership provided to program teams, and little control over work initiatives. As an external consultant, you have been asked to provide recommendations for improvement. You prepare a report with a prioritized list of actions for Acme management. Number one on your list is to establish—
   1. A portfolio management information system
   2. Enterprise project management across all divisions
   3. A program governance model
   4. A program delivery model with supporting competencies
2. As the program manager for a new curricula of training products, you will need to work with numerous divisions within your company, many of which are located in other countries. Additionally, other projects and programs in the organization are linked to your program at various levels. Because you realize the importance of gate reviews and health checks, you need to develop a(n)—
   1. Interface management plan
   2. Integration plan
   3. Governance plan
   4. Program roadmap
3. As your organization’s troubled program recovery specialist, you have been called in to take over a program that has had difficulties from the start. An initial assessment revealed that the project-level requirements had not been completed nor had those at the program level. Of course, they need to be finalized before work can be done. You also found that even though your program management methodology requires a Governance Board for a program of this magnitude that it had been set up. You realize this is a necessity, and stage-gate reviews must be conducted. The governance processes, procedures, and templates for programs are defined and managed by the—
   1. PMO
   2. Program office
   3. Program manager
   4. Program Governance Board
4. Assume you now have a Governance Board set up for this troubled program that has had difficulties from the start. You worked with your core team and developed program-level requirements. When you inherited the program, you learned it already had three projects, so you have had your project managers define the project-level requirements succinctly. You have been working with the project managers now on overall program planning and also on planning for their projects. You are scheduled now to meet with your Governance Board in two weeks to see if you can pass Gate Review 3 and officially begin the executing process. You realize these gate reviews are a necessity to—
   1. Obtaining customer support for your work to date
   2. Ensuring the customer acceptance criteria for the end products of the program will be met as planned.
   3. Delivering benefits according to the benefits realization plan
   4. Assuring the ability to sustain program benefits in the long term
5. The program Governance Board on your program is considered to be the best in the organization because of its approach to monitoring performance. Not only do its members monitor progress reports on a routine basis, but they also specifically employ the best practice of—
   1. Meeting with you quarterly to discuss status
   2. Conducting client satisfaction surveys to determine whether quality is being achieved
   3. Hiring an outside consultant to monitor progress reports to get an objective view
   4. Providing support when changes are needed in the program’s approach
6. You have been managing a program to run the clinical trials for a new class of drugs that will forever eliminate prickly heat in the subtropics. Partway through the trials, you discovered that a competitor had already achieved regulatory approval to begin manufacturing and selling an identical class of drugs that will be sold at half the cost of the drug that you are developing. You met with your Governance Board to discuss the situation. The next step is to—
   1. Prepare a program closure recommendation
   2. Conduct an audit
   3. Prepare a performance report
   4. Terminate the program
7. You are working on a complex five-year program that has a minimum of four projects under way at any given time. A major scope change to Project L has resulted in a need to rebaseline its schedule. Consequently because of dependencies with Project L, Project D also had to revise its schedule. These two revisions required that your overall program schedule be revised as well. The program schedule change has been approved, and the program and its components’ schedules have been updated. As a result of these schedule changes, your original estimate is now totally out of date. Your program Governance Board now asks you to prepare revised—
   1. Forecasts
   2. Estimate at completion
   3. Approach to pursue goals
   4. Earned value scorecard
8. Finally, your program to rebuild the water desalinization plant for Haddad, Saudi Arabia is complete. You asked your Governance Board to approve a recommendation to close this program. To do so, the Board confirms that conditions warranting closure are satisfied as possibly defined in the—
   1. Business case
   2. Benefit realization plan
   3. Program charter
   4. Closure procedures
9. You are preparing for a meeting of your Governance Board. This meeting is a decision point review based on the need to—
   1. Approve initiation of a component
   2. Confirm stakeholder satisfaction with current performance
   3. Confirm that a component has satisfied its business case
   4. Determine if benefits are being realized as stated in the benefit realization plan
10. You are the program manager for your city’s initiative to put all electrical, cable, and telephone lines underground to prevent outages during tornados and hurricanes. You have a number of subcontractors working for you, and you also have a small core team of five people. So far, you have four projects in your program, but given its complexity, you expect to have more as the program ensues. You are getting ready for a review by your Governance Board for your program. One purpose of this review is to—
    1. Request approval to initiate another project into the program
    2. Manage the program resources
    3. Identify needed training for your program team members
    4. Prepare for an external audit by the City’s Finance Director
11. You are the program manager on a highly controversial e-mail retention program. More than 75 percent of the organization is opposed to the program because it means that all their e-mail messages will be archived and reviewed for inappropriate, unethical, or illegal statements. You know that there will be many conflicts as you and your team execute the component projects. You inform your team that, in the case of any conflict, the first point of escalation is—
    1. The program director
    2. The program sponsor
    3. The program Governance Board
    4. You, the program manager
12. Although your company has been active in project management for many years, it is relatively new to program management. One of the executives knew about the usefulness of governance and stage-gate reviews from his previous work in new product development, and he recommended all programs have a Governance Board. Since the company is following the Project Management Institute’s guidelines, this Governance Board approves each program’s approach. To do so it—
    1. Approves the business case
    2. Ensures the PMO sets up consistent process that each program follows
    3. Approves the roadmap
    4. Follows the governance plan
13. Although your company has been active in project management for many years, it is relatively new to program management. You became certified as a PgMP^® and suggested to your supervisor that two of your current projects would be better managed as a program. Your supervisor in turn met with some members of the executive team, and collectively, they realized a number of the existing projects in the company would be better handled through a program structure. One of the executives recommended all programs have a Governance Board. The recommended governance structure is stated in the—
    1. Program charter
    2. Program management plan
    3. Benefits realization plan
    4. Business case
14. Your program to develop the next-generation helium automobile has been completed. Your Governance Board suggested that audits be held throughout the program, and while you realized the audits were time consuming for you and your team, you found they were—
    1. A best practice
    2. An indicator of benefits realized
    3. A measure of program quality
    4. A way to take proactive actions
15. Your program is part of a company portfolio that includes two other programs as well as three projects that are not part of any specific program. The portfolio also includes additional ongoing work. You will have a number of phase-gate reviews of your program’s initiatives. These reviews will be—
    1. Carried out within the context of the corresponding portfolio
    2. Held at the key go/no-go decision points of your program
    3. Used to assess periodic project performance
    4. Held when you request them in your role as program manager
16. You are the program manager for a new version of a MP3 player. The players are manufactured by third-party companies operating plants in five countries. You have a project manager on site in each of these five countries and a total of seven projects in your program to date. Your company is working diligently to be the first to market with these new players as they are using the latest technology, and it differs significantly from that of the competition. You have a Governance Board for your program and it supports program success by—
    1. Ensuring goals are aligned with the strategic vision
    2. Setting key performance criteria for the program and project managers
    3. Setting up a PMO for direct program support
    4. Establishing the benefits the program is to deliver
17. You are the program manager for the development of a new slot machine for the Sand Dunes casino in Macau. Your company is using program management more frequently as it realizes the benefits associated with it but operates with a balanced matrix structure. You meet regularly with members of your Governance Board for periodic health checks, which provide the Board an opportunity to—
    1. Formally review program performance
    2. Assess progress toward benefit realization and sustainment
    3. Focus on the phase that was just completed to determine whether the next phase should begin
    4. Review and approve required program changes
18. You are a program manager under contract to a government agency that is responsible for issuing visas and passports. You have been working on this program for eight years and are responsible for all the information and telecommunications functions for the agency. Your company realizes this program is essential to its success, and this is the first time it has worked for this agency. Therefore, it established a Governance Board to oversee the process. You helped prepare a governance plan and a key part of it is—
    1. A summary of the program’s goals
    2. An overview of the business case
    3. Schedules for audits
    4. A description of the knowledge management system
19. You are preparing for a major review by your program’s Governance Board. They are especially interested in progress on Project A, because it sets the stage for two other projects. Your program control officer informs you and the Board that Project A has a pessimistic estimate of being completed within 136 days, a most likely estimate of 121 days, and an optimistic estimate of 116 days. They are concerned that the pessimistic estimate will occur and are therefore considering—
    1. Recommending that this component be terminated since it cannot meet its schedule
    2. Adding resources to Project A
    3. Working collaboratively with the program manager to provide support for needed changes
    4. Requesting a program audit
20. You are the program manager for a manufacturing program. This program has been under way for three years. You are using a virtual team to manage the program, and you are unable to have face-to-face meetings of your team because of the financial situation. You have five projects in your program thus far. You just learned you needed to take immediate action in response to a quality metric. This metric indicated that the manufacturing process, Project A, exceeded parameters and therefore would affect Projects B, C, and D and the entire program. You decided you needed to meet with your program’s Governance Board because of the severity of this issue. Your next step should be to—
    1. Issue a change request
    2. Use the governance decision register
    3. Update the quality management plan
    4. Allocate to the program a resource who is a certified Six Sigma Black Belt