As the project officer, the project manager relies on you to help achieve project success. You use your teamwork and communication skills to ensure the project finishes on time and within budget. Your official title may vary from one project to another. You may be called a project support officer, project assistant or assistant project manager. Whatever your title, you need to show excellent administrative skills and technological skills.
Project Meetings
Project officers must meet regularly with the project manager to review the team's progress and to discuss future tasks. You'll communication problems to the project manager as soon as you notice them. Your role may include arranging meetings with the members of the project board, who have overall responsibility for the success of the project. You make arrangements well before the day of the meeting. Organize appropriate meeting rooms and refreshments, contact the attendees and keep a note of any who can't attend. Send them any relevant information, including agendas, papers, reports and presentations and attend each meeting to take minutes.
Documents
Project documents track a project's progress at every state, from start-up through every activity until the project board accepts the final product. These documents keep the project organized and under control, notes Prince2.com. Your role may include filing all project documents in the project library, checking that each one is accurate and has been accepted by the project manager.
Risks
The project manager keeps a list of any potential dangers to the project, noting them in a document called a risk register. Your job as the project officer is to identify any items you think should be included. Discuss the register at team meetings and project board meetings. Mention any new risks you identify to the manager and suggest ways to improve the situation. Help keep project costs under control, watching for issues in your work area that may cause costs to rise and alert the project manager.
Timescales
The project schedule sets out the details of the project, including deadlines for each project task. Make sure you complete any task the manager gives you within the agreed upon time. Check regularly that every deadline is still possible, and report any delays as soon as possible.
Communication
Teamwork can be vital to a successful project. As an important member of the project team, maintain good relationships with your colleagues, checking that everyone understands tasks and is able to complete them on time. Be alert to any personal or professional problems arising on the team, helping to solve them where possible and alerting the project manager if they endanger the project.
References
Writer Bio
Frances Evesham has been writing on communication, language and well-being topics for over 20 years. The author of "Help Your Child To Talk," she has a diploma in speech pathology, is an NLP premier practitioner and is a registered witness intermediary working in the justice system in the U.K.