When the project is launched, a Steering Committee, composed of corporate executives from the project owner, is named in order to track the project's course. A project manager from the owning company is then designated, and an expected project launch date is set. The project manager is then tasked with assembling a project team, composed of representatives from different departments of the company, and may bring in experts, i.e. outside individuals who can give timely expert advise on a given matter that requires technical or procedural skills that the project team does not possess.
The goal of this temporary structure, put in place specifically for the project, is to guide the project independently, keeping it separate from the company's permanent hierarchy. Nonetheless, the steering committee is in charge of reporting to the Executive Committee any problems encountered over the course of the project requiring that a strategic decision be made. At the project's close, the Steering Committee is dissolved, and the project manager resumes his/her original duties.
