User representative

The user representative represents the users and their interests in the project, manages the unambiguous specialist solution requirements agreed with the specialist areas as a stable basis for implementation, and is responsible for the specialist success of the development. The user representative is the contact person for both the developers and the stakeholders, constituting a binding communication channel within the project organization. The user representative is appointed by the project sponsor and is managed by the project management, but is autonomous during solution development in specialist and solution-specific questions and decisions within the budget.

Under the agile approach, the user representative serves as an interface to the development team. In such cases, the role holder assumes specialist responsibility in the development team by additionally assuming the role of product owner, familiar in the agile environment. All detailed tasks and responsibilities in the agile development team are defined by the agile method used.

• Responsibility for the solution
• Establishment of all solution-specific requirements
• Responsibility for the solution requirements
• Maintaining transparency and making solution requirements available to all those involved in the project
• Contributing the complete specialist requirements and functionality coordinated with the specialist areas and customers; representing stakeholder interests
• Maximizing the added value of the development work (maximizing the value of the solution)
• Ensuring the scope of goods/services and the specialist success of the solution
• Involvement of stakeholders in solution development according to the stakeholder list
• Compliance with ISDP requirements
• Responsibility for communication with the development team (interface, agile)

• Can access all required information
• Decision on the characteristics of the solution including the quality requirements
• Definition of the acceptance criteria
• Collaboration with stakeholders and development team
• Participation in defining requirements and concluding SLAs

• In-depth knowledge of the specialist area
• Knowledge of project management and of HERMES
• In-depth knowledge of traditional and agile development management
• Knowledge of the development management, design, and specification methods and practices
• Basic knowledge of business administration
• Knowledge of the project environment
• Knowledge of the core organization's requirements in terms of operation of the application (e.g. for procurements, financing, controlling, security) or in terms of application of the project
• Ability to establish, formulate, evaluate, and prioritize requirements and prepare change requests
• Good writing skills
• Abstraction and simplification ability
• Ability to work in a team, to communicate, and to resolve conflicts
• Visionary thinking
• Assertiveness
• Natural authority