Download Department Head, Group Leader, Supervisor, Project

November 2010
ARD DEPARTMENT HEAD, GROUP LEADER, SUPERVISOR, PROJECT
MANAGER & CHARGE ACCOUNT MANAGER RESPONSIBILITIES:
The Accelerator Research Division (ARD) consists of six departments, some further sub-divided
into formal groups, and some informally sub-divided under supervisors. Department heads,
group leaders and supervisors form the line management chain for the division. The ARD
department heads report directly the ARD Director. Group leaders report directly to their
department heads. Staff report to their supervisor.
Projects are led by project managers and project charge accounts are controlled by Control
Account Managers (CAMs). In most ARD projects, the project manager is also the CAM.
In the following sections the responsibilities of the department heads, group leaders, supervisors,
project managers and control account managers are listed.
DEPARTMENT HEADS:
Within ARD, the department heads are the key managers that coordinate resources and manage
ARD personnel. ARD Department Heads report to the ARD Division director. Their
responsibilities include all supervisor responsibilities listed below. They can be grouped into four
major areas:
1) Work planning and budgeting
a) Develop annual department budgets in coordination with division management
b) Develop fiscal and long term research goals in coordination with division management
c) Ensure that the department web sites are useful, up-to-date and follow division guidelines
2) ES&H and training
a) Organize or delegate someone to organize building inspections within their areas
3) Manage Research
a) Develop department mission and goals consistent with division, directorate and
laboratory missions and goals. Communicate these missions and goals to the department
members.
b) Develop department research plans (both yearly and long term) in coordination with
division management and project leaders and communicate them to the department
members.
c) Help division management in developing division mission, goals and research plan.
d) Provide input for ARD reporting to AD, SLAC and the DOE
e) Work collaboratively with other departments (within and outside ARD) to ensure
effective coordination of work and development of fiscal plans
4) Personnel Development
a) Ensure that all HR requirements, such as yearly evaluation, are completed on time
b) Plan career development and provide research direction for department members.
GROUP LEADERS & SUPERVISORS:
Some ARD departments have formal groups led by group leaders or informal groups led by
supervisors within their organizational structure to help with managing research and resources.
Group leader and supervisor responsibilities can be grouped into four areas:
1) Work planning and budgeting
a) Develop annual group budgets in coordination with the department head
b) Develop fiscal and long term research goals in coordination with the department head
c) Ensure appropriate charging of effort to accounts and ensure that CAMs within their
purview are properly controlling their charge accounts
2) ES&H and training
a) Ensure that all supervisees (staff and non-employees) have up-to-date STAs
b) Ensure that supervisees are trained consistent within their STAs
c) Communicate to group members the importance of SLAC safety rules and of being upto-date on training requirements
3) Manage Research
a) Develop group research plans (both yearly and long term) in coordination with the
department head and project leaders and communicate them to the group members.
b) Ensure that group research results are appropriately disseminated. This can be in the form
of reports, conference and journal papers, conference and meeting attendance.
c) Ensure that conference abstracts, conference and journal papers are of high quality, that
the appropriate people are on the author list and/or appropriately credited, and that SLAC
pub numbers are obtained.
4) Personnel Development
a) Perform yearly employee evaluations for their direct reports
b) Provide career and technical advice to group members
PROJECT MANAGERS:
Project managers are responsible for the technical work done within ARD. They may also be
control account managers. Their primary responsibility is:
1) Managing work and making sure that it is performed following all applicable rules:
a) Work with department heads and group leaders to ensure availability of personnel and
resources
b) Make sure that the project staff are aware of the project goals and milestones and track
their progress. This may be done by holding regular meetings.
c) Make sure that management is kept up-to-date on work progress and issues. Projects shall
be reported on a quarterly basis at an appropriate level of detail.
d) Make sure that physics results get disseminated in a timely manner.
CONTROL ACCOUNTS MANAGERS:
Control Account Managers (CAMs) have responsibility for their charge accounts. CAM
responsibilities include:
1) Scope of work, estimate of resources and costs and project milestones:
a) Define the scope of work, cost and milestones for their projects at the beginning of the
fiscal year in agreement with management.
b) Track project costs and project milestones through the fiscal year. Provide input to the
project manager to generate and update appropriate documentation for the project on a
quarterly basis.
c) Along with the project manager alert the management if there are problems that will
result in missed milestones and discuss with management the reasons for missed
milestones and how the situation might be resolved.
d) Help management with budgeting and milestones for the next fiscal year.
2) Managing accounts and tracking costs:
a) Keep track of spending rates of charge accounts consistent with the work done and the
milestones met.
b) Make sure that all charges to accounts under their control are correct and that mistakes
are corrected.
c) Plan the work so that budgets are not overspent
d) Project costs in order to alert management as early as possible to potential problems