Who does what. The PFQ tests whether you know the difference between the sponsor and the project manager, what a project board or steering group is for, and where each role's responsibility begins and ends.
What roles covers in the PFQ
- The sponsor: owns the business case and the benefits
- The project manager: delivers the outputs to time, cost and quality
- The project board / steering group and its decisions
- The project team and the wider stakeholders
- The project management office (PMO) and assurance
Where candidates lose marks
Confusing the sponsor and the project manager — the sponsor owns the business case, the manager delivers.
Thinking the project manager decides whether the project continues — that is the sponsor's or board's call.
Treating assurance as the same as the project manager's own control.
Free, timed, exam-style questions across all ten PFQ topics — with an explanation for every answer and a per-topic breakdown.
Start a free practice testRoles questions, answered
What is the difference between the sponsor and the project manager?
The sponsor owns the business case and is accountable for the benefits, and decides whether the project continues. The project manager is responsible for delivering the outputs to time, cost and quality, and runs the project day to day.
What is a project board or steering group for?
It provides governance and direction — authorising the project at decision gates, resolving issues escalated beyond the project manager, and overseeing alignment with the business case. It governs; it does not do the day-to-day management.
The other nine topics
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