Definition: Program Governance

Governance is the overall framework within an organization in which decisions are made to meet the organization’s goals and objectives. The organization can be a large corporation, a small business, or a specific project or a program. Similarly, program governance refers to the rules and procedures that are used to control the execution of the program and provides the overall framework for the making of decisions. This decision framework comprises of roles and responsibilities, approval processes, work deliverables, and the workflow that ties the overall decision making steps. Program governance includes both systems and processes by which a program manager controls the program’s execution and also those processes that allow a program governance board to maintain the oversight and control of the overall program.