Role of Company Project Sponsors for On-Campus Internships
The Company Sponsor and Company Key Contacts are critical to the
success of the On-Campus Internship team and their projects. The Company
Sponsor defines the project and clearly articulates what they want the student
team to deliver. The Key Company Contact works with the students
throughout the semester to ensure that they stay on track with the needs of
the company and have the resources necessary to succeed in the project.
Critical Tasks and Responsibilities of the Key Company Contact:
a. Contact your team before or during the first week of school and set
up an initial meeting (and formal kickoff meeting if appropriate).
b. Schedule regular weekly meeting times throughout the project (15
minutes to one hour is normal, but some weeks the meeting will not
need to be held and other weeks may require more time).
c. Establish a process for how you will communicate between
meetings.
d. Agree on the final deliverables and when they will be due (as part of
the engagement letter) or describe work that builds throughout the
semester or evolves at the sponsor’s direction.
e. Give regular feedback to the team to let them know how they are
doing.
f. Approve team expenses necessary for the completion of project
deliverables (approved expenses will be invoiced at the conclusion of
the project).
g. Complete the company sponsor surveys that are sent to you at mid
project and after the final presentation.
Important Factors for success:
1) It is important that the objective/goal of the project be clearly defined in the
original application, but it is normally necessary to revisit the objective/goal
once the project kicks off at the beginning of the semester. The final project
description and deliverables of the project should be clearly articulated and
documented for the team in the engagement letter you develop with them.
2) It is good to maintain regular contact with the students to ensure that they
are on the right track, answer questions, and assist with resources. It is most
common that the company will have weekly meetings with the student team
(please never go longer than 2 weeks between updates with the team).
These meetings may be in person, by Skype, by Webex, by teleconference,
etc.
3) While the student will benefit greatly from the company contact’s
experience and expertise, it is important not to try to steer them too much
from the perspective of one's personal experience. One of the benefits of the
student team is that they bring a fresh perspective and have recently been
trained in some of the most recent approaches. Share your insight and
perspective with them, but encourage them to seek fresh outlooks throughout
the project.
4) It would be beneficial to set up conference calls for the students with
subject matter experts within the sponsor company so the student's could
gain their perspective on the topics being researched. Please make available
to the students all of the information sources within your company. If you
have promised internal data to the students please provide it promptly so as
not to delay the project timeline.
5) Where possible, it is helpful when you can provide contacts from your
industry that are knowledgeable on the project topics. If the students are
benchmarking or doing industry analysis, your personal or corporate network
could provide valuable contacts that the students could meet with or interview
for insight and understanding.
6) We encourage you approve expenses for the team that are relevant to the
project. If you ask the team to travel we have BYU rental cars. We also ask
you to approve the cost of printing reports and presentation, as well as
materials needed to complete the project. We will reimburse the students and
invoice you for the costs at the end of the semester.
7) Complete the company surveys (mid-term and final) concerning the
students to help BYU in grading the students, giving them feedback and
improving the program.