How is my project doing

INTRODUCTION

There comes a time as a project manager that you will need

to conduct a project health check when the project is not

achieving the planned goals and objectives.

Even the best planned projects will encounter problems along

the way. These hurdles however, do not mean that your

project is doomed to failure. The key is to identify these

challenges early and take the appropriate steps to get your

project back on track.

A project health check can be conducted when you have just

taken over a project from a project manager or during a

project that is underway and you need to have an

understanding of why the project is running into trouble.

PREPARING FOR THE PROJECT HEALTH CHECK

Time

The Triple Constraints The structure and process of a project will always encompass key processes and in PMBOK we refer to these as the triple constraints and each project will be broken down into: • Scope • Cost • Time Quality will also be taken into the configuration as this has to be measured for a successful delivery.

This presentation is using the standards and best practice provided by PMBOK as a guideline for setting up the steps to conduct a project audit

PREPARING FOR THE PROJECT HEALTH CHECK

Fundamentally you must audit the three key factors that form the project however the level of detail that you need to produce will be based on: • The size and complexity of the project • The requirement for the project to be implemented • The speed to market • The speed to meet the strategic objectives

The findings should be collated into an agreed matrix to easily identify what the high risk areas are that are impacting on the current state of the project.

Area to cover during the audit can include:

Executive Support

Scope

Project Management

Change Management

Resource Management

Risk Management

This presentation will focus on the areas above, however the areas to be audited could change according to your particular project.. The guidelines presented here could be used for any project.

ACTION PLAN

Step 1 • Define The Project Health Check Charter

Step 2 • Outline The Project Health Check Plan

Step 3 • Conduct the Health Check

Step 4 • Present the report

Step 5 • Implement the approved plan

DEFINE THE PROJECT HEALTH CHECK CHARTER

A project health charter is setup to provide the project manager with the authority to move ahead with the project audit and to ensure that there is enough budget assigned and resources allocated for the project audit to be conducted

Identify stakeholders

Identify the project team

Compile the charter

Review charter Update the charter with the feedback

Approve the charter

Documentation • Approved charter

OUTLINE THE PROJECT HEALTH CHECK PLAN

The project health check plan will outline what tasks/activities will need to be carried out to perform the assessment. It is important to note that the plan must specify the tools to gather the analysis, the allocation of the teams and costs and align back to the agreed budget.

Identify the audit tools

Identify the tasks to be performed

Assign the resources

Assign the durations

Align the costs Finalise the

dependencies

Finalise the cost and budget

Baseline and Obtain final

approval

Documentation • Audit matrix to record findings

• Audit documentation and questionnaires

• Project Plan

• Resource Plan

• Communication Plan

CONDUCT THE PROJECT HEALTH CHECK

In order to ensure that the project health check is conducted correctly the project plan and the tools to be used for the health check must be communicated to the project team. Workshops and meetings must be setup and the dates confirmed and where required, questionnaires to be sent out to a selected target audience in preparation for the audit.

• During the course of the audit there will be updates to the project plan.

• Each plan should be re-baselined against the first baseline to manage and track

all of the changes

Conduct a kick off meeting

Perform the agreed activities

Record the findings

Review the findings

Finalise and document

Distribute the findings

Documentation • Kick off presentation

• Completed questionnaires

• Completed matrix

• Minutes of meetings

PRESENT THE REPORT

.

The report for the project health check must be presented in a concise and clear manner that allows for easy reading by both the stakeholders as well as the team. The report should clearly show the findings from the health check and provide the solutions to allow for the required decisions to be made for the project/s undergoing a project health check

Finalise the table of contents

Send out draft copy of report

Update report with feedback

Finalise the report

Walkthrough the report with the

full team

Otain stakeholder approval

Documentation • Audit report

• Implementation Plan

• Minutes of meetings

IMPLEMENT THE APPROVED PLAN

Once the health check findings have been agreed it will be necessary to implement the approved findings. The implementation of the approved plan must be conducted as a normal project following the agreed process and governance. Training may be required to introduce the agreed changes for project delivery.

Confirm the actions to be carried out

Setup a project plan and timeline

Kick off the project

Track into the project roadmap and programme

Move into the agreed project methodology

Close out the project audit

Documentation • Approved Health Check Report

• Revised project plan

• Revised project roadmap

• Updated release programme

• Close out document for project audit

GUIDELINES FOR QUESTION AND ANSWERS

In order to accurately assess the findings of the questionnaires the questions posed

to the stakeholders and project teams should be clear and not confusing.

All of the answers should be easily uploaded into a control matrix to show where the

problem areas are and what needs to be focussed on. Microsoft Excel is a great

document to use for this and can easily be adapted as required

Provide a method for the questions to be answered and this should be done in a

quiet place away from the normal day to day work routine

Communicate back to the responders to let them know how things are progressing

EXECUTIVE SUPPORT QUESTIONS AND RESPONSES

Project Sponsor Buy-in The project sponsor is fully committed to the project success

Business Case There is a clear, written, approved business case for the project

Project Budget The entire project has been financed and the budget approved

Accountability The project sponsor shares accountability with the project team to ensure success

Success criteria The steering committee have adequate authority and have approved what constitutes the success criteria for the project

0 Strongly disagree or don’t know

1 Disagree

2 Neutral

3 Agree

4 Strongly disagree

SCOPE QUESTIONS AND RESPONSES

Objectives The objectives are the project are clear to all stakeholders and project team

Business Alignment The objectives of the project are in line with the corporate goals and standards

Documentation There is adequate documentation for the project requirements and performance

Stakeholder Input The stakeholders are given opportunity to provide inputs throughout the project

Tolerances There is an understanding of the tolerances for the scope of the project

0 Strongly disagree or don’t know

1 Disagree

2 Neutral

3 Agree

4 Strongly disagree

PROJECT MANAGEMENT QUESTIONS AND RESPONSES

Stakeholder representation Are all the stakeholders represented by the steering committee? Is there representation for the business the users and the vendors?

Project Plan There is a detailed plan including critical path, resource schedule, milestones for the completion of the project to track releases?

Project Meetings There are regular minuted project meetings?

Lessons Learnt Have lessons from previous projects been identified and if necessary applied

Project Methodology There is an approved project methodology for the project

0 Strongly disagree or don’t know

1 Disagree

2 Neutral

3 Agree

4 Strongly disagree

COMMUNICATION AND TRAINING QUESTIONS AND RESPONSES

Written Plans There is a written approved change management and communication plan

Communication Plan The communication plan clearly outlines the delivery mechanism for all lines of communication

Training Plan There is a training plan with the agreed budget and approach for training

Documentation There is a clear understanding of where and how all documentation for the project will be stored to provide easy access for the project team and stakeholders

0 Strongly disagree or don’t know

1 Disagree

2 Neutral

3 Agree

4 Strongly disagree

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT QUESTIONS AND RESPONSES

Manpower There is sufficient manpower to complete the project

Resource Plan Is there a resource management plan integrated into the project plan to show public holiday and resource constraints including resource levelling

Roles and responsibilities There are clear and concise roles and responsibilities for the project team

Training Training for resources have been included in the project plan

Technology All project management technology to be used in the project is understood by the project team

0 Strongly disagree or don’t know

1 Disagree

2 Neutral

3 Agree

4 Strongly disagree

RISK MANAGEMENT QUESTIONS AND RESPONSES

Risk Management Project risks are tracked and appropriate responses are assigned and monitored

Risk Assessment Project risks have been assessed with the Impact and proximity of each risk and the correct mitigation strategies assigned

Owner There are clear roles and responsibilities assigned to the risks

Communication The risks are being communicated both internally within the project and externally to stakeholders as well as vendors

Risk Improvement All risks are being moved into a continuation improvement model for reducing risks in future projects

0 Strongly disagree or don’t know

1 Disagree

2 Neutral

3 Agree

4 Strongly disagree

HOW THE RESULTS WILL BE PRESENTED

0%

25%

50%

75%

100%

ExecutiveSupport

Scope

ProjectManagement

Communication and Training

ResourceManagement

RiskManagement

Project healthcheck

Score Confidence

Executive Support 13% Very low

Scope 56% Medium

Project Management 63% Medium

Communication and Training 88% High

Resource Management 100% High

Risk Management 88% High

This is just an example and not an accurate depiction of results. It is used to give you an idea of how the results can be presented using accurate information.

PROJECT HEALTH CHECK BENEFITS

For The Project Manager

The project manager receives immediate information in all areas of the project and can optimise

processes and project deliverables

The project manager can zone in and very quickly put in an action plan to turn the project

around

The project manager receives the right level of feedback from the team and stakeholders

For The Company

Immediate option to mitigate the risk for the project failing

Able to identify the need for action on the project a well as at organisational level

Can look at current project practice to see how this an be improved

Identify quality concerns and address them