A comprehensive approach when and if you need to conduct a project audit

1. A PM SQUARED PRESENTATION
ProjectAudit – A Guideline
A PM SQUARED PRESENTATION

2. A PM SQUARED PRESENTATION
Introduction
There comes a time as a project manager that you will need to conduct a
project audit 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 audit 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.

3. A PM SQUARED PRESENTATION
Introduction
Objective
The objective of the project audit is to evaluate:
• The way your projects are managed
• How your project governance and
methodology meet the business requirements.
Outcome
The project audit will provide :
• A view of what goes well and what needs to be
improved.
• An action plan to bring the project back on
track

4. A PM SQUARED PRESENTATION
Indicators of a Troubled Project
Category Indication
Documentation
and process
• There is a lack of trust in the project process
• Processes are informal and improvised
• No formal documentation is in place
Cost and
Schedule
• The initial cost does not manage the agreed scope baseline
• The schedule for the project is being pushed out from the original
baseline
Stakeholders • Stakeholders management is not in place
Project Resources • The project teams are not aligned with the required project
deliverables
• There is not enough skills to perform the assigned roles and
responsibilities
Risks • There is significant exposure to risks with large impact
• Mitigation strategies are not working
Quality • There is no proper process in place to ensure quality is managed
throughout the project process

5. A PM SQUARED PRESENTATION
Action Plan
Step 1
• Define the audit charter
Step 2
• Outline the assessment plan
Step 3
• Conduct the audit
Step 4
• Present the report
Step 5
• Implement the approved plan

6. A PM SQUARED PRESENTATION
Once it has been agreed that a project audit should go ahead - a project
charter should be setup to provide the project manager with the authority
to move ahead with the audit and to ensure that there is enough budget to
cover the audit.
Identify
stakeholders
State
objectives
State audit
milestones
Identify
Risks
Define the
scope
Approve the
budget
• The inputs for the project charter should be agreed with the
stakeholders
• The project charter should be kept as a project record
Define the Audit Charter

7. A PM SQUARED PRESENTATION
Outline the Audit Plan
Finalise the
tasks
Finalise the
timeline
Assign the
team
Confirm
the costs
Review
the plan
Finalise the
plan
• 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
The plan should very clearly outline what tasks/activities will need to be
carried out to perform the audit. Once the tasks have been agreed the
allocation of the teams and costs can be aligned to allow the project plan
to be approved by the stakeholders

8. A PM SQUARED PRESENTATION
Conduct the audit
Identify
assessment
areas
Develop
the audit
matrix
Define the
questionnaire
Submit the
questionnaire
Setup
review
meetings
Update the
audit
matrix
• One on one meetings with the team can help with completing the
questionnaires
• Each team member could present to the forum their feedback on why
projects are going wrong and how this could be improved this helps to
build team morale during the audit
The audit will provide an understanding of what needs to be focussed on
to bring the projects back to a successful state. To gather the correct
information for the audit a questionnaire should be sent out to the team.

9. A PM SQUARED PRESENTATION
Present the report
The report for the audit must be presented in a concise and clear manner
that allows for easy readying by both the stakeholders as well as the team.
The report should clearly show the findings from the audit and provide the
solutions to allow for successful project delivery
Finalise the
Table of
Contents
Send out
first draft
of report
Update report
with feedback
Hold a
walkthrough
meeting
Finalise
the
report
Obtain
stakeholder
approval
• The walkthrough meeting is the right time to finalise any changes to
your document to ensure approval and the ability to move forward to
the implementation of the agreed project process..

10. A PM SQUARED PRESENTATION
Implement the approved plan
The implementation of the approved plan must be conducted as a normal
project following the agreed process and governance. Training will be
required to introduce the amended process and governance
Confirm
projects to
be rolled
out
Finalise
the
project
roadmap
Provide
training for the
project rollout
Monitor the
progress of
the projects
Final
review on
projects
Finalise process
and move into
project office
• It is important to get buy-in from both the stakeholders and team
during the implementation of the new process. As you rollout the
process allow the team to feedback on what they are happy with and
what needs to be changed.

11. A PM SQUARED PRESENTATION
Project Audit
Reference and support information
A PM SQUARED PRESENTATION

12. A PM SQUARED PRESENTATION
Identifythe areasor groups for Assessment
The assessment could cover the following areas:
• Projects in progress
• Governance and methodology
• Project and SDLC processes
• Project Vendor Management
• Project Resource Management
• Project Metrics and Reports
• Project Communication Management
• Project Change Management
• Project Quality Management

13. A PM SQUARED PRESENTATION
Conducting the Audit – Projects in Progress
Objective:
To measure what project plans are in place to manage the projects
Proposed Questions (these can be amended as required)
• How do you manage and track your projects?
• Are milestones (gates) easily identified?
• Does each task have an approved deliverable?
• Is each project task assigned the correct resources at the agreed allocation?
• Has the project plan been approved and baselined?
• How do you track your resources and time allocations?
• How do you sign off on deliverables?

14. A PM SQUARED PRESENTATION
Conducting the Audit – Governanceand Methodology
Objective
To measure the governance and methodologies used to manage and deploy your
projects
Proposed Questions (these can be amended as required)
• How do you ensure that governance is applied to your projects?
• What documentation do you use for your projects and where are they kept?
• What project folders are setup to store documentation?
• Do you have a shared site for all project documentation?
• Has the project methodology been approved by the key stakeholders?
• What audits are performed on the projects in progress?

15. A PM SQUARED PRESENTATION
Conducting the Audit– Project Best Practice
Objective:
To measure if your company uses best practices for the project management
Proposed Questions (these can be amended as required)
• Do you apply the principles of PMBOK for your project management process?
• Do you use Prince2 in any of your processes?
• How do you align your software deliverables and what process are they based on e.g.
Waterfall, Agile, Scrum, Iterative, etc.?
• Are the processes integrated to work within your organisation?

16. A PM SQUARED PRESENTATION
Conducting the Audit– Vendor Management
Objective:
To measure how the contracts and service level agreements are managed for the
suppliers and vendors
Proposed Questions (these can be amended as required)
• How do you manage your relationships with your vendors?
• What process do you use for Request for Proposal?
• How do you notify vendors that they have been successful?
• What contracts are in place to manage the deliverables?
• How do you measure the deliverables from the vendors?
• What Service Level Agreements do you have in place to maintain operations within
your live environment?
• What outsourcing are you currently performing?
• How do you manage your contracted staff?
• What audits are in place to measure the performance of your suppliers and
contractors?

17. A PM SQUARED PRESENTATION
Conducting the Audit– Resource Management
Objective:
To measure the project teams and how they are aligned to project deliverables
Proposed Questions (these can be amended as required)
• Does each resource have a defined job description?
• Does the project team understand their specific role and responsibility within the
project?
• Are there the correct skills for the projects to be delivered?
• Are there enough resources on board to deliver the projects?
• Is there an organogram showing how the company structure works?

18. A PM SQUARED PRESENTATION
Conducting the Audit– Metrics and Reports
Objective:
To measure what reports and metrics are used to track projects within the life cycles and
how these are presented to the stakeholders
Proposed Questions (these can be amended as required)
What metrics are used to measure success or failure within the projects
• Tasks completed
• Slippage ratios (SPI Index)
• Cost slippage (CPI)
• Web Analytics
• MIS reports
• Financial reports
• Supplier review reports
Where are the reports stored?
Do you have a cloud management system to distribute reports to your suppliers and
contractors?

19. A PM SQUARED PRESENTATION
Perform the Audit – Communication Management
Objective
To measure if reports are timeously distributed using the correct information to the
agreed team members
Proposed Questions (these can be amended as required)
• How is the weekly status presented to the forums?
• How do you manage issues and risks and reporting back on this?
• Do you use dashboard reports on projects and enhancements to show progress?
• What regularly scheduled meetings do you have to report back on projects ?
• How does the project team track and manage problems and issues?
• Who takes the minutes and where are they stored?

20. A PM SQUARED PRESENTATION
Conducting the Audit – Change Management
Objective:
To measure how all changes within project management are tracked and managed to
ensure that there is a minimum impact to the agreed cost, scope and schedule baselines.
Proposed Questions (these can be amended as required)
• What process is currently in place to manage and control any requested change?
• Is there an understanding of what the impact is?
• Who is responsible for raising the changes and authorising the outcome of the
required changes?
• How are these changes tracked back into the roadmap delivery plan?

21. A PM SQUARED PRESENTATION
Conducting the Audit – ProjectImplementation
Objective
To ensure that the quality of the product is managed controlled and meets the correct
standards before being deployed
Proposed Questions (these can be amended as required)
• What quality standards are in place for the deployment of projects into the live
environment?
• Are there project-specific instructions regarding the procedures, naming conventions,
supporting tools, equipment, standards and metrics to be applied by the project team
to achieve quality objectives at each phase of the Project
• How is the testing controlled and tracked before deploying the product?
• Is there a roll back process in place?

22. A PM SQUARED PRESENTATION
Closing Summary
• When there is a common, simple approach for Project Management and the correct tools
are available, your project team will be empowered to reach their goals, together and
individually.
• A easy to use Project Management Methodology gives your business a framework that
makes it achievable for your product to move from vision to action.
• It will also provide you with a competitive advantage to get your product into the market
on time within budget and meeting the quality requirements each and every time.