Corporations throughout the world are losing billions in wasted project spending owing to their mis-management, poor quality processes, lack of knowledge in how to manage projects, etc.  These projects are often not included in the normal auditing practices. Understanding the process of auditing projects, in addition to their other best practices; will positively impact the organization’s profits, shareholders and customers by ensuring well-informed decisions are made about their key projects.

The outcome of project failure is wasted dollars that steal investor profits and have a negative impact on the organisation’s bottom-line.   A project quality review and audit provides an opportunity to uncover the issues, concerns and challenges encountered throughout a project’s execution.   It affords those responsible for the project with an interim view of what has gone well and what needs to be improved within the project to successfully complete it. Conducting a project quality review & audit mid-way can help struggling projects to get back on track. At the close of a project, it can help to develop success criteria for future projects by providing a forensic review.

Why Project Quality Reviews and Audits?

The success of projects is critical to the bottom-line of organizations. Most projects face a number of challenges in meeting their time, budget and customer requirements. A project quality review and audit provides organizations an opportunity to create future project success and generate savings. Project quality reviews and audits may be conducted mid-way into a project or at its close. Either way, they help to identify the root cause of problems and provide detailed guidance for how to get projects back on track and/or improve project performance on future projects. In this way, a project quality review and audit has a direct, positive bottom-line impact on the organization.

Timing of Project Quality Review and Audit

Sometimes organizations choose to conduct a project quality review and audit at the close of a project to conduct a forensic review. In this situation, it generates valuable insights about the organization’s project management capability and helps clarify “success criteria” for future projects. Organizations use this information to learn from mistakes and make sure that they do not repeat them on future projects.

Who should do the Project Quality Review and Audit?

Regardless of whether the project quality review and audit is conducted mid-term on a project or at its conclusion, the process is similar. It is generally recommended that an outside auditor/consultant conduct the project quality review & audit. This ensures confidentiality but also provides the team members and other stakeholders with the opportunity to be candid. They know that their input will be valued and the final report will not identify individual names, rather it will only include facts. It is common that individuals interviewed during the project quality review & audit of a badly managed project will find speaking with an outside auditor/consultant provides them with the opportunity to express their emotions and feelings about their involvement in the project and/or the impact the project has had on them.

Bio:

Michael Stanleigh, CMC, CSP is the CEO of Business Improvement Architects. He works with leaders and their teams around the world to improve organizational performance by helping to define their strategic direction, increase leadership performance, create cultures that drive innovation and improve project and quality management.   He has been instrumental in helping his clients increase productivity and profits with his innovative approaches and focus on quality.

For more information about this article, please contact him at mstanleigh@bia.ca.

1.416.444.8225     www.bia.ca