Project Management Audit
What is a Project Audit?
The audit is a formal review that seeks to evaluate project management based on specific criteria. Typically, the audit results in a written report that documents both strengths and weaknesses, as well as suggested next steps. Audits can take two alternate points of view: organizational implementation of project management as a process or an individual project review.
Why Do an Audit?
The audit can be extremely valuable for identifying root causes of lagging project performance or setting the stage for future project management improvements.
Clients oftentimes choose to seek the assistance of third-party experts because they want a neutral perspective that can avoid internal politics and remain impartial.
When is the Best Time for an Audit?
Audits can be performed during a project or after a project has concluded. The audit may evaluate the quality and credibility of existing project artifacts as a single standalone event or, alternatively as a periodic review of project data to assess how the organization is closing performance gaps or eliminating barriers to progress.
What Results Can Be Expected?
When conducting a project audit, you are going through a discovery process of what is going well versus what may need to be improved upon. By finding this information, you can inherit a range of benefits beyond a single project’s success.
These benefits include:
(1) Improved project performance
(2) Improved return on investment
(3) Improved planning principles
(4) Increased stakeholder focus & engagement
(5) Improved project decision making
(6) Better teamwork & communication
(7) Positive effects on future/ancillary projects
The audit is beneficial towards finding gaps in best practices or root causes associated project planning errors. Alternatively, the audit may discover standards that should be incorporated into all project artifacts.
What is the Outcome of the Audit?
At the conclusion of the audit, VPMI will summarize our findings with a formal written analysis of our observations gained from project artifacts including expert insight into both strengths and weaknesses and provide a recommended action plan for achieving future state improvements. These written findings will be supplemented with a PowerPoint presentation to executive stakeholders for additional context.