What is a Project Assessment?

The primary purpose of a Project Assessment is to review the current state of a project, uncover areas of potential problems and to make recommendations that will address these areas and significantly increase the likelihood of project success.

How does a Project Assessment begin?

In the ideal case, the project would be in the earliest stage of formation and the Assessment would primarily address preventive measures.  In most cases, however, the project is fully under way and there are often indications of one or more areas where there is already concern for the project.  These typically are seen as schedule issues, conflict between two or more organizations surrounding scope or timing, budget overruns, user discontent, or some combination of these, as well a variety of smaller and less visible symptoms. 

The Assessment phase takes place over 5-14 days, depending on the scope of the project and the size of the organization.  The first step we take is to hear the key issues from the perspective of the project sponsors and leaders, through a series of discussions.  These often occur over the phone prior to the actual on-site dates, and continue over the course of the Assessment.  These often help us to determine a set of focus areas for the interviews, although the interview topics will not be limited to those.

The next step, also usually occurring prior to the on-site visit, is to gather pertinent documentation from the project to date.  These would include project charters, schedules, project plans, scope documents, status reports, implementation announcements and rollout communications, etc.  After studying the documents, we engage in a series of interviews with a representative selection of people from all parts of the project organization, from functional departments to IT technical staff, end users and programmers, trainers and implementation teams. 

When the interviews are complete, an analysis process takes place over several days during which we may ask to get clarification from an individual on a topic from the interview, or we may request a document that was mentioned.  Information is then grouped into areas or categories as we look for patterns in the data and apply our knowledge and experience with IT projects to help make meaning from the patterns.

We develop a findings and recommendations report that is very specific and organized to address the concerns of the particular organization.  The recommendations are actionable and include guidelines and steps required for implementation.  The report is delivered first verbally to the assessment sponsor before leaving the site so that a full discussion can take place and any additional focus areas can be addressed. The written report is delivered within 3-4 working days after the site visit.