One of the most important audits for highlighting improvements to an organization is the post implementation audit. Unfortunately, it is often overlooked due to it being at the end of the project when people are keen to move onto new projects, or return to their previous role.
It is slightly different to 'lesson's learnt' because it looks at how project objectives and activity attainment compares to what was written in the overall project plan and its functional area plans e.g. cost, scope, quality etc. The diagram below shows the key questions a post implementation audit is designed to answer.
For many organizations it enables them to review their approach and expertise in identifying and managing risks so that they are better able to develop contingency plans. For more complex projects the findings of the audit report will cover such issues as managing change, improving contract management and development of effective working relationships, which is especially important in organizations using matrix management.
In the circumstances where a project has a significant compliance and regulatory content any project audit will need to demonstrate independent validation has been conducted on the required project management plans. This is often referred to as CSV (Computer Systems Validation) and is a vital facet of this type of project's success. Identifying a project that requires CSV is relatively straight-forward because such words as those listed below will be common in the specification and other project documentation.
1) Compliance
2) Regulatory requirement
3) Comply to standard / legislation 'XXX'
4) Validate system
If your project has one or more of these terms then you will need to plan for validation in the project plan and those of its functional management areas. Each project requiring a validation will have its own set of requirements that go further that the usual quality assurance because the system must match the exact end user needs otherwise it will not be useable.
The comprehensive testing that CSV requires is a critical part of validation. This is needed to guarantee that the proper business practices are followed and to make certain that compliance and/or legislative requirements are met. It also ensures that the costs of such procedures are minimized.
This sort of requirement is on the increase because more and more IT systems are essential to the business processes and the implications of it not working correctly could be disastrous, even ruinous for the organization. Without using CSV user acceptance becomes a long and drawn out, costly process. The documentation that the CSV procedure creates provides the end user the evidence they require to show the project has been subjected to the highest level of quality assurance.
Correcting errors once the project has been handed over is extremely expensive and CSV is designed to catch such errors early on in the project cycle. This means that the composition of the validation team must include several experts - e.g. developers, suppliers, project members, quality, operations, legislation experts - to ensure it is effective in its role.
With such a diverse group an organization must allow for the cost of training the validation team to guarantee they understand their role and how to execute it. They are several issues this specialist team need to address to ensure the project's success. They are to create a:
1) Validation methodology
2) Validation policy
3) Validation guidelines and required documentation
4) Validation management plan
5) Installation protocols
The use of validated projects will only increase as the need to projects products and services to meet strict regulatory and compliance standards becomes as essential part of organizations responding to the changes in their environment and marketplace.
You may also be interested in:
Managing Project Quality | Quality Management Techniques | Project Quality Management and ISO Quality Management | Quality Assurance | Quality Control | Testing Project Deliverables | Quality Audits | Post-Implementation Audits.
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