30 minutes introduction to Project Auditing

Project Management
&
Project Audits.

The SAMARA tool.

(System for Audit Management And Risk Analysis)
PRINCE 2 : Directing a Project
DP1
Authorising Initiation
End of the Starting up a project
Trigger
Project Management Team
Project Brief
Draft Business Case
Input Customer's Quality Expectations
Risk log
Initiation Stage Plan
Project Start up Notification
Autorisation to Proceed
Output
Directing a Project
DP2
Authorising a Project
End of Initiation Stage
Project Initiation Document (PID)
Business Case
Quality Log, Issue Log
Next Stage Plan
Approved PID
Autorisation to Proceed
DP3 DP5
Authorising a Stage Confirming Project Closure
DP4
Giving Ad Hoc Direction
End of a Stage End of the Project
Premature Close
End Stage Report Operationnal and Maintenance
Updated Business Case acceptance
Risk Log Customer Acceptance
Project Plan End of Project Report
PID Follow on Action recommendations
Next Stage Plan Post Project Review Plan
Lesson learned Log
Progress Information Project Closure Notification
Autorisation to Proceed Follow on Action recommendations
Premature Close Lessons Learned Report
Post Project Review Plan
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Agenda for today :

 How do we define an Audit?

 What we don’t Audit
 Common Project Failures
 Tools and Techniques
 SAMARA
 Conclusion

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How do we define an Audit

 A project management Audit is a formal health

check and report on the state of an identified
project at a particular point in time. It consists of:
 WBS verification and integrity
 Risk identification and mitigation
 Measurement of Risk impact
 Compliancy check against accepted norms.

The Audit should also verify the usage of PM tools and techniques.

 Note that it is the project that is being Audited, not the Company!

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How do we define an Audit (2)

We will Audit the project on (1):

 The project Work Breakdown Structure and it’s relevance
 Risk identification, costs, levels and severity
 The mitigation measures and costs
 The impact of the risk and remanance
 Progress vs. Objectives (independent appraisal using MS project)

We will Audit the project on (2):

 A 300-point “key Criteria” questionnaire on project compliance
 Individual questionnaires at detail level
 Work Package / major Task budgets and Costs
 Project Governance
 Management Deliverables.

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Not included in the Audit -

Business appraisals

Financial Audit

Technical appraisals of the work itself

People - although could be identified as risks, etc.

Vendor control – other than at a project level

Activity outside of the project scope.

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Common Project Failures

No project governance or systemic management of the project

No or inadequate risk assessment or analysis
Poor budgeting and contingency planning
Resource shortages, or inadequate project resourcing
No project stage definitions, with closures and sign off
No or inadequate issue identification, tracking, escalation and resolution
Quality definitions, IKOs, KPIs, milestones and deliverables not clear
Customer expectations not established or managed
Actions not managed, logged, tracked, and escalated to resolution
No or inadequate financial incentives on the project team
Business cases, Project Mandates, management demands badly expressed
Return on Investment (ROI) not compared with TCO – Total Cost of
Ownership
Suppliers not subject to adequate vendor control And many more !
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Reasons to have Audits.

Audits may be one-off events or regular occurrences. They can be

called for a variety of reasons, such as;

Project already “in the red”

Dead-lines missed, budget over-runs, high material losses, staff issues.

Independent appraisals of true project status – “benchmarking”

Assist the Project Manager or sponsor to get objective clarity

Determine contingency requirements
Analysis of risk and plan the mitigation of the risk
Present the project status to Management in a clear and
non-technical manner.
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Tools and Techniques of the Audit.

PRINCE II – the chosen methodology

MS project – for typical project plans – CPA, achievement v deadlines

Interviews with key staff.

Issue Log, Risk Log, Action Log – create or verify.

Project Walk-throughs.

Application of experience

Powerpoint Presentation software.

SAMARA – System for Audit Management and Risk Assessment
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Samara Screen Dumps - Project Information -

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Samara Screen Dumps - WBS Levels -

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Samara Screen Dumps - WBS Entries -

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Samara Screen Dumps - Risks -

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Samara Screen Dumps - Mitigations -

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Samara Screen Dumps - Stages -

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