[Project name] Project Review
Project Details
Project Sponsor
Project/Programme Manager
Start Date
Completion Date
Document Details
Version / Status(Draft or Approved) / Date / Author/Editor / Details of Change
Overview
A project review should ascertain:1. Was the project on budget?
2. Was it on time?
3. Did it meet the quality criteria?
4. Have the benefits been achieved?
The first three should be available with a short time of the project’s closure. Benefits take longer to achieve so it may be necessary to have more than one project review so that a later review can look at benefits. If a project is part of a programme, benefits achievement should be part of the programme management tasks.
The Review should also look at any off specification items and provide recommendations for future action.
Contents
Project Details 2
Document Details 2
Overview 3
Contents 3
1. Background 4
2. Objectives 4
3. Time 4
4. Cost 4
5. Quality 5
6. Benefits 5
7. Off Specification 6
8 . Recommendations 6
1. Background
Give some information on the Institution and the context of/background to the Project. Explain the context of the project and how the current position has been arrived at. How big is it going to be and what areas will it cover?
2. Objectives
List the project objectives (they should have been defined in the PID and Business Case
Objective / What measure was defined / Result (measurements)3. Time
3.1 Early tasks / How was the early finish achieved? Can this be applied to other projects?3.2 Late tasks / What happened to cause delay? Lessons for other projects?
Examples of the kind of things to look out for:
Were there issues that arose during the project that were not anticipated and planned for – e.g. delays in receiving supplies, staff resource, etc.
Were assumptions made during the planning stages that in reality proved to be incorrect – e.g. in estimating how long an activity was likely to take.
4. Cost
4.1 Lower than estimated / How was the lower cost achieved? Can this be applied to other projects?4.2 Higher than estimated / What happened to cost over-run? Lessons for other projects?
Examples of the kind of things to look out for:
Factors impacting on this could include things like
· changes in exchange rates if supplies coming from abroad,
· increases or decreases in fuel costs – with knock-on transportation and supply costs.
You may have experienced economies of scale that were not apparent from the outset, etc.
5. Quality
5.1 Outputs that met or exceeded expectations / How was the quality acheived? Can this be applied to other projects?5.2 Outputs that failed expectations / What caused the failure? Lessons for other projects?
Examples of the kind of things to look out for:
Assumptions being made incorrectly on the compatibility of new software with systems already in place in the organisation.
Assumptions about data quality being over optimistic.
Assumptions about staffing, e.g. higher than expected resistance to change.
Suppliers failing to meet quality criteria.
6. Benefits
6.1 Benefits achieved / How were they acheived? Can this be applied to other projects?6.2 Benefits not achieved / What caused the failure? Lessons for other projects?
Examples of the kind of things to look out for:
Benefits were more intangible than expected.
Baseline data not present or not able to be collected.
External factors.
7. Off Specification
Off-specification items are any issues or requirements that arose during the project that were deemed to be out of scope by the board.
7.1 Off specification item / Decisions about future action8 . Recommendations
8. 1 Action in relation to this project:
What would you like to happen as a result of this project – what recommendations would you make as a result of undertaking this project? Can you suggest new ways of approaching activities within the organisation as a result of the outcomes of the project?
8. 2 Action in relation to future projects:
You may, as a result of experience on this project, have a number of recommendations to be taken forward in future projects. These recommendations may, for example, relate to the whole project approach, or the way in which project teams are established and trained. The recommendations can be made as a result of both positive and negative experiences within the project journey but, again, whatever the experience the recommendations for future projects are likely to be valuable.
8. 3 Lessons learned:
For smaller projects, the lessons learned report can appear here. In major and some medium projects a separate lessons learned report should be created.