Project Success Assurance
Work with an independent Info-Tech advisor to help guarantee the success of your critical project.
As a CIO or PMO leader, you are responsible for overseeing a large project that is critical to the organization. Due to its importance, the stakeholders involved, the complexity of the technology, the considerable funding, etc., there is elevated risk – and elevated scrutiny on your team’s ability to deliver. Because roadblocks are inevitable on something this large and complex, you want to take a proactive approach and get ongoing assurances that your plan and processes are sound. You need to partner with a third-party advisor who can help objectively guide the project.
Our Advice
Critical Insight
- You need an advisor, not just an auditor. Many third-party project review services function more as an audit, with outputs geared toward pointing out gaps to an executive audience. While you need insight into these gaps, you also need to partner with someone who will work with your team to review and improve project components and documents.
- Time and Money. Third-party services can add significantly to the project budget, and they can take up a lot of your time. You need something right-sized to your availability of time and funding.
Impact and Result
Info-Tech’s Project Success Assurance Service is a cost-effective approach that includes:
- Access to our experts and industry SMEs at your chosen cadence to get oversight and assurance.
- A well-structured project inspection framework that can be repeatedly applied to your project at key intervals to assess its progress and health.
- Project documentation reviews and assistance.
- Access to templates and recommendations to help guide your project through major milestones.
Workshop: Project Success Assurance
Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.
Module 1: Perform an Initial Assessment
The Purpose
Perform an initial assessment of your large, critical project to ensure your Info-Tech advisor understands the project, its current state, and its future state needs.
Key Benefits Achieved
Understanding and alignment
Activities
Outputs
Initial Project Assessment
- Advisor/member understanding and alignment on the project’s current state and future steps in the Project Success Assurance service
Module 2: Perform a Sixteen-Point Project Inspection
The Purpose
Info-Tech’s advisory applies our Sixteen-Point Project Inspection framework to your project over the course of a call or two calls.
Key Benefits Achieved
An objective assessment of your project’s current health
Activities
Outputs
Review your project through Info-Tech’s Sixteen-Point Project Inspection Framework.
- Health status of your project across Info-Tech’s framework
Module 3: Key Project Document Review
The Purpose
Have an Info-Tech advisor review a key project document or artifact relevant to your project phase.
Key Benefits Achieved
A review of a key project document and where required recommendations on how to improve it.
Activities
Outputs
Info-Tech’s advisory team reviews your project document.
- Recommendations and a health score for a key project document
Module 4: Get Project Guidance and Assurance
The Purpose
Using the inputs from the sixteen-point inspection framework and the document review, as well as any other relevant ad hoc meetings or communications, Info-Tech’s advisor will deliver a Project Assurance Report to you at an agreed upon cadence.
Key Benefits Achieved
A way to present and communicate project health and project needs with key stakeholders.
Activities
Outputs
A handover call with an Info-Tech advisor to review the report.
- A boardroom-ready project status and communication presentation
Project Success Assurance
Work with an independent Info-Tech advisor to help guarantee the success of your critical project
EXECUTIVE BRIEF
Analyst Perspective
Help ensure the continuity of process, people, and purpose of your project in an unstable world.
 |
Formalized project reviews are becoming more and more important as the pace of change intensifies, staff turnover increases, and the number of stakeholders explodes. The leaders who fund and initiate projects need a structured and repeatable way to validate their expectations and govern the expected outcomes. Historically, project reviews were done in context of timeline commitments with an implicit assumption that scope was more negotiable than timelines. The shift toward iterative projects put scope back on the table as the most malleable of constraints as IT professionals embrace just-in-time design and commitment. As a result, project reviews can look more and more like working sessions than governance. A well-structured project review ensures continuity of process, people, and purpose in an unstable world. It anchors the investment in the foundation principles of sponsor commitment, transparent oversight, and diligent use of scarce resources. Travis Duncan |
Executive Summary
Your Challenge |
Common Obstacles |
Info-Tech’s Approach |
|---|---|---|
As a CIO or PMO leader, you are responsible for overseeing a large project that is critical to the organization. Due to its importance, the stakeholders involved, the complexity of the technology, the considerable funding, etc., there is elevated risk—and elevated scrutiny on your team’s ability to deliver. Because roadblocks are inevitable on something this large and complex, you want to take a proactive approach and get ongoing assurances that your plan and process are sound. You need to partner with a third-party advisor who can help objectively guide the project. |
You need an advisor, not just an auditor. Many third-party project review services function more as auditors, with outputs geared toward pointing out gaps to an executive audience. While you need insight into gaps, you’re also looking to partner with someone who will work with your team to review and improve project components and documents. Time and Money. Third-party services can add significantly to the project budget, and they can take up a lot of your time. You need something right-sized to your availability of time and funding. |
Info-Tech’s Project Success Assurance Service is a cost-effective approach that includes:
|
Info-Tech Insight
Organizations tend to overstate their project management rigor at the start of a project and understate the extent to which it decays over time. Our service helps to keep project management rigor transparent.
Large, critical IT projects face unique challenges
Because of their size and complexity, large technology projects face increased risk of failure.
- Many strategic projects today involve new technology, which can add complexity, time, and cost.
- Add to that their importance to the organization, the dynamic and unstable environments in which they are executed, the number of stakeholders involved, and the considerable amount of funding that drives them, the potential failure points are multiple — as are the opportunities for increased internal and external scrutiny.
Because of this increased scrutiny, and because project roadblocks are inevitable on large and complex projects, the leaders of these projects need to take a proactive approach to mitigating risk and staying on track.
50% Higher
The failure rate of projects with a budget exceeding $1,000,000 USD is fifty percent higher than it is for projects budgeted below $350,000 USD.
– Kuuse, 2019
61%
According to a study of large projects within the government of Canada, of those that were over $100M, sixty-one percent were behind schedule.
– Ottawa Civic Tech (via GitHub)
Safeguard against project risk and failure
A third-party project reviewer can help bring perspective and assurance to improve the probability of success.
- Because of the elevated risk and complexity, as well as the increased scrutiny that comes with large technology projects, it has become increasingly common for PMOs and IT departments to partner with third-parties for their project assurance services.
- Different types of third-party assurance services include project reviews, project auditing, and independent verification and validation (IV&V). The next slide covers some of these each in more detail.
- Knowing the type of assurance service that would best benefit your project will help ensure you choose the right third-party provider.
About Info-Tech
Info-Tech Research Group is the world’s fastest-growing information technology research and advisory company, proudly serving over 30,000 IT professionals.
We produce unbiased and highly relevant research to help CIOs and IT leaders make strategic, timely, and well-informed decisions. We partner closely with IT teams to provide everything they need, from actionable tools to analyst guidance, ensuring they deliver measurable results for their organizations.
What Is a Blueprint?
A blueprint is designed to be a roadmap, containing a methodology and the tools and templates you need to solve your IT problems.
Each blueprint can be accompanied by a Guided Implementation that provides you access to our world-class analysts to help you get through the project.
Talk to an Analyst
Our analyst calls are focused on helping our members use the research we produce, and our experts will guide you to successful project completion.
Book an Analyst Call on This Topic
You can start as early as tomorrow morning. Our analysts will explain the process during your first call.
Get Advice From a Subject Matter Expert
Each call will focus on explaining the material and helping you to plan your project, interpret and analyze the results of each project step, and set the direction for your next project step.
Unlock Sample Research
IT Project Management Lite
Tailor IT Project Management Processes to Fit Your Projects
Right-Size Project Management for Infrastructure and Operations
Right-Size Your Project Risk Investment
Formalize Project Portfolio Management for Small Enterprise
Rebalance Project Intake for Small Enterprise
Introduce Program Management to Your Organization
Get Started With Project Management Excellence
Begin Your Projects With the End in Mind
Avoid Project Management Pitfalls
Build a Comprehensive Business Case
Demystify the New PMBOK Guide and PMI Certifications
Project Success Assurance
