To ensure that projects are managed professionally, project management processes and procedures should be developed covering the nine knowledge areas of A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide). These include integration management, scope management, time management, cost management, quality management, human resource management, communications management, risk management, and procurement management.
In addition, best practices should be identified, project methodologies developed, and periodic project “health” checks performed. The PMO should seek out and “institutionalize” best practices from within the organization, from consultants, and from industry symposiums and user group conferences.
Improved efficiency and accuracy in project plan development can be obtained by the development and utilization of methodologies that provide project templates and estimate models for different types of projects. As projects progress, the PMO should check the “health” of the project by reviewing the details of the project plan, so that deviations from project objectives can be corrected before serious impacts occur.
Key areas to focus on during a project health check include:
- Scope and Requirements: Track the number of changes per requirement and the number of defects produced per requirement (or per change) to provide an indication regarding the scope stability.
- Issues and Risks: Measure the number of issues, risks, and assumptions at given milestones throughout the project and compare them to previous, similar projects to check for associated trends.
- Human Factors: Assess conflict and team dynamics, which can be tough to quantify but are crucial for team cohesiveness and dynamic.
- Estimating and Scheduling: Evaluate the quality of estimates and their accuracy and completeness.
- Customer Satisfaction: Establish measures to track customer satisfaction, using escalations, urgent calls, ongoing reporting, and issues raised.
Questionaire
Project Scope
- Is the project scope clearly defined and documented?
- Yes
- No
- Partially
- Have there been any significant changes to the project scope since its inception?
- Yes
- No
- If yes, were these changes formally approved and documented?
- Yes
- No
- Are all project deliverables on track to meet the defined scope?
- Yes
- No
- Partially
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