Project Assurance

The Project Board members do not work full-time on the project; therefore they place a great deal of reliance on the Project Manager. Although they receive regular reports from the Project Board, there may always be the questions at the back of their minds, 'Are things really going as well as we are being told?', 'Are any problems being hidden from us?', 'Is the solution going to be what we want?', 'Are we suddenly going to find that the project is over-budget or late?' There are other questions. The Supplier may have a quality assurance function charged with the responsibility to check that all projects are adhering to the Quality System.

All of these points mean that there is a need in the project organisation for an independent monitoring of all aspects of the project's performance and products. This is the project assurance function.

To cater for a small project, PROMISE starts by identifying these project assurance functions as part of the role of each Project Board member. According to the needs and desires of the Project Board, any of these assurance responsibilities can be delegated, as long as the recipients are independent of the Project Board and the rest of the Project Management Team. Any appointed assurance jobs assure the project on behalf of one or more members of the Project Board.

It is not mandatory that all assurance roles are delegated. Each of the assurance roles that is delegated may be assigned to one individual or shared. The Project Board decides when an assurance role needs to be delegated. It may be for the entire project or only part of it. The person or persons filling an assurance role may be changed during the project at the request of the Project Board. Any use of assurance roles needs to be planned at Initiation Stage, otherwise resource usage and costs for assurance could easily get out of control.

There is no stipulation on how many assurance roles there must be. Each Project Board role has assurance responsibilities. Again, each project should determine what support, if any, each Project Board role needs to achieve this assurance.

For example, the Supplier's work standards may be certificated under ISO 9001. A requirement of the certification is that there will be some form of quality assurance function that is required to monitor the Supplier's work. Some of the Supplier Director's assurance responsibilities may be delegated to this function. Note that they would only be delegated. The Project Board member retains accountability. Any delegation should be documented. The quality assurance could include verification by an external party that the Project Board is performing its functions correctly. Assurance covers all interests of a project, including Business, User and Supplier. Project assurance has to be independent of the Project Board; therefore the Project Board cannot delegate any of its assurance responsibilities to the Project Board.

Specific Responsibilities

The implementation of the assurance responsibilities needs to answer the question 'What is to be assured?' A list of possibilities would include:

It is not enough to believe that standards will be obeyed. It is not enough to ensure that a project is well set up and justified at the outset. All the aspects listed above need to be checked throughout the project as part of ensuring that it remains consistent with and continues to meet a business need and that no change to the external environment affects the validity of the project.