Recently, a colleague asked me, what is a “Project Health Check”? I said, “It’s like a Spring Clean on a Project”.
This reminded me of when I was growing up and my mother saying, “It’s time for a Spring Clean”. Nothing was safe, every wall, ceiling, cupboard and shelf was cleaned and painted, then everything sorted back in order, any unwanted or out of date items were dumped or replaced.
For projects, the purpose is to ensure there are no ‘out of date’ tasks and that the project is following the correct processes, actions are being tracked, resources allocated correctly so that everyone knows what tasks are assigned to them.
What are Project Health Checks?
In Project Management terms, a Project Heath Check is a review of the progress of a project at a given time to ensure the project is following the correct company process and that the project is being managed correctly. Best Practice is to conduct checks on sample projects on a regular basis. Conducting checks enables common issues and non-compliance to be captured and resolved in a cost-effective way and applied to future projects.
What questions should you address during a Health Check?
- Is the project aligned to the overall company strategy?
- Has the business case been approved and signed off?
- Has the scope of the project been identified and approved?
- Have the deliverables been agreed?
- Are regular project meetings being held and documented?
- Are senior management involved and supportive of the project?
- Are project resources assigned and aware of their role?
- Is there an up-to-date project plan in place?
- Are risks and issues being managed correctly?
- Are the project time-lines realistic?
- Are status reports being sent regularly?
- Are cost and benefits being tracked and within budget?
- Is the project team working well together?
WHO SHOULD PERFORM PROJECT HEALTH CHECKS?
Project Health checks should be conducted by people outside of the project, who can provide an unbiased and balanced opinion of the performance of the project.
What can Olas do to help?
At Olas, we have dedicated project managers with many year’s experience on project and programme management across many different industries and sectors. Why not give us a call to discuss your needs and where we might help?
Contact Matina Garvey on 01 2790020 or email martina.garvey@olas.ie