Answers:
- Tools for analysing project constraints
- Project status report
- Types of project audits based on method of conducting the audit
Tools for analysing project constraints : The analysis of constraints and assumptions helps not only in project planning and execution but also in identifying the potential risks if the assumptions go wrong. The commonly used tools for identifying and analysing the risks associated with constraints and assumptions are as follows:
Checklists: Checklists offer a powerful means of identifying the risks on the basis of the historic data, past experience and collective wisdom of the team. A checklist can be used at the organisational level or at the project level, depending on the nature of the project. It is particularly useful when similar projects have been done in the past and the lessons learnt have given some insights to the common constraints on similar projects.
Brainstorming: Brainstorming is often used as a problem-solving tool and an idea evaluation/generation tool. It can also be considered as an exercise to ‘think loudly’.
Project status report: Project status reports take various forms and shapes and their contents vary depending on their recipients and their expectations from the reports. The contents of status reports can be divided into two categories:
Hard data
This includes the project core data that measures the progress and performance of the project. Some examples of the hard data are:
Schedule data: Completed activities, completed milestones, scheduled activities, missed milestones, actual start and end dates of activities, etc.
Resource data: Cost data, actual resources utilised or consumed data, inventory data, procurement data, missing or damaged resources data etc.
Issue and problems data: Defects, issues, change requests or amendments etc.
Soft data
Soft data can be considered as metadata or additional information about the data. It consists of qualitative data, observations or apparent changes. Some of the examples are:
· Conflicts and moral issues within the team
· Apparent changes in the project environment
· Bottlenecks in issue resolution and escalations
· Issues that need senior management’s intervention or guidance
Types of project audits based on method of conducting the audit: There are two broad types of audits based on the method of conducting an audit:
Internal risk audit: An internal risk audit is done by an organisation’s internal team, which is not a part of the project. Usually, it can be a separate team from the audit department or people from the peer team or other projects. There is a tendency that internal audits are not taken seriously; however, the project manager must look at a risk audit as an opportunity to find the gaps and close them before they turn into serious threats and affect the project deliverables.