Post Project Audits Step 5 of the IT Alignment Process

1. Post Project AuditsStep 5 of the IT Alignment Process It’s how you get credit for your strategic value creation achievements!

2. The Reasons for Doing a Post Project Audit • It provides a mechanism for accountability that will increase the likelihood that you will get the full potential (and anticipated) benefit from your IT projects • It provides the hard facts and metrics you need to get the full-credit for your successes in the eyes of the other business leaders in your company--this will build your political capital, which will help you get future funding for new strategic IT proposals.

3. MoreReasons for Doing a Post Project Audit • It provides the feedback and metrics you will need to improve your organizations ability to assess the dollar value of intangible benefits for future projects--this is an extremely valuable skill for IT to develop as it dramatically affects your ability to create strategic wealth for your company • The detailed planning for post project audits will often identify ways to tweak the proposed implementation plan so as to increase the likelihood you will get the full benefits you hope to achieve from your project.

4. Specific Requirements • A description of exactly what business benefits are expected and how they will be measured • A rubric for each of the measurements that show ranges and grades of acceptability (e.g.: >90%--green, 80% to 90%--yellow, <80%--red) • The specific dates that these measurements will be taken and reported • Who will be responsible for taking these measurements on the prescribed dates (usually the project manager) • To whom they will be reported (usually the CIO and project sponsor, but maybe the IT Governance Steering Committee) • An appointment on the calendar for the persons to whom these measurements will be reported for the date when the measurements are due • A specific list of things the P.M. will do to tweak the project proposal to increase the likelihood of achieving the target metrics (such as: automated benefits tracking, modifying the implementation plan to yield higher achievement of the target benefits, etc.).

5. Example Post Project Audit Plan • See accompanying class handout of example Post Project Audit Plan for the Customer Service Automation project.

6. For Class Discussion Justify each of these statements: • A post project audit provides a mechanism for accountability that will increase the likelihood that you will get the full potential (and anticipated) benefit from your IT projects • A post project audit provides the hard facts and metrics you need to get the full-credit for your successes in the eyes of the other business leaders in your company--this will build your political capital, which will help you get future funding for new strategic IT proposals.

7. For Class Discussion Justify each of these statements: • A post project audit provides the feedback and metrics you will need to improve your organizations ability to assess the dollar value of intangible benefits for future projects--this is an extremely valuable skill for IT to develop as it dramatically affects your ability to create strategic wealth for your company • A detailed plan for post project audits will often identify ways to tweak the proposed implementation plan so as to increase the likelihood you will get the full benefits you hope to achieve from your project.