Proposed TLDC Project Technical Audit Che

A. Project Initiation

A.1 Project Charter

A.1.1

A.1.2

A.1.3
A.2 Project Approach

A.2.1

A.2.2

A.3 Project Governance

A.3.1 Project Governance
A.3.1.1

A.3.1.2
 A.3.1.3

A.3.1.4
A.3.1 Project Leadership

A.3.2.1

A.3.2.2

A.3.2.3

A.3.2.4

A.4 Project Planning (General)

A.4.1

A.4.2

A.4.3
 A.4.4

A.4.5

A.4.6

A.4.7

A.5 Scope Management

A.5.1 Scope Management Plan

A.5.1.1

A.5.1.2

A.5.1.3

A.5.1.4

A.5.1.5

A.5.1.6

A.5.2 Scope Management

A.5.2.1

A.5.2.2

A.6 Schedule Management

A.6.1 Schedule Management Plan

A.6.1.1

A.6.1.2

A.6.1.3

A.6.1.4

A.6.1.5

A.6.1.6
 A.6.1.7

A.6.1.8

A.6.1.9

A.6.1.10

A.6.1.11

A.6.1.12

A.6.1.13

A.6.1.14

A.6.1.15

A.6.1.16

A.6.1.17

A.6.1.18

A.6.1.19

A.6.1.20

A.6.1.21

A.6.2 Schedule (Time) Management

A.6.2.1

A.6.2.2
 A.6.2.3

A.6.2.4

A.6.2.5

A.6.2.6

A.6.2.7

A.6.2.8

A.6.2.9

A.6.2.10

A.6.2.11

A.6.3 Estimating

A.6.3.1

A.6.3.2

A.6.3.3

A.6.3.4

A.6.3.5

A.6.3.6
 A.6.3.7

A.6.3.8

A.6.3.9

A.6.3.10

A.6.3.11

A.7 Communication Management

A.7.1 Communication Management Plan

A.7.1.1

A.7.1.2

A.7.2 Communications Management

A.7.2.1

A.7.2.2

A.7.2.3

A.7.2.4

A.7.2.5

A.7.2.6

A.7.2.7

A.7.3 Project Status Reporting

A.7.3.1

A.7.3.2
 A.7.3.3

A.7.3.4

A.7.3.5

A.7.3.6

A.7.4 Issues Management

A.7.4.1

A.7.4.2

A.7.4.3

A.7.4.4

A.7.5 Meeting Management

A.7.5.1

A.7.5.2

A.7.5.3

A.7.5.4

A.7.5.5

A.8 Risk Management Plan

A.8.1 Risk Management Plan

A.8.1.1

A.8.1.2

A.8.1.3

A.8.1.4

A.8.1.5

A.8.2 Risk Management

 A.8.2.1

A.8.2.2

A.8.2.3

A.8.2.4

A.8.2.5

A.8.2.6

A.8.2.7

A.9 Quality Management

A.9.1 Quality Management Planning

A.9.1.1

A.9.1.2

A.9.1.3

A.9.1.4

A.9.1.5

A.9.1.6
 A.9.1.7

A.9.1.8

A.9.1.9

A.9.1.10

A.9.1.11

A.9.1.12

A.9.1.13

A.9.2 Quality Management

A.9.2.1

A.9.2.2

A.9.2.3

A.9.2.4

A.9.2.5
 A.9.2.6

A.9.2.7

A.10 Procurement Management

A.10.1 Procurement Management Plan

A10.1.1

A.10.2 Procurement Management

A.10.2.1

A.10.2.2

A.10.2.3

A.10.2.4

A.10.2.5

A.10.2.6

A.11 Stakeholder Management

A.11.1 Stakeholder Management Plan

A.11.1.1

A.11.1.2

A.11.1.3
 A.11.1.4

A.11.1.5

A.11.1.6

A.11.1.7

A.11.2 Stakeholder Management

A.11.2.1

A.11.2.2

A.11.2.3

A.12 Project Management Closeout

A.12.1

A.12.2

A.12.3
 Proposed TLDC Project Technical Audit Checklist

Compliant?

Project Initiation No
Yes
Critical
1 Project Charter
Does the project have a formal 'Project Charter?

A project charter is a formal, typically short document that describes your project in
its entirety — including what the objectives are, how it will be carried out, and who
the stakeholders are.

A project charter is the statement of scope, objectives and people who are
participating in a project. It begins the process of defining the roles and
responsibilities of those participants and outlines the objectives and goals of the
project. The charter also identifies the main stakeholders and defines the authority of
the project manager.

Are the key elements of a project charter present?

A. Alignment to strategic goals and objectives?

B. Project definition and scope?
C. Project objectives?
D. Cost/Benefit Analysis
E. Staffing Requirements?
F. Timeline and Milestones?
G. Control Systems?
H. Risk Analysis?
I. Critical Success Criteria (if we meet these, we've met our goals?)
J. Project Manager and Project Sponsor are named to the project?

Does the project have a Statement of Work?

2 Project Approach

Have project management standards and procedures been identified / established

and documented?

Has the project approach and development strategy of the project been defined,
documented and accepted by the appropriate stakeholders?

3 Project Governance
3.1 Project Governance
Does a documented project organizational policy & plan (i.e. governance model)
exist?

Are governance roles and responsibilities documented?

 Is there a Steering Committee in place?

What is a Steering Committee? As the name suggests, a Steering Committee helps

to steer a project through from start to completion. Sometimes it might be formed
entirely by staff from the organisation developing and implementing the project, but
more usually it is made up of representatives of key organisations who are partners in
the project, and/or who have particular expertise to lend to the project, and/or whose
clients are the intended users of the output of the project. It is very important (and
useful) to include at least one client of the service, or potential user of the project
that is being developed, as their views can be helpful in ensuring that the project is
correctly targeted.

What is the role of a Steering Committee? The Steering Committee’s role is to provide
advice, ensure delivery of the project outputs and the achievement of project
outcomes. This may include such tasks as:
• Providing input to the development of the project, including the evaluation
strategy;
• Providing advice on the budget;
• Defining and helping to achieve the project outcomes;
• Identifying the priorities in the project – where the most energy should be directed;
• Identifying potential risks;
• Monitoring risks;
• Monitoring timelines;
• Monitoring the quality of the project as it develops;
• Providing advice (and sometimes making decisions) about changes to the project
as it develops.

The Steering Committee provides support, guidance and oversight of progress.

Members do not usually work on the project themselves. Generally, the Project
Manager, and other members of the Project Team, actually do the work implementing
the project. The Project Manager will normally attend meetings of the Steering
Committee to report on progress and answer any questions raised by members. It’s
useful to have an additional person (such someone else working on the project or an
administrative staff member) attend to assist the Project Manager by recording the
minutes and decisions of the meeting.

Is the Steering Committee active in project oversight?

3.1 Project Leadership

Is a PMO (Project Management Office) in place and provide oversight to the project?

Has the project manager been identified?

Is the assigned project manager a PMP (Certified project manager) and experienced?

Are project team roles and responsibilities identifiedand documented?

4 Project Planning (General)

Have the key elements of a coherent project management strategy been established?

A. Project tracking plan and methodology

B. Project status reporting structure and process
C. Change management plan and tracking
D. Issues management process and tracking plan
E. Risk Management Plan

Are there procedures in place to effectively manage interdependencies with other

projects, systems, Vendors and the State work effort?

Does all project documentation reside in a common repository for easy access?
 Do all stakeholders know how to access this repository and where to find the project
documentation?

Has project success criteria been defined?

Have all necessary approvals been obtained?

Are the project plans updated on a frequent basis?

5 Scope Management
5.1 Scope Management Plan

Is there a scope management plan that includes how project scope will be defined,
developed, monitored, validated and controlled?

Has the scope management document been updated and distributed to help prevent
scope creep?

Is there a requirements change management processes in place?

Has a structured approach been used to break work effort into manageable
components (WBS)?

Have the key functions and capabilities been defined and assigned to each release or
iteration?

Has the project scope been baselined

5.2 Scope Management

Is current scope of the project substantially different than that originally defined?

Are changes in scope (deliverable commitments) agreed to by all affected groups &
individuals?
6 Schedule Management
6.1 Schedule Management Plan

Is there a Schedule Management Plan that establishes the criteria and activities for
developing, monitoring and controlling the project schedule?

Were project team members involved in the development of activity & task
decomposition?

Was the scope definition used in task sequencing?

Are individual tasks of reasonable time effort(8–40 hours)?

Are tasks tracked by hours?

Are milestone deliverables effectively tracked and compared to project plan?

 Does the detailed project plan identify individual responsibilities for the next 4–6
weeks?

Have activity relationships and interdependencies within tasks been adequately

identified?

Have external dependencies been captured in the schedule

Are target dates established for each milestone deliverable?

Are corrective actions taken when actual results are substantially different from
detailed project plan(variances)?

Are corrective actions and variances reported?

Are changes in deliverable commitments agreed to by all affected groups &

individuals?

Is the structure for tracking the project schedule well defined and assigned to a
specific individual

Are measurements and feedback mechanisms incorporated in tracking work effort &
refining work estimating techniques?

Is there a formal process for updating the project baseline?

Does the schedule include project management time and change request analysis
time?

Are non-critical path items updated and agreed upon with the MNLARS teams?

Are staff skills known and available for each task?

Has the schedule been baselined?

Was the project schedule reviewed by all stakeholders and formally accepted?

6.2 Schedule (Time) Management

Is the schedule updated on a periodic basic?

Is the project schedule available for all project team members to review?
 Have the procedures for identifying variances from estimates and adjusting the
detailed work program have been followed?

Is the project work proceeding in accordance with the original project schedule?

Have all project delays been adequately accounted for, communicated to all
stakeholders and adjustments made in overall project schedule?

Is there general agreement & acceptance of the current status and progress of the
project?

Is PERT/Critical Path or equivalent methodology being used? Can you see the critical
path on the plan? Is the critical path frequently monitored?

Think of critical path in project management as a project modeling technique. It’s a

sequence of stages where you figure out what the least amount of time is necessary
to complete a task with the least amount of slack. So, the critical path is really the
longest length of time it will take to complete the project tasks.

Are the Gantt Chart and/or Network Diagram updated periodically and used to assess
the overall project timetable?

Is an industry recognized mechanized support tool(s) being used for project

scheduling & tracking?

Is it possible to track all classes of project work (e.g. scheduled, un-scheduled, defect
repair, etc.)? Can you compare work done to the baseline?

Are schedule deliverables actually delivered?

6.3 Estimating

Are multiple estimation methods being employed?

Are updated project time & resource estimates reasonable based on the current
project stage?

Are actuals compared against estimates to analyze and correct variances?

Are software metrics formally captured, analyzed and used as a basis for other
project estimates?

Was your agency’s estimating methodology being used and followed?

Do the estimating techniques include any of the following features:

a. Ranged estimates?
b. Sensitivity analysis?
c. Risk rating?
d. Quality Assurance overheads?
e. Contingency?
 Are project team members involved in detailed estimating and scheduling?

Were project team members involved in detailed estimating and scheduling?

Were stakeholders aware and supportive of the principles and practices of modern
software estimation

Are the schedule estimates reasonable given the project

Are estimating assumptions and constraints captured?

7 Communication Management
7.1 Communication Management Plan

Has a project Communications Plan been developed?

Have adequate procedures been put in place for project communicationand status
reporting across project boundaries (i.e. interdependent software development
among interfacing systems)?

7.2 Communications Management

Is the communication plan being followed?

Are project contact logs kept up to date?

Are assumptions being identified, recorded, analyzed, qualified and closed?

Are change requests logged and managed?

Are decisions captured in a decisions log?

Are action items captured and managed?

Have the scope, objectives, costs, benefits and impacts have been communicated to
all involved and/or impacted stakeholders and work groups?

7.3 Project Status Reporting

Status reports are created and include:

A. Overall status
B. Project performance (achievements and milestones)
C. Open issues
D. Risks
E. Action items
F. Cost and time performance against plan
G. Quality metrics
H. Client involvement

Are written status reports provided on a designated frequent basis?

 Is project status reviewed with the steering and executive teams at appropriate
intervals?

Are internal project status meetings held at reasonable intervals?

Do project teams & team members report on status / activities / progress?

Are the following status reports received per project plan?

A. Weekly status reports

B. Change request list
C. Monthly status report to steering committee
D. Quarterly status report to steering committee
E. Project schedule monthly
7.4 Issues Management

Is there an issues management plan in place?

Is there a formal set of procedures supporting issues management?

Is there an automated support for issues management?

Are issues raised, assessed, actioned, and resolved in a timely and efficient manner?

7.5 Meeting Management

Are agendas created for each meeting with meeting objectives, meeting topics,
invitee list, and action items from past meetings?

Are meeting objectives identified for each meeting?

Are meeting minutes captured and sent out after the meeting

Are parking lot items captured

Are meetings held per the project plan:

A. Client touch point meetings.

B. Project team working meetings
C. Change control board (CCB) meetings
D. Steering committee meetings
E. Quarterly status meetings
F. Quarterly management meetings
G. Work steam meetings.

8 Risk Management Plan

8.1 Risk Management Plan

Was an original risk assessment/risk management plan completed?

Are risk oriented checklistsused during risk identification?

Have all team members been part of identifying risks?

Are risk triggers captured?

Have reserves been created to address risks?

8.2 Risk Management

 Is there an on-going process in place to monitor project risks?

Has a provision been made to reassess project risks at various project stages?

Have all unresolved risks been documented?

Are mitigation strategies identified?

Are cause and effect determined for risks when they occur?

Aretrade-offs between accepting the risk and mitigating the risk identified?

Are key risk mitigation strategies added to the project schedule?

9 Quality Management
9.1 Quality Management Planning
Does the project have a 'Quality Culture"

According to PMI, quality management seeks minimize variation and deliver results
that meet requirements. To do that customer satisfaction is key. Understanding,
evaluating, defining and managing requirements are a must to ensure customer
expectations are met, from both a conformance (does project produce what it was
created to produce) and fitness for use (does the product satisfy the real needs) It
also focuses on prevention over inspection, continuous improvement.

Is there a Quality Management Plan?

Has a Quality Assurance Plan been developed for the project?

Does the Quality Assurance process provide objective verification of adherence to

applicable standards, procedures and requirements?

Are all key components of Quality Assurance Plan present?

A. SQA Plan
B. Software Configuration Management (SCM)
C. Software development standards and methods
D. Methodology
E. Testing Standards and Methodology
F. Data Architecture Standards
G. Data Naming Conventions
H. Technology Architecture
I. Software Metrics

Is the quality assurance team identified?

 Are adequate resources provided for the quality assurance function? Are quality
assurance resources experienced?

Are the quality tools and methods identified in the Quality Plan appropriate to the
project?

E.G. Pareto diagrams, statistical sampling, flow charting or trend analysis used quality
monitoring?

Is there a set of procedures defining the scope, procedures, and deliverables defining
quality control?

According to the SOW: The purpose of quality control is to monitor specific project
results to determine if they comply with relevant quality standards and identify ways
to eliminate the causes of unsatisfactory results.

Are quality metrics defined?

Quality metrics describe how a project or product attributes and how the quality
control process will measure it. A measurement is an actual value and defines the
allowable variations to the metric. Quality metrics may include on-time performance,
cost control, defect frequency, failure rate, availability, reliability, and test coverage.

Is there a set of procedures to capture, analyze and act on quality metrics?

Are there checklists created to demine if all quality processes are followed?

Are quality inspections and review activities listed in the project schedule(s)?

9.2 Quality Management

Is quality monitored from the perspective of the customer’s needs and expectations?

Do trained quality assurance auditors conduct the audits as defined in the Quality
Management Plan and scheduled by the project manager?

Are quality assurance audits conducted per the Quality Plan:

A. Plan project work (before execution)

B. Application development cycle (during execution)
C. Release system (during execution)
D. Execute project plan (during early state of execution and 3-6 months following)
E. Test application (during project execution)
F. Close down project (after project completion)

Are the results of quality assurance reviews provided to affected groups and
individuals? Are the summary metrics shared with MNLARS teams in a quarterly
report?

Are post milestone project reviews (PMPR) conducted with the State at least once a
year?
 Are work product reviews performed (WPRs) to include:

A. High level requirements

B. Application software
C. Architecture plans
D. Project plan components
E. Technical design
F. Test plan/strategy
G. Use cases
H. Technical reviews

Are any non-compliance issues that exist due to State practices communicated to the
State?
10 Procurement Management
10.1 Procurement Management Plan

Is there a procurement management plan in place?

10.2 Procurement Management

Are procurement deliverables arriving on time and to specification?

Are Vendor contract reports, reviews and visits conducted periodically?

Is payment system in place with proper reviews and approvals?

Is documentation created for communication with the suppliers and Vendors?

Are metrics used to evaluate and manage vendors?

Are all payments made according to the contract(s)?

11 Stakeholder Management
11.1 Stakeholder Management Plan
Is a Stakeholder Management Plan in place that covers the following topics?

A. Engagement levels of key stakeholders

B. Scope and impact of change to stakeholders
C. Interrelationships between stakeholders
D. Communication requirements
E. Information distributed to stakeholders - language, format, content, and level of
detail
F. Reason for distribution and information that expected to impact to stakeholder
engagement
G. Timeframe and frequency for the distribution of requirement information to the
stakeholders
H. Method for updating and refining the stakeholder management plan as project
progresses and develops

Have key stakeholders been identified?

Have stakeholder accountabilities and responsibilities clearly defined?

 Has stakeholder analysis been conducted, assessing their influence on the project
and their authority levels?

Is there a training program in place for stakeholders covering expectations, roles and
responsibilities and any addition knowledge they need to be good stakeholders?

Is there a formal set of procedures supporting Stakeholder Management?

Is it standard practice to formally commit stakeholders to the project via agreements?

11.2 Stakeholder Management

Is stakeholder involvement adequate?

Are the people assigned to the project sufficiently qualified?

Are the project team members located locally to the users/stakeholders?

12 Project Management Closeout

Have all documents been archived in a project repository for each release?

Are all Vendor contracts are closed out?

Have lessons learned been conducted after each project release?

cklist

Compliant?

No Assessment

Major
 Proposed TLDC Project Technical Audit Checklist
Compliant?
A. Project Initiation No
Yes
Critical
A.1 Project Planning
A1.1 Does the project have a formal project plan?

Are the key elements of a project plan present?

A. Project Definition and Scope?

B. Project Objectives?
A1.2 C. Cost / Benefit Analysis?
D. Staffing Requirements?
E. Timeline?
F. Critical Success Criteria (if we meet these, we've met
our goals?)

A1.3 Have all stakeholders been identified?

Is a stakeholder management plan in place? Have
A1.4 project accountabilities and responsibilities been clearly
defined?
Have the scope, objectives, costs, benefits and impacts
A1.5 been communicated to all involved and/or impacted
stakeholders and work groups?
A. Have all involved stakeholders and work groups
A1.6 committed to the project?
B. Have all necessary approvals been obtained?
A1.7 Has a project communications plan been developed?
Are funding and staffing resource estimates sufficiently
A1.8 detailed and documented for use in planning and
tracking the project?
Does a documented project organizational policy and
A1.9
plan (i.e. governance model) exist?
Have adequate resources been provided by
A1.10
management to ensure project success?
Is the current scope of project substantially different
A1.11
than that originally defined in the approved project plan
Has the approach and development strategy of the
A1.12 project been defined, documented, and accepted by the
appropriate stakeholders?
Have project management standards and procedures
A1.13
been established and documented?
A1.14 Is there a Steering Committee in place?
A1.15 Is the Steering Committee active in project oversight?
Are there procedures in place to effectively manage
A1.16
interdependencies with other projects / systems?
A.2 Project Management

Have the key elements of a coherent project

management strategy been established?

A. Project tracking plan and methodology

A.2.1 B. Project status reporting structure and process
C. Change management plan and reporting
D. Issues management process and tracking plan
E. Risk management plan
F. Project Quality Assurance
nical Audit Checklist
Compliant?
No Assessment
Major