How does your organisation’s investment board or senior executive team seek assurance that major projects and programmes will achieve their objectives and realise benefits?
- Are they concerned about initiatives already in flight or about to be commissioned or both?
- Have they asked the PMO or internal audit department to undertake a review?
- How valuable is the review for senior executives?
If these questions resonate with your organisation then read on to understand how to maximise the value from assurance and increase the likelihood of achieving successful outcomes.
What is assurance?
Assurance is more than audit which typically focuses on completeness and compliance. Assurance is forward looking and prognostic. It assesses the likelihood of achieving future outcomes. It proposes recommendations to management to reduce the risk of initiatives failing and facilitates the earlier identification of corrective actions.
Programme assurance looks at the desirability, do-ability and deliverability of an initiative to assess the likelihood it will remain on track to generate a beneficial return on investment. It is best undertaken by independent and objective assurance professionals skilled in specialist programme and project management assurance.
Our assurance approach
Our approach focusses on:
- Desirability: Is the initiative a good idea? Focusses on the clarity of the mission, gaining stakeholder support and strength of the business case with particular attention on the realisation of benefits, costs and risks.
- Do-ability: Is it well planned and likely to succeed? Concentrates on the overall plan, achievability of benefits, methodology for producing deliverables (e.g. Agile, Waterfall, Hybrid) and resourcing.
- Deliverability: Is it being appropriately executed? Focusses on the management, team working, monitoring & control and forecasting.
The nature of assurance interventions can vary depending on the risk profile, progress and performance of the initiative and can range from periodic ongoing assurance to intensive deep dive reviews.
Assurance reporting should be insightful and informative, appraising senior executives on the condition of the initiative, the predicted outcome and practical recommendations to improve the outcome. It should be uncomplicated, jargon free and easy for busy executives to read quickly and instantly understand the key messages. It should avoid unnecessary detail.
Our programme assurance tools and support
CITI has a number of powerful tools and techniques to assist programme assurance reviews which include, but are not limited to, the following areas:
Our consultants’ are skilled in project and programme management and the above techniques which together with their extensive experience undertaking assurance of initiatives for a wide range of organisations places us in a good position to assist internal auditors and PMOs with conducting assurance of projects and programmes.
Being specialists in project, programme and change assurance our clients are confident that they are receiving high quality independent and objective support.
If you would like to know more about our assurance of projects and programmes for investment boards and how we could assist your organisation, please get in touch.
