Step 08: Stage End Assessment
Description
Objective

To

- document the results of the current stage and prepare for the next stage and have the results reviewed by management,

in a way that

- provides a summary of the work carried out in the stage,

- identifies the tasks necessary to carry out the next stage of the project,

- develops a schedule for the next stage of the project,

- provides a comprehensive package of information from which a decision can be made,

- gains agreement on any revisions to the scope of project,

- gains agreement on any revisions to the overall approach and schedule for the project,

- gains agreement on any revisions to the Business Case for the project,

- gains agreement on any revisions to the Project Organization,

- gains commitment to making the necessary resources available for the project,

- gains agreement to the approach and schedule for the next stage of the project,

- gains agreement to any changes to the control procedures defined for the project,

- provides a record of the project and stage plans for use in managing and controlling the project if it gets authorization to proceed,

- confirms that the stage is complete,

so that

- a decision can be made as to whether to commit to and authorize the project to proceed.

Overview

An Stage End Assessment should be held at the end of every stage in the project. The Stage Manager and Project Team report their progress and recommendations to the Project Board to gain the Board's approval to either to proceed with the next stage, or to confirm that project has been satisfactorily completed. This assessment reviews the overall progress of the project and the plan for continuing the project.

In the same way that a detailed schedule for the next stage of the project is developed in Project Initiation, a detailed schedule for the next stage of the project is developed in every other stage, except the last.

The overall project schedule provides an overview of the activities in each stage. These activities need to be further defined for the next stage to the point where all necessary tasks have been identified. This should use the same approach as for developing the overall project schedule. That is, using a proven process, or developing the process if one does not exist.

Once this has been done it is necessary to estimate the resources required for the next stage. This should cover all personnel resources required, both full and part time, and other types of resource such as office space and equipment. A time line and cost estimate for the stage can then be developed.

The work carried out in the stage is collated into a consistent document that contains the work completed to date, plans for the Project as a whole, and plans for the next project stage.

The revised Project Plan consists of an updated version of:

- Project Scope

- Overall Project Schedule

- Overall Budget for the Project.

- Project Organization

- Business Case for the project

- Standards and Control Procedures to be used on the project

The Plan for the next stage consists of:

- Stage Schedule

- Quality Review standards for next stage products

- Control Tolerances for the next stage

- Budget for the next stage.

Developing these plans will be an iterative process and may begin early during the current stage.

A brief Stage End Report should also be produced which summarizes the work carried out during the stage and contains recommendations to the Project Board.

By agreeing plans for the next stage, the Project Board are committing to the provision of funding and other resources, and understanding and accepting the assumptions, pre-requisites and risks. They must ensure that appropriate Progress, Quality and Change Control procedures are being administered effectively.

This approval also marks the formal delegation of responsibility to the next Stage Manager for the achievement of stage products, within the time and budget, subject to the agreed tolerance levels.
Task .010 Close Stage Administration
Ensure that all project management and development products produced in the current stage are correctly filed.
Task .020 Determine Next Stage Activities
Based upon the project and stage objective, scope, constraints and assumptions, tune the stage work breakdown structure to:

- Add new steps and/or tasks,

- Remove unnecessary steps and/or tasks,

- Merge steps and/or tasks,

The project plan identified the probable steps within the stage. Now is the opportunity to reassess the steps and their associated objectives and products. Removing steps and tasks may increase project risk. Document these risks and identify proposed countermeasures, which may include additional quality assurance tasks.

Determine the products to be produced by each step. Start at the end of the stage with the final deliverable, and work forwards to the beginning. Describe the objective, outline and content of each product. Validate the final product against the project and stage objective.

Within each step, identify the tasks or activities required to produce the step products. A task will have the following characteristics:

- Reference

- Name

- Description

- Input

- Output or product

- Technique (optional)

- Tool (optional)

- Role / responsibility assignment

- Resource / responsibility assignment

- Effort estimate

In this task define the Task Reference, Name, Description, Product, Techniques and Tools.

Record all assumptions and issues identified.
Task .030 Determine Activity Dependencies
Chart the sequence of stages and steps to reflect the intrinsic and architectural dependencies inherent in the project.

An output or product of one task will usually be the input to another, and this will be the primary driver in determining the task dependencies and workflow.

Determine whether the successor task references (throughput) or updates (entry requirement) the input product.

Some inputs may be sourced from outside the project. Identify these External Inputs (e.g., Long Range System Plan, Standards, Project Initiation report of another project, etc.).

Review the dependencies determined by the task inputs and outputs. Review the dependency types between the tasks. Tasks are not necessarily finish-start, but may be in parallel or phased. Where appropriate, define lags (both positive and negative) between tasks. Remove any step dependencies. It is recommended that the dependencies be kept simple and reduced to a minimum, otherwise the schedule will be very difficult to execute and will probably be abandoned.

Ensure that all dependencies with other projects are identified. Examine other Project Initiation Reports to assess interproject dependencies.

Record all assumptions and issues identified.
Task .040 Estimate Effort
Stage schedule estimates will be determined as effort time (or work). Determine the total effort per task. Remember to include peer review and revision time if such activities are not identified as specific tasks. It is recommended that you estimate in units of an hour. Avoid estimating tasks to less than one hour. It is advisable to estimate in units of 4 hours. No task should be longer than 80 hours.

By combining small tasks and including a detailed description of the task it will be possible to simplify the schedule merely by reducing the number of tasks in the Gantt.

The task effort estimates will be apportioned to individual roles and resources in the next task.

Record all assumptions supporting the estimate in the task description. This is very important because it will enable you to recreate and substantiate the estimate. It will also ensure that you have thoroughly thoughout what is to be done, and that it is communicated clearly to the Team. Estimating takes time, but it will validate the tasks, products, techniques and assumptions.

Aggregate the task estimates and compare against the original top-down step and stage estimates. If the detailed estimate is substantially different from the original top-down estimate it may be necessary to refer to the Project Board and consider revising both the project and stage plans.
Task .050 Allocate Resources
Assign roles and their associated responsibility to each task. In order to avoid overwhelming the plan with complexity focus on the "produce", "consult" and "review" responsibilities. The "approve" responsibility will generally apply only to the Project Board. The responsibilities are defined as follows:

- Produce: to create the product of the task. Usually applies to Project Team Members like Business Analysts, Systems Analysts and Programmers. The schedule will be simpler to balance if only a single role is assigned per task.

- Consult: provide information required to produce the task. Usually applies Coordinators and Key Resources.

- Review: review the product for correctness, accuracy and completeness. Usually applies Coordinators and Key Resources.

- Approve: official signoff. Usually applies to the Project Board.

Assign resources to the roles and responsibilities.

Apportion the total task effort estimate to the resources. As a tip, the schedule will be much easier to balance if the task effort estimate is apportioned entirely to the a single "produce" resource. Therefore this estimate should include time for the other "consult" and "review" resources, e.g., Client review, DBA review. Although this is a simplification, it is still applicable if the non-project team costs are excluded from the plan, since the estimates are primarily for the Project Team. The "consult", "review" and "approve" resources still need to be assigned to tasks, albeit at zero work, in order for them to be included in the schedule.

Define by task the resources availability (unit). The scheduler will calculate task duration as effort / unit.
Task .060 Prepare Next Stage Schedule
Develop an initial schedule of project activities.

Determine the proposed stage start date and use the scheduler to calculate the step and task start and end dates. Validate these dates against the project constraints.

Review the project objective, constraints and control factors before attempting to balance the plan. Deadline, resource utilization and costs can be adjusted as follows:

- Modify dependencies,

- Modify dependency type (finish-start, lag, etc.),

- Modify tasks and therefore the effort estimate (avoid arbitarily reducing estimates),

- Assign more resources (task duration will theoretically be reduced if more resources are applied to the task),

- Reassign more proficient resources,

- Provide productivity enhancing tools,

- Train and coach team members,

- Motivate team members,

- Increase resource availability,

Modify task descriptions and assumptions to record all the adjustments to the plan. Failure to do this will result in a mismatch between the original plan and the current schedule, and reduce the probability of project success.
Task .070 Prepare Next Stage Budget
Determine staff costs at the task level. This is a function of the resource work and chargeable rate. The Process Manager will supply standard hourly rates for both Internal Staff and External Contractors.

Determine non-staff costs for the stage by category. The categories are:

- Hardware & Network

- Software

- Project Training, training the project team to execute the project

- Installation Training, training the clients, operations, etc. to use the application

- Miscellaneous, includes supplies, copying of training materials, accommodation, subsistence, travel, or other costs which cannot be classified above.
Task .080 Baseline Next Stage Schedule
Once a satisfactory balanced stage schedule and budget has been achieved, baseline it. This will retain a record of the original start and end dates, work and duration estimates, and staffing costs

Actual progress will be monitored against this baseline.
Task .090 Update Project Schedule
Update the overall Project Schedule to reflect the details of the Next Stage Schedule.
Task .0100 Review Project Budget
Review the overall Project Budget, and make changes based on the latest Project Schedule
Task .0110 Review Business Case
Update the Business Case to reflect any changes in Costs, Benefits and Risks for the project.
Task .0120 Review Project Organization
Review the resource requirements from the Next Stage Schedule and update the Project Organization accordingly.
Task .0130 Review Project Scope
Review the latest statement of the Project Scope and ensure that it still accurately reflects the current status and plans for the project.

If the Project Scope is subject to Change Control, it should be up to date.
Task .0140 Compile Stage End Assessment Report
Collate all the elements of the project and next stage plans into a single document for review by the Project Board.

Summarize the achievements of the preceding stage, highlighting any issues concerning quality, cost, resource utilization, schedule, etc.

Verify that the project objective, scope, approach, products, organization, control factors, cost justification and risk are still valid. Highlight any changes.
Task .0150 Prepare Stage End Assessment
Decide what decisions the Project Board must make. These will cover issues that have arisen during the previous stage, and the decision on how to proceed with the project.

Determine the recommendations to be made to the Project Board concerning those decisions. If the development Stage Manager and the Client Co-ordinator disagree, then record both with supporting arguments.

Determine the information the Project Board needs to make the decisions.

Determine the best way to provide that information to the Project Board.

Prepare advance material for the Project Board.

Arrange and schedule a Project Board meeting and send out the advance material.

Prepare a structured agenda for the Project Board meeting.

Prepare a brief report covering the work carried out during the stage.
Task .0160 Conduct Stage End Assessment
Follow the prepared agenda and present the results of the stage to the Project Board.

Make a recommendation to the Project Board and ensure the Project Board makes a decision.
Task .0170 Follow-up Stage End Assessment
Update the Project and Stage Plans based on the decisions made by the Project Board.

Create a Stage End Approval Report and obtain Project Board signatories. Record any qualifications.
Project Closure

Objective

To

- formally close the project,

in a way that

- establishes mechanisms for the continued development or improvement of the final product of the project,

- improves the standard process for this type of project,

- updates the estimating model for this type of project,

so that

- the project resources can be re-deployed.

Overview

All good things must come to an end. Projects are designed to end at some point, that is the nature of project work. To gain maximum benefit from a project, the project should go through a formal close down.

There may be some outstanding work that needs to be carried out on the products of the project. This work should either be canceled, or mechanisms, such as a maintenance program, or additional projects, should be established to complete the work.

The project will have been using several lists and tracking mechanisms, such as the change request log and the issues log. These need to be formally closed.

The members of the Project Organization will have learnt how to carry out this type of project better in the future, and will have a better idea of how long the various activities on this type of project will take to do. These learnings should be captured for future use.

There will be a lot of information generated during a project, and this will have been stored with varying degrees of formality by the members of the Project Organization. This information needs to be formally filed away for possible future use.
Step 01: Final Product Evaluation
Description
Objective

To

- determine the overall quality of the final product and to implement a mechanism for improving or maintaining that quality,

in a way that

- evaluates the product against the original objectives identifies outages in the final product determines how to address any outages,

so that

- the overall project objectives can be met.

Overview

By this time in the project, all project work should have been completed, and the products of the project should have been accepted by the customers. It is possible however, that the final products do not fully meet the original objectives and requirements.

Before the project is completely finished, any outages in the products should be identified and evaluated. If it is decided that the outages need to be fixed, it will be necessary to set up a mechanism to carry this out. This may be by a new project, or a maintenance program.

If the product fully meets the original objectives and requirements, it is still necessary to consider how to maintain the product.
Task .010 Prepare Product Evaluation
Determine what form the final evaluation of the product should take. It could be:

- a meeting

- a quality review

- a questionnaire

Make sure that the evaluation includes an evaluation against the Business Success Criteria that were defined during the Project Initiation Stage. However, it is also important to evaluate the overall quality of the final product in respect of its ability to meet current requirements.

Prepare and distribute material as appropriate.
Task .020 Conduct Product Evaluation
Carry out the evaluation in the chosen way.

Determine if the project has been successful in relation to the original Business Success Criteria.

Determine if the product does meet all requirements. If the product does not meet requirements, identify the shortcomings and record them.

Determine if any of the shortcomings with the final product need to be addressed. If there are any items that need action, decide on the best way of addressing the items. Options include:

- do not close the project

- define a follow-on project

- initiate a maintenance process
Task .030 Initiate Maintenance Process
If there is a need for on-going maintenance of the final product, a maintenance process should be initiated.

If the organization does not have a maintenance process, this should be established. This should be a formal defined process, that involves business and technical staff in the identification, approval for work, carrying out the work and quality control of work.

There may be some maintenance work already identified, and this work should go through the defined maintenance process.
Step 02: Project Completion
Description
Objective

To

- complete all outstanding project work,

in a way that

- reviews outstanding project items,

- resolves outstanding project items,

so that

- the project can be formally closed.

Overview

The project will have been using a number of control procedures that produce logs of change requests and issues.

The logs need to be reviewed for a last time, To make sure that all items have been closed. If any items have not been closed, they should be evaluated to see if they still have a bearing on the final product. The items that are still open should then be closed or resolved. As a last resort, if there is a follow on project or maintenance program, the outstanding items should be passed on to the person responsible for the subsequent work.

It is possible that some activities were not completed on the project. The final commitment plan should be reviewed and any items that are still not complete should be identified. Any uncompleted activities should be treated in the same way as unresolved change requests or issues.

The best way to carry out this work is to have a final meeting of the project team and any other members of the Project Organization that are necessary to make decisions on the outstanding items.
Step 02: Project Completion
Task .010 Close Outstanding Project Work
Review the Change Control log and close any outstanding items.

Review the Issue Log and close any outstanding items.

Review the quality control log and close any outstanding items from completed quality reviews.

The project logs may be closed by transferring the items to a follow on project or to the maintenance process.

Produce personal assessments for all project team members.

Close and store project files. This may require forwarding some documents to other parts of the company (e.g. contracts correspondence).

Prepare a report on the final actions taken, for approval in the Project Closure Meeting.
Task .020 Prepare for Project Closure Meeting
Determine what needs to be accomplished in the Project Closure Meeting and decide who should attend.

Arrange and schedule the Project Closure Meeting.

Produce and circulate pre-meeting material (meeting notification, any required reading).

Produce outline project closure report for review at the closure meeting.
Task .030 Conduct Project Closure Meeting
Carry out the Project Closure Meeting in the agreed way.

Gain approval on closure actions.
Task .040 Follow Up Project Closure Meeting
Revise the closure actions if they were not approved in the Project Closure Meeting.
Step 03: Process Improvement
Description
Objective

To

- review and update the process used by the project,

in a way that

- involves both technical and business staff,

- covers the project process, techniques and organization,

- identifies things that worked well,

- identifies things that didn't work,

- identifies things were not necessary,

- identifies additional things that were necessary,

- improves the estimating model for the process,

so that

- the organization can learn from this project and make similar future projects more successful.

Overview

This is the final step in any quality process. This step evaluates the process itself and identifies any learnings from the project. If these learnings are likely to apply to future projects of the same type, the project process is updated to reflect what has been learned.
Task .010 Prepare End of Project Review
Determine what form the final review of the project should take. It could be:

- a meeting

- a facilitated workshop

- a questionnaire

The review should involve all parts of the Project Organization. It may also involve other staff and customers of, and suppliers to, the project.

Prepare and distribute material as appropriate to the people involved in the review.
Task .020 Conduct End of Project Review
Carry out the review in the chosen way.

Record recommended changes to the process and estimating model.
Task .030 Update Process Metrics
Review the recommended changes to the estimating model.

Assess each change and decide if it is likely to apply to future projects of this type. Change the estimating model based on these decisions.
Task .040 Implement Process Improvement
Review the recommended changes to the standard process used on the project. Assess each change and decide if it is likely to apply to future projects of this type. Change the standard process based on these decisions.