Major projects are a fact of life for organisations who wish to maintain their relevance and drive performance, however these are not easy or without risk. In fact, if you are on a steering committee, the chances of something going wrong are very high. Some quick statistics which you should be aware of:

  • 70 percent of projects fail to meet schedule, cost and quality goals (Gartner)
  • 50 percent of IT projects are run over budget (Gartner)
  • IT projects have a 66 percent failure rate; 52 percent are cancelled; 82 percent are delivered late (CHAOS)
  • Fewer than 40 percent meet business objectives one year later (KPMG)
  • The average cost of remediating a risk exposure once the project is live is $31,920. This compares to an average cost of only $3,795 while the project is still live (Corporate Executive Board)
  • This translates to an average cost per project of $4.7m in remediation compared to $561,000 if addressed during the project.

Most seasoned executives have been involved with or seen a project which hasn’t achieved what it has set out to achieve. If you haven’t been personally involved in one which has fallen short of expectations, then you are in a a priveledged position.

The solution

Project assurance is a service to Steering Committees of large projects.  It aims to ensure that all processes are operating well and robustly to maximise the chances of success and ensure that risks are understood early in a project, and decisions taken in the most cost effective manner.  This process helps to ensure you are in the 30% of projects that meet expectations as opposed to the 70% that don’t.

Todd Davies & Associates can assist in the following key areas:

  • Project governance reviews – a review of the overall end to end processes to ensure that the steering committee or responsible executive has all the mechanisms and reporting necessary to drive the project to success or make go / no-go decisions quickly.
  • Process design reviews – a review of process and system design during the project planning phase to ensure that any new risks created are understood, key controls are well thought through and embedded in the design, and ensure that auditors don’t have to come back to “bayonet the wounded” once the project goes live.
  • Project risk reviews – a facilitated process to help make sure all the key risks are on the table and appropriate decisions are made (including accepting the risk when appropriate).

  

Why Todd Davies & Associates

We have depth of experience in overseeing delivery of projects and programs.

In addition to helping you see risks which may not have been readily apparent, we have a strong results focus and all reports are framed ro help you assess both of the risks which need to be considered before going live, but also the risks and implications of NOT going live.  This enables you to make informed decisions and maintain momentum, rather than feeling as if you have a risk report hanging over your head which is stopping you from getting on with getting the job done.