Hello: I am looking for advice on the best way to conduct a Post Implementation Review with a project team that includes both the business client and I.T.
The Project Management Office within my company has drafted a PIR template that provides project background information (Project Objectives and Scope), Key Deliverables and Acceptance Criteria, I.S. Evaluation, Budget and Schedule Baselines, Lessons Learned and Future Enhancements. The intent of this document is to review all of these sections with I.T. and the client and determine within each performance area success notes and areas for improvement. We then document action plans to improve the processes.
Typically in the past we have not been real successful in carrying out these PIR's. The business client and I.T. have not been objective enough or willing to provide input to make the process successful.
Also, When in the project life cycle is it appropriate to do PIR's? Can there be multiple one's at each phase? Are there advantages in doing it this way?
I have attached the PIR template that the Project Management office has drafted. Any feedback is appreciated.
Thanks in advance for your assistance. Rick Saving Changes...
I can understand your concern. Just a quick reply to your query. There is a view in Australia that IT Project Management is now tending to lag behind other disciplines in PM. And some empirical benchmarking data tends to prove this.
Your PIR appears to be a case in point. The focus is on deliverable technical quality, not business benefit. Without overstating some of the technical problems facing organisations, it should be relatively easy to achieve the delivery of projects to specs. The real challenge is to ensure that the project delivered the outcomes. For example: Did a new help desk system really provide better turn around time to queries, utilisation of system time, and overall productivity in measurable terms?
As for the issue of progressive PIR's, definitely!! It would be a tragedy to lose the effectivness of progressive learnings from a long term projects. The organisation can often reuse those learnings well before closure, and in many cases they can even be applied to the specific project. The same applies to benefits realisation as a sub set of PIR. It is important to establish milestone proofs of benefit realisation, reather than waiting to the end like kids unwrapping the Christmas presents to see if the important benefits have been realised or not. Saving Changes...
The best way to do a post implementation review is not to do only a post implementation review, but rather rolling reviews along the way, perhaps tied to major milestones, and to include them as project tasks supporting the too-often forgotten project objective of learning. Saving Changes...
