Participating in a Health Check
CTRM Program Health Checks are focused on helping programs, projects and organisations to succeed. I know first hand, the challenges and uncertainty of program and project environments, the focus needs to be on supporting people and organisations throughout the assurance process and ensure that achievements are highlighted and that opportunities for improvements are clearly identified.
Relax
Relax and enjoy the opportunity to express your views, experiences and understanding of your program, project or business area. This is a great time to talk about what you see as being done well, and the areas that you might be concerned about.
Respond
Don’t over-prepare or study for an interview. Interviews are conducted in a highly confidential and relaxed environment, more of a conversation to better understand your environment. The review team will guide you through the process, and work through lines of inquiry and any clarifications.
Inform
Be open-minded and honest through the interviews. Your Assurance Review Specialist should be 100% independent and only looking for the best outcomes for you and your organisation.
Everything you say is in confidence and individual names or roles should not be used in reports, we are not reviewing individuals in this process.
Preparing for a Health Check
Point of contact
Your Assurance Review Specialist will need to make contact with the Program Lead and Key Program Members to discuss the Health Check and any important elements. This could include critical delivery dates or availability of team members, executives or key stakeholders.
Documents and artefacts
Depending on the type of Health Check being delivered, your Assurance Review Specialist will ask you to correlate key documents related to the project or program, and its current position. Including any previous assurance review reports and risk-level assessments.
Senior responsible owner (SRO) or sponsor briefing
A one-on-one meeting will need to be coordinated with the Assurance Review Specialist and the SRO/sponsor.
This allows the Health Check team to gather a better understanding of the expected assessment outcomes, and any areas that the SRO/sponsor may feel needs additional attention.
Starting Health Check
Now that the Assurance Review Specialist has been supplied with the appropriate documents and they have met with the SRO/sponsor, the Health Check is ready to start. During this time, they would have reviewed and discussed the contents of the supplied documents, and overlaid their findings with the needs of the SRO/sponsor, which would have been agreed to at their initial meeting. Now we need to coordinate the Health Check and make it happen.
Interview Scheduling
The Assurance Review Specialist will provide you with a list of key interviewees required for the Health Check.
Interviews are commonly 45-60 minutes in duration, held over consecutive days. Interviews can be held on-site, via virtual meetings, over the phone or at an agreed alternative location.
Health check coordination
The Assurance Review Specialist will provide you with a list of key interviewees required for the Health Check.
Interviews are commonly 45-60 minutes in duration, held over consecutive days. Interviews can be held on-site, via virtual meetings, over the phone or at an agreed alternative location.
Confirming interviews, schedule and requirements
The Assurance Review Specialist will confirm interview dates and times, and make direct contact with interviewees as required. Behind the scenes, they will be ensuring that their approach is in readiness and that all SRO/sponsor considerations are included in their approach.
Managing the Health Check
We are now in the delivery phase of the Health Check. At this stage, as a result of forward planning, things should run smoothly and without too many issues. The pre-arranged interviews will be undertaken, the SRO/sponsor will be updated daily (or as agreed), and the Assurance Review Specialist will start to build the draft Health Check report. The report is based on findings from documentation, interviews and discussions with SRO/ sponsor and program/ project leaders.
Interviews and discussions
The Assurance Review Specialist will conduct interviews, where and when agreed. Early notice should be given if interviews are changed, cancelled or if interviewees are unable to attend.
All interviews are 100% confidential and any comments and feedback from interviewees are non-attributable to the assurance report.
Clarifications and further information
The Assurance Review Specialist is the primary point of contact, and as such, may have enquiries or clarifications that will need to be answered in a prompt manner, so the review can continue to schedule.
This may include further documentation required or clarifications on feedback received during interviews.
Draft Reporting
Once the Assurance Review Specialist has completed interviews, they will head back to their base to commence developing the draft report – which will be reviewed by the SRO/sponsor.
Closing the Health Check
The hope would be that you enjoyed the Health Check assurance process and that the assessment has provided your organisation with the assurance support that was required.
The final report has been developed specifically for the SRO/sponsor following assurance global best practice and also includes an analysis of any specific areas identified.
Finalising the Report
After an initial review of the draft report, the Assurance Review Specialist will include any adjustments to the report, and issue a final report to the SRO/ sponsor. This is the final Health Check report, and it should only be shared by the SRO/sponsor – at their sole discretion.
Returning documents and data
If you have provided the Assurance Review Specialist with any paper-based documents, they should be returned to the issuer. They should also securely destroy any digital copies of documentation supplied for the review – which supports best practices for cyber security.
Handover, closure and exit
The role of the Assurance Review Specialist is complete. The SRO/sponsor has been de-briefed and presented with the final Health Check report, which contains recommendations that may (or may not) be adopted and actioned. You should now start planning for the next assurance review – assurance reviews should be conducted early and often.
How can we help?
Talk to us about how we can help your organisation conduct the right level of health checking on your CTRM Program. Making it real is what we do.
How can you connect with us?
We’d love to hear about your journey. Did reflecting on CTRM Program Health Check help?
About the Author
Jason Novobranec is Implementary’s Chief Operating Officer.
With over 20 years of Consulting, Program Management & Senior Leadership experience, Jason has delivered initiatives for large multi-national / multi-regional organisations as well as SME’s and is an expert in shaping solutions to fit a customer’s project needs.