The usage of health checks and post implementation reviews at the end of the project Essay

The IT company uses both health checks and post implementation reviews for project evaluation.The health checks are primarily used when the projects are running while post implementation reviews are used at the end of the project.
According to Martineli et al (2014) the purpose of a project/program health check is to get an objective assessment at any given time of a project/program life cycle of wether a project or program is performing in accordance with its planned objectives and how well it adheres to the project methodology's best practices. An effective health check must provide access to immediate findings that can be used by the Project/Program Manager during both planning and actual execution of the project/program. It provides project teams or managers with chance to expand on what is going well, and make performance improvements where necessary, increasing the likelihood of project success due to earlier detection of issues and project optimisation opportunities. Ideally, health checks are a project management tool that can be used to keep the project/program from running into difficulties. To achieve this, project health checks should be undertaken at the completion of project planning phase, and also during execution or program benefit delivery. The best practices dictate that the number of project health checks scheduled during the project schedule should increase with the size and the project/program complexity.. The IT company's health checks are in line with the best practices because they are done at the project planning stage and at regular intervals during the lifecycle of the project.At the end of each project a review is carried out which is key to the effective implementation of future projects Projects or programs that are running into trouble should quickly arrange for a health check with the PMO to help towards identifying possible changes to recover the project .
A Post-Implementation Review (PIR) is done after completing a project. Its major purpose is to evaluate whether the stated project objectives were met, to determine how effectively the project was undertaken, to learn lessons for the future projects, and to ensure that the organization derive the maximum possible benefit from the project. The IT company undertakes Post Implementation Review soon after completing the project when members of the project team remember still remember most. However, for them to adequately assess the quality and effectiveness of the implementation, project managers need to wait long enough for the effects caused by the project to be fully realised. A project post implementation re is key in defining what have been achieved, developing project management best practices and to enabling a sense of project closure.
The post implementation review session is done soon after the project has been completed, and should be followed up by a comprehensive documented summary of the feedback. This allows all participants to share an understanding of the project and to learn important lessons for future projects. It also gives an organisation the opportunity to improve the methodology that it uses to manage all its projects across the board.