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.