Running head: PROJECT AUDIT REPORT 1

Project Audit Report

Student’s Name

Institutional Affiliation
 PROJECT AUDIT REPORT 2

Project Audit Report

Table of Contents

1 General.........................................................................................................................................3

1.1 Purpose..................................................................................................................................3

1.2 Scope......................................................................................................................................3

2 Audit Results...............................................................................................................................3

2.1 Background...........................................................................................................................3

2.2 Findings.................................................................................................................................4

2.2.1 Interpersonal Issues......................................................................................................4

2.2.2 Confusion Regarding Team Roles and Budgeting.....................................................4

2.2.3 Communication Issues..................................................................................................5

2.2.4 Lack of Project Policy...................................................................................................5

2.2.5 Loss of Project Manager...............................................................................................6

2.2.6 People..............................................................................................................................6

3 Necessitated Changes..................................................................................................................7

3.1 Hiring a VB Studio Expert..................................................................................................7

3.2 Conflict Resolution...............................................................................................................7

3.3 Project Documentation........................................................................................................9

3.4 Celebrating Project Milestones.........................................................................................10

3.5 Improving Communication...............................................................................................10

3.6 Re-Emphasis on Project Goals..........................................................................................11

4 Conclusion.................................................................................................................................12

References......................................................................................................................................13
 PROJECT AUDIT REPORT 3

1 General

1.1 Purpose

The essence of the document is to outline the results from the project audit.

1.2 Scope

The document covers the project’s current status, root causes of problems, and changes

that need to be made, including the rationale. However, it fails to address other risks that could

be potentially significant. It does not recommend the need to continue the project or if the project

will succeed when the company corrects the issues.

2 Audit Results

2.1 Background

Healthcare Unlimited is a leader in medical service provision and recently embarked on a

new project aimed at development. The goal is to expand its clinical data warehouse to gain

access to data from onsite clinical data and a medical information systems vendor, allowing it to

incorporate the information into reporting processes and employer group analytics. The

expansion will also be vital to developing novel activity reports to understand their value to the

organization. The firm operates in an incredibly competitive environment mandating quick

delivery to market times to prevent the competition from deploying similar products to gain a

competitive edge. Thus, quality and time to market are critical success factors while the delivery

cost is a negligible concern.

The project’s scope was to create a modular software package to enable the firm to

handle data from the medical information system vendor. It would allow member-based

preventative care tracking that entailed medical IS vendor reports and database tables alongside
 PROJECT AUDIT REPORT 4

systems alterations. The project had modules that entailed medical information system vendor

reporting, promote tables, and database tables.

2.2 Findings

Team dynamics have suffered due to a plethora of interpersonal, technical, and human

issues. The critical players have been the programmers, PM, the database administrator, and the

architect. They have failed to understand the role they need to play within the project to ensure

its outcomes.

2.2.1 Interpersonal Issues

The interpersonal issues entail inadequate or lack of communications concerning the

progress the project has made at specific times. It means that the team and leadership have failed

to actualize organizational outcomes by failing to understand the essence of communication to

attain project outcomes (Lauren B, & Schreiber J, 2018). Finally, the project has been unable to

deal with a plethora of technical issues that impact the team. These have had significant impacts

and entail the company’s structure and the new programming language for the project.

2.2.2 Confusion Regarding Team Roles and Budgeting

The project has been facing a plethora of issues that threaten its survivability. For

example, it lacks clarified strategies that should enable the team members to test various aspects

of their designing software. Software testing is synonymous with development since it allows

developers to identify bugs and correct them before moving to the next stage. However, the lack

of a clear strategy to actualize this goal means the final program could be buggy and fail to attain

expected goals, leading to time and cost increments to identify problematic areas and apply

requisite fixes. The team also conflicted over budgeting and team roles. These are critical aspects

that the team should have discussed before embarking on the project. Finally, the project lacks a
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robust risk management plan. It implies the entire venture is at risk since contingency plans

should enable team members to identify problems and resolve them within budget and allocated

time.

2.2.3 Communication Issues

Interpersonal factors played a critical role in the project, failure. The project sponsor was

unhappy with the course of action that the PM took by failing to solicit team members at all

times. The team lacked the necessary communication that would have helped it catapult

performance to the expected levels. Instead, the curtailed communication implied that the project

could easily culminate into the current state where team members worked in various

departments. It meant they failed to avail adequate time to the project to succeed at attaining

project and company goals. The team also depicted failure of communication with the

management concerning the project plan and expected milestones. These are issues that the

company should have examined during the early stages of the project to ensure it succeed.

However, since it failed to make sure communication lines opened between the management and

project team, it led to the current state.

2.2.4 Lack of Project Policy

The company has long needed the policy to ensure that it could articulate its goals. The

PM never took the time to understand the essence of these factors and their role in the

organization. It meant that he failed to consider operations, marketing, and legal departments and

their position at the organization. The implication was that the project was unable to comply with

a policy that would govern its operations. The company’s lawyers failed to get adequate

information during the first stages of the project. It meant that they failed to draft the firm’s

policy, catapulting the venture into a mess. It also implied that there was no way the firm could
 PROJECT AUDIT REPORT 6

have prevented catastrophes from occurring during any of the project stages. It also meant that

none of the individuals involved in the project team was responsible for various aspects of the

project, making the entire venture meaningless.

2.2.5 Loss of Project Manager

The project initially had a project manager, but they left due to personal reasons,

exposing the project to inherent issues. The PM’s sudden exit implies that the project is at a

critical stage due to the gap left in the team. It meant the responsibility and accountability of the

latter became a primary concern. The individual was an extremely experienced project manager

who could ensure that other individuals actualized organizational objectives. The decision he

took could be hinged on the disharmony prevalent within the current team. If such issues were

nonexistent, it would be improbable that the PM would have left. His departure is personal, but

there is no indication the company has worked hard to replace him. There is no evidence that any

person from the team has stepped into the role to ensure they could articulate the same work that

the PM performed. Thus, the team has been left in a challenging position, not knowing how it

could attain the expected project milestones and help the company to articulate the goals it set on

the project charter.

2.2.6 People

A confidential internal memo has revealed that the database administrator and architect

have disagreed over certain aspects of the project (The Confidential Internal Memo, 2015). It has

resulted in a demoralized and derailed team since individuals who should have taken the lead are

currently exposed to a critical weakness involving unnecessary fights. They have disagreed on

fundamental aspects of the project that should help the company achieve its objectives

concerning the project. Such individuals need to understand the essence of the project to the
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company’s continuity as a business entity. They should, at the minimum, depict an excellent

example to all other individuals working within the team. The loss of the PM could have hurt the

team, but the database administrator and architect need to understand that they are working

toward the attainment of organizational outcomes. It implies that any conflict that fails to

integrate team members depicts ulterior motives. They should agree on database supports to

medical information system vendor reports. However, this currently appears a far-fetched dream

and is causing project failure.

3 Necessitated Changes

3.1 Hiring a VB Studio Expert

The project is currently in the performance stage, making it imperative to address

inherent issues and chart a way forward. The team needs to build interpersonal relationships, but

this is far from reality. Most team members lack skills in languages that interlink with Microsoft,

and their background is in the Java programming language. It has culminated in time lost due to

the need to train such individuals. Code optimization has also suffered due to the lack of skills in

the stated languages. The company needs to hire a professional with diverse knowledge in Visual

Basic Studio to train the team. The individual could use Internet tutorials to ensure all developers

understand the requisite skills they should develop during the project. The professional should

encourage learning among the developers to ensure they know various frameworks that support

the project. They will also understand bug hunting and squashing, significantly reducing the

money and time spent on third-party fixes. Web-based learning should encourage skill

development to ensure the programmers deploy updated information in the development process.
 PROJECT AUDIT REPORT 8

3.2 Conflict Resolution

Conflict resolution should entail voting, compromise, mediation, and written

communication. Voting is an excellent strategy that should help the team avoid unwanted or

unprecedented debates on responsibilities for various project areas. The goal is to ensure that

individuals could decide on specific project aspects they might complete within a specified time.

For example, the database admin and architect have fought because of inherent differences in

their technical capacities. Thus, it is best to leave it to the team to select the individual who is

best suited to perform a specific task (Wallensteen P, 2018). It would leave conflict out of the

picture, ensuring that the entire system is democratic, inclusive, and all-encompassing.

Compromise is an excellent conflict-resolution strategy that the organization should use

to benefit all individuals involved. Project team members have found it hard to work on a project

based on Visual Basic Studio, leading to performance problems affecting their productivity. A

better way to approach the issues encountered is to allow all members to actualize their project

despite their unconventional approaches (Vojvodic K, Martinovic M, & Pusic A, 2019). The

entire venture needs the best documents, and the firm should ensure that it has the latest software

packages to enable production in the new and unfamiliar environment. The team has expected

vendor assistance, but the company should acknowledge that these have also been working with

other firms, limiting the amount of time available to concentrate on one project. Thus, the best

course of action is to allow compromise during the project’s phases. It will enable the project

team to learn from its mistakes and improve performance with time.

Mediation is a critical approach that could help the database admin and architect to

understand the need for a middle ground between their ideologies. The basic tenet concerning the

interaction between vendor systems and the database should differ between these professionals.
 PROJECT AUDIT REPORT 9

However, this does not imply their actions should curtail the progress the project is making

toward actualizing its outcomes (Malizia DA, & Jameson JK, 2018). The administrator

understands software representation while the architect has amassed technical skillsets

concerning the database. Thus, their conflict is unfounded since they need to determine the best

course of action – integration. The management needs to meet with these two professionals to set

specific roles to ensure they acknowledge their functions and avoid unnecessary overlaps

(Lauren B, & Schreiber J, 2018). These individuals should be ready to recognize and admit to the

senior management’s decision concerning their roles. It will increase team functioning and speed

the project development, testing, and implementation phases.

3.3 Project Documentation

Documentation plays a vital role in ensuring that professionals understand their roles and

articulate them by deploying best practices. The senior management needs to know how to send

a memorandum to affected departments. The goal is to increase engagement with all team

members and ensure the project is on track to attain expected goals and milestones. Every team

member could challenge decisions made by sending letters to ensure that they listen to their

grievances (Tereso A, et al., 2019). Silence could be helpful if they are under unnecessary

reproach, but communication is vital since feedback will help the firm actualize its goals. The

management should then determine ways to help each of these individuals feel they are part of

the team since isolation could lead to further delays or a mediocre product. Finally, the firm

needs to document a task monitoring system to ensure each team member can correlate their

progress with project expectations.

The company has various individuals with a wealth of experience in practices related to

software development lifecycle. It means that each could formulate a work scheme to ensure
PROJECT AUDIT REPORT 10

they meet project goals. Their expertise in previous projects should play a vital role in ensuring

they help the company develop the software product. The firm needs to deploy a laissez-faire

leadership style when dealing with such individuals (Turner R, Ledwith A, & Kelly J, 2010). It

means every worker should be afforded adequate autonomy to articulate decision-making

processes aimed at actualizing organizational goals. The style will enable employees to receive

guidance from a Visual Basic Studio professional since it permits consultation. They will create

schedules based on their work and make critical decisions without the fear of unnecessary

repercussions. As noted, the goal is to allow each developer the time to work without

unnecessary interferences since the platform and programming language is new to them.

3.4 Celebrating Project Milestones

The firm should then dedicate time to celebrate project milestones. The goal is to build

interpersonal relationships that have been absent during the articulation of the project. It could

hold camps or sports to promote team cohesion, blurring the line between subordinates and

managers since they need to work together to produce the software. Employees will also feel

they could provide feedback concerning various aspects of the project. Once they have

developed plans outlining their daily intended work, they could readily understand subsequent

projections and deliverables (Glegg M, Ryce A, & Brownlee K, 2019). These developers might

seek assistance for issues they have encountered, increasing output and promoting interpersonal

relationships. They could also be motivated to request the PM to respond to problems without

wasting time. Such actions should foster cohesion and a mutual understanding concerning all

participants, leading to the completion of the project and overall satisfaction among team

members.
PROJECT AUDIT REPORT 11

3.5 Improving Communication

Communication is central to resolving conflict and increasing stakeholder trust within the

project. The firm should encourage team members to communicate and relay the information to

the management. The goal is to ensure all stakeholders understand the project team’s progress at

a particular date. The management should readily check on developers’ progress, resulting in

reduced tension and increased interpersonal communication. Communication should allow team

members to understand that conflict is a typical but unwanted aspect of working on a project

(Sarhadi M, Yousefi S, & Zamani A, 2018). However, team members are working on the same

project despite the varied roles they are articulating. It means that they need to understand their

roles and those of others, implying they could moderate their expectations concerning the

achievement of milestones. As noted, the project will meet hurdles, especially during coding and

testing. Each of the software’s components should be in an acceptable working condition to

ensure the project achieves the expected outcome. Some employees could feel that their

colleagues fail to work on specific aspects of the projects at the former’s pace. Thus,

communication should help resolve conflict that could arise due to the lack of understanding of

the variations in project milestone attainment. Once every team member understands the role of

communication in the workplace, it will lead to cohesion. The latter is imperative in improving

trust among all stakeholders, implying they will respect each other concerning decisions made

and milestones achieved.

3.6 Re-Emphasis on Project Goals

The project could re-select team members to fit into the outlined objectives. Some

individuals might feel they no longer want to be part of the project due to previous issues they

have encountered. The PM should not allow such individuals to continue dragging the venture’s
PROJECT AUDIT REPORT 12

progress since it could lead to further delays or failure. Some project team members could feel

that the best methodology is to dedicate part of their time to their project, while others could

deploy their entire time on the venture (Burke R, 2013). The sponsor could allocate additional

funds to encourage the employment of developers conversant with Visual Basic Studio and

related languages. The goal is to ensure that they help the project actualize its goals without

consulting a busy vendor every time the venture encounters a conundrum. The PM should restate

project aims and objectives to ensure the team members who are willing to work on the venture

understand the company’s expectations. The management and sponsor should hold a meeting

with all team members to ensure they understand its relevance. By so doing, the project will

readily attain its objectives within the new stated time and allocated budget.

4 Conclusion

The document covered the current status of the project, root causes of problems, and

changes that need to be made, including the rationale. However, it failed to address other risks

that could be potentially significant. It did not recommend the need to continue the project or if

the project will succeed when the company corrects the issues. A restatement of project aims and

goals should help the firm determine the right course of action. It could then request team

members to state if they want to continue and the amount of time they will allocate to the project.

The firm should then increase communication lines and celebrate milestones to build team

cohesion and reduce conflict. By so doing, all stakeholders will increase their trust in the project

team’s ability to actualize the expected outcomes.

PROJECT AUDIT REPORT 13

References

Burke, R. (2013). Project management: Planning and control techniques. John Wiley & Sons.

Glegg, S. M., Ryce, A., & Brownlee, K. (2019). A visual management tool for program

planning, project management and evaluation in paediatric health care. Evaluation and

Program Planning, 72, 16-23.

Lauren, B., & Schreiber, J. (2018). An integrative literature review of project management in

technical and professional communication. Technical Communication, 65(1), 85-106.

Malizia, D. A., & Jameson, J. K. (2018). Hidden in plain view: The impact of mediation on the

mediator and implications for conflict resolution education. Conflict Resolution

Quarterly, 35(3), 301-318.

Sarhadi, M., Yousefi, S., & Zamani, A. (2018). Participative project management as a

comprehensive response to postmodernism criticisms: The role of

communication. International Journal of Managing Projects in Business.

Tereso, A., Ribeiro, P., Fernandes, G., Loureiro, I., & Ferreira, M. (2019). Project management

practices in private organizations. Project Management Journal, 50(1), 6-22.

The Confidential Internal Memo. (2015). The Case of the Troubled Health System

Implementation at Healthcare Unlimited, LLC. Health Unlimited, LLC.

Turner, R., Ledwith, A., & Kelly, J. (2010). Project management in small to medium-sized

enterprises: Matching processes to the nature of the firm. International Journal of Project

Management, 28(8), 744-755.

Vojvodic, K., Martinovic, M., & Pusic, A. (2019). Compromise or else: Managing conflicts in

the negotiation process. Economic and Social Development: Book of Proceedings, 37-46.

Wallensteen, P. (2018). Understanding conflict resolution. Sage.