ABSTRACT

A Post-project Review is an appraisal to determine whether the expected benefits, as documented in the Business Case, have been achieved or are being achieved. The Business Case should also have identified how the benefits should eventually be measured, so this document is a vital input to any review process. Such a review should be planned when you are closing the project, and conducted after reasonable ‘settling-in’ of a project’s outputs, so that they have the opportunity to reach optimum performance and demonstrate achievement of benefits through several business cycles, such as months or accounting periods. However, not all organizations commit the time and effort to such a review, though any brief study to assess whether benefits claimed in a project justification or Business Case have been or are being realized ought to be welcomed. The review should answer the questions: ‘How well did the project meet our expectations in delivering the capability to achieve the claimed benefits?’ and ‘What, if any, significant problems have been experienced when using the project’s outputs?’