IS&T Project Management Office

Not every project that is submitted should be completed. When to stop a project is often a hard decision to make. Sometimes a project will begin and planning will have taken place before there is enough information to make an intelligent decision to close a project. The purpose of the Go / No Go points to to allow the project team and sponsor the chance to review the project and make sure that the project still meets a business need and that the resource cost is still viable for the organization.

The Go / No Go decision point serves as a project gate where the project team can decide if they need to go through the gate to the next phase of the project. In doing so it also gives the project manager the opportunity to make sure that project management documentation is up to date. The diagram below shows the relationship of the decision points to the project phases. (Click on the image below to see a larger image).

Click Here for a Go / No Go decision checkpoint template.

Project Gates

Every project should have a series of gates that it passes so that the sponsor can decide if the project should continue, or if the project should be abandoned. The project gates act as a review point for the project team to determine if the project is on track and if the project objectives are achievable.

Project information is least at the beginning of a project. As the project moves forward, more information is gathered and the resource impact is better defined. One reason for the Go / No Go decision point is so that the team can determine if the original estimates are still viable or if they need to be adjusted based on the information gathers.

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Review and Revise Project Documents

The defined Go / No Go decision points also serve as a chance for the project manager to make sure that all of the project information is up to date. All project information should be updated in real time, but this gives the chance for the project manager to document those items that may be necessary for future projects. This would include updating lessons learned from the phases and also incorporating any environmental changes into the project charter and scope statements.

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Business Need

The Go / No Go decision point should also be used to make sure that the business need that the project was started to address is still present. Many times businesses will change due to environmental influences and the reasons that a project was begun are no longer valid. This does not necessarily mean that the project should be abandoned, but changes to the project may need to be made so that it will deliver the benefits to the company. The review may also identify other business needs that were previously not identified that should be incorporated into the project.

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Time Line Change

The Project Team needs to also look at their business plan and determine if the project timeline has changed. This could be a change due to more information available or to issues with the project. The Go / No Go decision point gives the project team a chance to rebaseline the project. This also allows the project team the opportunity to document any impacts to the project and to notify the stakeholders of those changes.

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Budget

One of the keys to good project management is to stay on budget. Budget can mean more than financial. Budget can also refer to the work effort budget. If a project is requiring more manpower than originally planned, then it is said to be over budget. Most project start off with a purposed budget, but as more detailed is gathered the budget is adjusted. This checkpoint is that opportunity to see how the project team is progressing.

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Signatures

The signatures area is important because it means that someone has considered above as part of the checkpoint. The Go / No Go checkpoint template should be signed by both the project manager and the sponsor as evidence that they have been reviewed. This section provides documentation for the project manager that there is an understanding of the current project status and that management recognizes the impact of the project moving forward.

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