A valid approach to project assurance

Roy Millard and Dave Lovitt, Chair and member of APM’s Assurance SIG respectively, gave an insightful presentation to the Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire branch on 10 April 2019 into the basic principles and key techniques of project assurance. They started the evening by asking for questions from the audience on any aspect of assurance that should be covered during the evening.

The presentation started by Roy outlining the objectives of the Assurance SIG, and providing a list of the outputs since their inception.

Dave took the audience through the main presentation, defining assurance as the process of giving confidence to stakeholders at project, programme and portfolio level. He explained that assurance can be provided at many different levels and to varying degrees of scrutiny, by a wide group of individuals and organisations at varying stages of P3.

It was explained that assurance sat alongside governance and risk management, with the main driver for it being provided by the various risks identified in the risk management process.

The ‘Three Lines of Defence Model’ was demonstrated which indicated how Assurance was key to managing organisational risk.

Finally, a few thoughts were expressed on how assurance techniques might develop in the future, noting that it must adapt to suit agile, hybrid and future project methodologies.

The audience was fully engaged throughout, with a lively discussion highlighting the members’ many different experiences. Dave and Roy ensured that all of the questions noted at the beginning were fully answered by the end of the evening.

Once again, the Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire branch is grateful to Aviva for the use of their wonderful facilities for our events in York. It is a feature of these events that all of our speakers must compete with the wonderful view of York Minster from the room.

A copy of the presentation has been kindly provided by the assurance SIG and can be viewed below and also on APM Slideshare.

David Burton
Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire branch Chair