Artifact: Status Assessment
 Status Assessment |
One of the objectives of our process is to ensure that the expectations of all parties are synchronized and consistent. The periodic status assessment provides a mechanism for managing everyone's expectations throughout the lifecycle. |
| Worker: | Project Manager |
| Template: | Word template |
Purpose 
Status assessments provide a mechanism for addressing, communicating, and resolving management issues, technical issues, and project risks. Continuous open communication with objective data derived directly from ongoing activities, and the evolving product configurations are mandatory in any project. These project snapshots provide the heartbeat for management attention. While the period may vary, the forcing function needs to capture the project history.
Note that status assessments are different from milestone reviews.
Brief
Outline
1. Objectives
A brief description of the purpose of the Status Assessment.
2. Scope
A brief description of what the Status Assessment applies to; what is affected or influenced by this document.
3. References
A list of related or referenced documents.
4. Resources
1. Personnel/staffing
Status of personnel. Report any issues or concerns.
2. Financial data
Current costs and revenue compared to the plan.
5. Top 10 risks
Report the status of the top 10 risks.
6. Technical progress
Report technical progress using metrics snapshots, etc.
7. Major milestone results
Report the status of major milestones to date.
8. Total project/product scope
Report status of project/product scope.
9. Action items and follow-through
A list of action items and their current status.
Timing
Created periodically, typically at the end of an iteration, sometimes more often for very large projects where iteration last several months.
Not maintained or updated.
Responsibility
A project manager is responsible for the status assessment.
Additional Information
A lot of the information in the status assessment is copied from other sources, to provide a comprehensive source of information for the people assessing the project. Because the status assessment is not maintained, there is no concern about keeping the information consistent with the evolving system.
