Guidance and templates for portfolio, programme and project assurance

Understanding your assurance accountabilities

These resources will help Senior Responsible Owners (SROs) understand the value of assurance and the Government Chief Digital Officer (GCDO)'s core expectations for good assurance practice:

Assurance guidance for Senior Responsible Owners of digital investments — pocket guide (PDF 127KB)

Pocket guide: Understanding the value of assurance for digital investments (PDF 191KB)

Developing your assurance plan

These resources will help you develop a fit-for-purpose assurance plan based on a clear understanding of delivery risk and the outcomes being sought:

• Pocket guide: Principles of good assurance and lessons learned for digital investments (PDF 723KB)
• Assurance guidance for Agile delivery
• Quality review checklist: PPP assurance plan  (Word 117KB)
• Template: PPP assurance plan (Word 71KB)
• Lessons learned and case studies

Maximising the value of independent assurance reviews

These resources will help you create a comprehensive engagement terms of reference for an independent assurance review, and to select the right provider with the right experience to deliver a high-quality review:

• Pocket guide: GCDO Assurance Services Panel (PDF 711KB)
• GCDO assurance services guide
• Quality review checklist: PPP terms of reference (Word 118KB)
• Template: PPP terms of reference (Word 67KB)
• Assurance engagement terms of reference — lessons learned

Ensuring high quality assurance information

The quality of assurance reports is critical to make well-informed decisions. Use these resources to review the quality of assurance reports:

• Quality review checklist: PPP assurance report (Word 117KB)
• GCDO report rating system
• Assurance report executive summaries — lessons learned

Overseeing assurance activities and recommendations

Consider:

• How will progress against the assurance plan be monitored at the governance level?
• How will the status of issues raised in assurance reports be tracked and reported at the governance level?

Capturing lessons learned

At the end of a stage (tranche / phase / iteration / increment):

• conduct a post implementation review to identify lessons learned
• share your lessons learned with us to:

• • help inform a system-wide view of trends
  • share examples of working ‘smarter’ for other government organisations to use.

Email: systemassurance@dia.govt.nz