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Postimplementation Review
This episode of the ISACA Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) exam prep series covers how organizations learn from completed projects through a structured postimplementation review, explaining the distinction between closing a project and reviewing it later, the four areas the review examines, how benefit measurement must be planned in advance, and the independence requirements that govern the auditor’s participation.
What this episode covers
- Closure versus review — why timing separates project closure from the postimplementation review and what each accomplishes.
- Four review areas — system adequacy, cost-versus-return comparison, gap recommendations, and development process evaluation.
- Five formal closure steps — assigning open issues, archiving contracts, capturing lessons learned, updating the risk register, and scheduling the later benefit review.
- Benefit measurement planning — why measures must be identified during feasibility and collected before and after go-live.
- Types of measures — productivity, quality, economic value, and customer service metrics that reveal true project success.
- Who should perform the review — internal teams for process critique versus independent audit for objective business value assessment.
- Auditor independence and focus — the rules governing auditor participation and the control-oriented checks the auditor performs.
Watch the full episode above for the worked examples and detailed explanations of each concept.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is project closure different from a postimplementation review?
Project closure happens right at the end of the project, confirming objectives were met and releasing resources to other work. A postimplementation review comes weeks or months later, once real benefits and shortcomings have had time to surface in actual operation. Think of closure as parking the car and the review as checking, later, whether the trip was actually worth taking.
What four areas does a postimplementation review examine?
The review examines the system’s adequacy by checking whether it satisfies user and business requirements with controls properly built in. It weighs whether costs and returns matched the original projections. It captures gaps and makes recommendations with a plan to act. Finally, it judges the development process itself, asking whether chosen methods were followed and whether sound project management techniques were used.
Why must benefit measurements be planned before a project starts?
Measurements must be identified during feasibility and design and collected both before the project and after go-live, so there is a meaningful baseline for comparison. Without pre-project data there is no way to know whether the system actually improved productivity, quality, economic value, or customer service. Enough business cycles must also pass after go-live before judging the real return, because a new system needs time to show its true value.
What independence requirements apply to an auditor performing a postimplementation review?
The auditor must stand apart from how the system was built, meaning that if the auditor advised the project team during development, they should not perform the postimplementation review. All involvement in the work must be documented in the work papers. The review focus is on control aspects: whether objectives were achieved, whether cost benefits are being measured and reported, and whether built-in controls operate as designed.
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Reference: This article is based on concepts discussed in Postimplementation Review.