Monthly Archives: March 2014

business

CEAVOP

17372572-Audit-Assertions-word-cloud-with-data-sheet-background-Stock-Vector

I first heard about CEAVOP a year or so ago.

After he had looked through a presentation the team had prepared, my previous manager, an accountant by trade, gave us insight into how he thinks by explaining and then challenging each dimension of the presentation per his CEAVOP ‘method’. I left the meeting having learned something new – always a bonus!

I have been working in Financial Services for many years and as far as I can remember, I had never heard the term up to that point. I was intrigued – so I Googled it and was really surprised to find a relatively small number of results (the search yielded 1110 results at the time of writing this article, with most results not really being that applicable).

In a nutshell, “CEAVOP is an acronym used to represent assertions of a control in financial auditing”. It stands for:

  • Completeness
  • Existence
  • Accuracy
  • Valuation
  • Ownership
  • Presentation

If you think about it, it is not a bad system to apply to most pieces of work. From my point of view, its value is not just limited to audits. For example: It can also be applied to pretty much any document/specification or even a Project Plan:

  • Is the specification/plan Complete?
  • Are all requirements/tasks represented (Existence)?
  • Are all requirements/tasks Accurate?
  • What Value will the initiative add?
  • Has Ownership been determined for all work, risks, issues, dependencies and any next steps?
  • Has everything been adequately and clearly Presented in the specification/plan?

Try it out on your project – think flexibly when using it. Chances are, after challenging your efforts by applying even some of these assertions, you will have created a greater quality product.

Photo: Courtesy of Google Images

Note: This post was originally published (by me) on March 24 2014 on Linkedin.  You can navigate to the original post by clicking here.

business

Project Planning

project-planning

So what exactly is Project Planning? From my point of view:

“If You Fail to Plan, You Plan to Fail”

A lot of people learn about creating plans when they are mentored, self-study and/or take Project Management classes or courses. It is an essential element in any Project Management effort and without planning, most projects fail.

I have tried to get to grips with the art of planning for a very long time and it still kicks me in the pants when I least expect it – and for me, planning is an art – and not a science. You can give somebody a laptop and a copy of Microsoft Project – it doesn’t make them a Project Manager or a great planner. Skillful planning requires understanding, practice, persistence and time.

Everyone who has worked with me work knows that I am passionate about having a plan, but few understand what I think is the most important thing about the plan. It isn’t the Microsoft Project ‘Tracking Gantt’ or “Missed Milestones” report that is important. Far from it.

It also isn’t the scope, cost, resource or risk/quality profile although each of those aspects are critically important.

Realistically speaking, the plan is never fixed, it constantly moves, morphs and develops. It changes every day as understanding deepens and it requires almost constant attention if you want to get it even close to “right”.

The real value in any plan is when the people involved in the project sit around a table and understand where exactly they fit into that plan.

When people in the team appreciate the sequencing, what is expected of them and where the dependencies are, the real power of the plan is exposed.

Without this realization, it’s just another piece of paper.

Photos: Courtesy of Google Images

Note: This post was originally published (by me) on March 19 2014 on Linkedin.  You can navigate to the original post by clicking here.