Project assurance and approval process

Overview

As a Government entity investing public money, we must have robust decision making processes in place to give our investors, citizens and external stakeholders full confidence in the investment decisions that we make. 

Quality decision making means we:

• identify and pursue those investments on the state highway that will provide the best solutions
• robustly debate and consider trade-offs and risks in our investment decisions at each business case phase
• have clear significance/risk thresholds for our decisions
• are fully auditable and transparent in all our decision making. 

The project assurance and approval process has been developed to support quality decision making. It aims to provide the tools and the guidance for System Design and Delivery teams to make investment decisions fully auditable and transparent. It does not set out technical requirements for each phase of the business case. For this information, see each phase page in the Processes section or each subject page in the Technical disciplines section. 

The core principles to be applied for using the project assurance and approval process are as follows: 

1. The project manager needs to maintain an auditable record of the engagement undertaken and decisions made in accordance with delegations, significance and risk parameters
2. Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency's significance policy has been applied 
3. A 'no surprises' approach to engagement with project stakeholders and advisors. 

Key elements

Summary of engagement - project managers must record engagement throughout the business case process. This form is one way to do this if another record is not already in use for the project. It becomes useful for transitioning project phases. 

Price level/scope adjustment - the form used to request price changes for a project. 

Activity reporting template - adaptive template which provides project managers with a framework to address the necessary questions that decision makers are seeking at the different phases of the project lifecycle through the business case process. 

Investment / business case quality assessment - 3rd party assessment provided to decision makers to ensure statutory legal obligations are met, TIO is up to date, fits with Agency investment and revenue principles and the IAF, the project has filled necessary requirements for investment decisions and is ready to move to the next phase. The amount of information required is relative to the size and phase of the business case assessment.

Key steps for project assurance and approvals

Forms

*To get the Activity assurance reporting (BUDMT/VAC/NLTP) template, open Microsoft Word on an NZ Transport Agency machine and you'll find the template in the 'My Templates' section, as per screen shot below.

For further information contact businesscaseprocess@nzta.govt.nz.