The benefits of continuous gated assurance

In today’s digital environment there’s a strong need for continuous gated digital assurance. It’s fundamental to the success of a program or project and it will give you an objective view at each key decision point.

What is gated assurance?

Gated assurance is the process of ensuring leaders are taking a forward-thinking approach to their projects or programs by providing a deeper understanding and insight into any potential risks involved at each key decision point.

There are strong indications that it’s more difficult to influence the cost and design of a project/program as it matures. Productivity and efficiency is optimised when informed decisions are made from the outset and any action to modify the project/program is taken care of early.

That’s why it’s important to sufficiently manage the program/project early on from a digital assurance perspective, so any corrective action is taken in due time. 

Throughout the lifecycle of a project or program the focus of the digital assurance will change. Depending on the phase of the project, the digital assurance professional will help identify any opportunities to ensure the best outcome. 

Benefits of gated digital assurance

The many benefits of gated digital assurance are the reason why so many organisations now take a proactive and independent approach to assuring their projects/programs. 

The main benefits of using an assurance professional for gated digital assurance:

• Receive knowledge and information for informed decision making throughout every stage of the project/program.
• Identify risks before you don’t have time to mitigate them. 
• Improve confidence in the project/program.
• Improve the chance of project/program success. 
• Provide transparency at a point in time. 
• Enhance product delivery.
• Provide opportunities for portfolio, program and project management and capability maturity improvements through the adoption of lessons learned. 

The process of gated assurance

There are four levels of defence to ensure leaders have the confidence that their project/program will meet expected outcomes. At each level, an assurance professional will provide independent assurance. 

1. The first layer of defence focuses on the controls for time, cost, quality, benefits, scope and risk tolerances to mitigate and manage the risks which may affect the program/project.
2. The second layer of defence is the monitoring controls used to assess the performance of the project/program. By regularly monitoring the progress of the project/program an assurance professional can ensure the outcomes are on track to be met. If there are variances, action can be taken to remedy the problem.
3. The third layer of defence is the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) gateway assurance process. At key decision points during the project/program’s lifecycle assurance is performed to reduce chance of failure and promote the conditions for success to meet key outcomes.
4. An audit is the last layer of defence and provides a retrospective and independent examination of the program/project. This aims to evaluate and improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the organisation’s risk management, control and governance processes. 

Ensure the success of your digital transformation with digital assurance

Using the world’s best practice standard for assurance methods, models, tools and accredited reviewer training. This includes best practice methods of Global Agile Assurance, Global Gateway Assurance and Digital Assurance Business Owner. 

At Global Digital Assurance we have introduced digital assurance to a variety of organisations, helping to protect digital transformations and ensure the best user experience.

We have supported individuals, assurance professionals and organisations with a holistic and modern approach to assurance training, all aligned to best practice standards for agile and gated assurance for technology projects. 

To find out more about quality digital assurance, connect with us today and assure the success of your next digital transformation.