Project Health Checks and Recovery Planning Course

Course Introduction

Project health checks provide a structured and independent way to determine whether a project remains viable, properly controlled, adequately resourced, and capable of achieving its intended outcomes. This course develops practical capabilities for assessing project health across governance, scope, schedule, cost, resources, risk, quality, stakeholders, procurement, and benefits. Participants will learn how to identify warning signs early, distinguish symptoms from root causes, and determine whether corrective intervention is required.

The course examines the complete project health-check process, from defining review objectives and collecting evidence through interviews, documentation analysis, data assessment, and stakeholder engagement to developing findings and recommendations. Participants will learn how to assess project performance against approved baselines and current expectations while considering changing business conditions, emerging risks, organizational constraints, and delivery realities. Emphasis is placed on evidence-based diagnosis rather than relying solely on subjective perceptions of project performance.

A major focus of the programme is understanding why projects become distressed and how problems interact across different dimensions. Participants will explore common causes including unclear scope, unrealistic schedules, inaccurate estimates, inadequate resources, weak governance, unresolved dependencies, ineffective suppliers, poor risk management, uncontrolled change, weak stakeholder engagement, and benefits uncertainty. They will learn how to identify root causes and causal relationships so that recovery plans address the underlying conditions rather than simply treating visible symptoms.

Recovery planning requires disciplined choices about what must change, what can be preserved, and what should be stopped or reconsidered. Participants will examine recovery strategies covering scope stabilization, schedule re-baselining, cost control, resource restructuring, governance strengthening, risk treatment, supplier intervention, technical remediation, stakeholder alignment, and benefits reassessment. The course provides practical methods for developing prioritized recovery actions, assigning ownership, establishing milestones, defining success measures, and obtaining appropriate executive sponsorship.

The programme also addresses the human and governance dimensions of project recovery. Distressed projects often involve conflicting stakeholder expectations, declining confidence, team fatigue, political pressures, escalation concerns, and reluctance to acknowledge problems. Participants will learn how to communicate difficult findings constructively, establish recovery governance, manage executive expectations, create transparent reporting, and maintain accountability throughout intervention. Attention is also given to deciding when recovery is appropriate and when termination, re-scoping, replacement, or investment reconsideration represents the better organizational decision.

The course concludes by examining emerging approaches to proactive project health monitoring and intelligent recovery planning. Participants will explore predictive analytics, AI-assisted project diagnostics, automated health scoring, anomaly detection, integrated portfolio dashboards, and early-warning systems that can identify deterioration before major failure occurs. The programme also addresses responsible use of AI, data quality, explainability, human judgment, cybersecurity, and governance. The objective is to equip project and PMO professionals to move from reactive crisis management toward continuous project health management and evidence-based recovery.

Duration

5 days

Who Should Attend

• PMO directors and managers responsible for project health, assurance, recovery, and portfolio oversight

• Project managers responsible for managing troubled, delayed, high-risk, or underperforming projects

• Programme managers overseeing complex initiatives with multiple workstreams, dependencies, and delivery risks

• Portfolio managers responsible for identifying distressed projects and making intervention or investment decisions

• Project sponsors and executives responsible for project recovery, escalation, funding, and strategic decisions

• Project assurance and independent review professionals conducting project health assessments

• Project controls professionals responsible for cost, schedule, forecasting, performance, and variance analysis

• Risk managers assessing project exposure, risk trends, mitigation effectiveness, and recovery implications

• Finance professionals reviewing project affordability, cost overruns, forecasts, funding requirements, and financial recovery options

• Change and transformation professionals managing organizational impacts, adoption challenges, and recovery-related interventions

• Programme and project governance professionals strengthening decision-making, accountability, escalation, and oversight

• Commercial and procurement professionals addressing supplier underperformance, contractual risks, claims, and recovery actions

• Technology and engineering professionals supporting technical recovery, remediation, integration, and delivery stabilization

• Benefits management professionals assessing whether distressed projects can still achieve intended outcomes and value

• Consultants and turnaround specialists providing project diagnostics, recovery planning, independent assessments, and intervention support

Course Objectives

• Conduct structured project health checks that assess governance, scope, schedule, cost, resources, risk, quality, stakeholders, and benefits.

• Identify early warning indicators and distinguish immediate project symptoms from underlying root causes requiring management intervention.

• Evaluate the reliability of project baselines, forecasts, performance information, assumptions, dependencies, and management reporting.

• Diagnose distressed project conditions using evidence-based assessment techniques, stakeholder interviews, data analysis, and structured review frameworks.

• Develop practical recovery strategies covering scope, schedule, cost, resources, governance, risk, suppliers, quality, and stakeholder alignment.

• Prioritize recovery actions according to urgency, impact, feasibility, dependencies, organizational capacity, and expected improvement in project outcomes.

• Establish recovery governance structures with clear decision rights, accountability, escalation routes, reporting requirements, and executive sponsorship.

• Develop realistic recovery plans with measurable milestones, action owners, performance indicators, dependencies, and clearly defined success criteria.

• Determine when projects should be recovered, re-scoped, paused, restructured, replaced, or terminated based on evidence and investment considerations.

• Apply predictive analytics, automated health monitoring, AI-assisted diagnostics, and early-warning techniques while maintaining human judgment and governance.

Comprehensive Course Outline

Module 1: Foundations of Project Health Checks and Recovery

• Purpose, principles, objectives, and strategic value of project health checks within modern project governance

• Difference between routine project monitoring, assurance reviews, health checks, audits, recovery assessments, and turnaround interventions

• Common indicators of project distress including persistent variances, declining confidence, unresolved risks, weak governance, and delivery instability

• Establishing review principles covering independence, objectivity, proportionality, evidence quality, confidentiality, and constructive challenge

Module 2: Health Check Frameworks and Review Preparation

• Designing comprehensive health-check frameworks covering governance, scope, schedule, cost, resources, risks, quality, stakeholders, and benefits

• Defining review objectives, scope, criteria, evidence requirements, stakeholders, assessment scales, timelines, and review responsibilities

• Preparing document requests, interview plans, data requirements, project dashboards, baseline information, and review schedules

• Tailoring health checks according to project size, complexity, investment value, delivery methodology, risk profile, and organizational context

Module 3: Project Governance, Leadership, and Organizational Health

• Assessing governance structures, decision rights, accountability, escalation mechanisms, sponsorship, PMO involvement, and management oversight

• Evaluating leadership effectiveness, team capability, organizational support, decision-making speed, stakeholder confidence, and delivery culture

• Identifying governance gaps, unclear authority, ineffective forums, delayed decisions, weak escalation, and excessive management intervention

• Assessing project team health, role clarity, communication, workload, capability gaps, morale, collaboration, and organizational readiness for recovery

Module 4: Scope, Schedule, Cost, and Performance Diagnosis

• Assessing scope clarity, requirements stability, change control, deliverables, acceptance criteria, dependencies, and unresolved scope ambiguity

• Diagnosing schedule performance through critical paths, milestone trends, dependencies, resource constraints, sequencing issues, and forecast completion dates

• Evaluating cost performance, expenditure trends, estimates to complete, contingency, funding requirements, financial exposure, and forecast accuracy

• Integrating scope, schedule, cost, resource, and performance information to determine the true condition and trajectory of the project

Module 5: Risk, Issues, Dependencies, and Root-Cause Analysis

• Reviewing risk registers, risk trends, mitigation effectiveness, ownership, escalation, residual exposure, and emerging threats to recovery

• Assessing issue-management effectiveness including root-cause analysis, escalation, resolution ownership, ageing, and recurring problems

• Identifying internal and external dependencies that contribute to delays, cost pressure, technical constraints, or organizational disruption

• Applying structured root-cause techniques to distinguish symptoms, contributing factors, systemic weaknesses, and fundamental causes of project distress

Module 6: Developing Project Recovery Strategies

• Determining recovery objectives and defining the desired future state, stabilization requirements, constraints, and measurable recovery outcomes

• Developing recovery options involving scope reduction, schedule restructuring, resource changes, governance intervention, technical remediation, and supplier action

• Evaluating recovery alternatives using cost, benefit, risk, feasibility, time-to-impact, stakeholder consequences, and organizational capacity

• Establishing stabilization priorities that protect critical deliverables, control further deterioration, preserve value, and restore management confidence

Module 7: Recovery Planning, Governance, and Implementation

• Developing integrated recovery plans with actions, owners, milestones, dependencies, resources, costs, risks, and measurable success criteria

• Establishing recovery governance through executive sponsorship, intervention teams, decision forums, escalation thresholds, and enhanced reporting

• Managing recovery implementation through short-cycle monitoring, corrective actions, decision tracking, issue resolution, and frequent performance reviews

• Establishing recovery baselines and control mechanisms to prevent the project from returning to previous patterns of poor performance

Module 8: Stakeholder, Supplier, and Change Recovery

• Rebuilding stakeholder confidence through transparent communication, realistic commitments, evidence-based reporting, and visible recovery progress

• Managing difficult stakeholder relationships, conflicting expectations, executive pressure, resistance, project fatigue, and competing recovery priorities

• Developing supplier recovery strategies covering performance improvement, contractual remedies, revised commitments, commercial negotiation, and escalation

• Managing organizational and technical change during recovery while protecting critical outcomes, adoption requirements, and operational readiness

Module 9: Recovery Decisions, Exit Criteria, and Benefits Protection

• Establishing criteria for deciding whether a project should continue recovery, be re-scoped, paused, replaced, or terminated

• Evaluating recovery economics through remaining investment, expected benefits, sunk costs, opportunity costs, risk exposure, and strategic relevance

• Establishing recovery exit criteria covering performance stability, governance effectiveness, risk reduction, delivery confidence, and restored stakeholder trust

• Monitoring benefits realization and ensuring recovery decisions protect or improve the value expected from the original project investment

Module 10: Predictive Project Health and AI-Enabled Recovery

• Applying predictive analytics and machine learning to identify deteriorating project trends across cost, schedule, risk, resources, and performance

• Using AI-assisted diagnostics to analyze project reports, identify anomalies, summarize risks, detect recurring issues, and support recovery recommendations

• Exploring automated project health scores, early-warning systems, integrated dashboards, real-time portfolio monitoring, and intelligent intervention triggers

• Addressing emerging issues including responsible AI, data quality, explainability, cybersecurity, privacy, algorithmic bias, and human oversight in recovery decisions

Training Approach

This course will be delivered by our skilled trainers who have vast knowledge and experience as expert professionals in the fields. The course is taught in English and through a mix of theory, practical activities, group discussion and case studies. Course manuals and additional training materials will be provided to the participants upon completion of the training.

Tailor-Made Course

This course can also be tailor-made to meet organization requirement. For further inquiries, please contact us on: Email: training@upskilldevelopment.com Tel: +254 721 331 808

Training Venue 

The training will be held at our Upskill Training Centre. We also offer training for a group (at a discount of 10% to 50%) at requested location all over the world. The Onsite course fee covers the course tuition, training materials, two break refreshments, buffet lunch, airport transfers, Upskill gift package, and guided tour.

Visa application, travel expenses, dinners, accommodation, insurance, and other personal expenses are catered by the participant

Certification

Participants will be issued with Upskill certificate upon completion of this course.

Airport Pickup and Accommodation

Airport pickup and accommodation is arranged upon request. For booking contact our Training Coordinator through Email: training@upskilldevelopment.com, +254 721 331 808

Terms of Payment:

Unless otherwise agreed between the two parties’ payment of the course fee should be done 3 working days before commencement of the training so as to enable us to prepare better.