The organization should have a documented process detailing how reviews will be conducted, what data and project information is required, and how decisions will be made based on the results of the project reviews. This process should include identifying roles and responsibilities for making decisions, as well as rules for how the project decisions will be made. Some organizations use a traffic-light method to help make project decisions. Projects are given red, yellow, or green lights depending on how the project rated against expected performance measures. Yellow lights indicate that management action is necessary to avoid potential problems affecting project outcomes.
Red lights indicate that major problems have already occurred.
In addition, the organization should have procedures in place to ensure that information from this quality assurance function is integrated in to the project review process. Finally, the organization should have mechanisms in place to ensure that project teams are complying with the control process. This may include incentives for raising problems to senior managers and disincentives for noncompliance. Rather, the reviews should be considered opportunities for raising problems early, when they may be easier to address, rather than allowing the problems to be buried, creating a risk that they will arise later when costs are higher and the potential impact is greater. See also the Legislative Criteria and Reference Sources sections.