Project Audit and Quality Assurance Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Project Managers, Project Management Office Managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-PM-087

Before you join: Participants should understand core project management concepts such as scope, schedules, budgets, risks, stakeholders, change control and project governance.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Projects can meet delivery dates while still carrying weak acceptance evidence, uncontrolled changes, unresolved defects, unreliable progress data or supplier performance gaps. Project audits and quality reviews provide an independent, evidence-based view of whether project controls are working, deliverables meet agreed criteria and corrective actions are actually effective. They also give sponsors and governance boards a factual basis for intervention before issues become costly failures.

This course develops the practical methods used to plan, conduct, report and follow up project audits and quality assurance reviews. Participants work with ISO 9001 quality principles, ISO 19011 audit guidance, PMBOK quality practices, risk-based audit planning, evidence collection, sampling, process walkthroughs and root cause analysis. The course examines quality controls across scope, schedule, cost, risk, change, procurement, testing and acceptance, including projects delivered through agile, hybrid and supplier-led models.

Teaching combines focused briefings, realistic cases, group analysis, audit simulations and structured review of project records. Participants practise framing audit criteria, testing controls, documenting evidence, rating findings and preparing corrective action plans suitable for senior management review. Each participant leaves with a reusable project audit toolkit containing planning, evidence, reporting and corrective-action templates that can be adapted to live projects.

The course suits project professionals who already work with project plans, governance processes or delivery reporting and need to assess project health with greater independence, discipline and credibility.

What you will be able to do

  • Plan a risk-based project audit using defined objectives, scope, criteria and sampling methods
  • Assess project quality management arrangements against ISO 9001 principles and approved baselines
  • Collect and document sufficient, relevant audit evidence through interviews, walkthroughs and record testing
  • Apply Pareto analysis, control charts, process mapping and FMEA to investigate quality problems
  • Test schedule, cost, risk, change and procurement controls against project governance requirements
  • Write evidence-based audit findings using condition, criterion, cause and effect
  • Develop corrective action plans with accountable owners, due dates and effectiveness measures
  • Present audit conclusions and follow-up results to sponsors, project boards and delivery teams

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Produce audit plans that focus effort on material project risks and controls
  • Recognise weak evidence, misleading status reporting and ineffective corrective actions
  • Conduct structured interviews and walkthroughs without relying on informal impressions
  • Write findings that project sponsors can act on and defend under scrutiny
  • Build credibility for project assurance, PMO, quality or internal audit roles

For your organisation

  • Earlier identification of control failures before they affect delivery commitments
  • More reliable evidence for project board decisions, escalations and funding approvals
  • Reduced rework through disciplined defect analysis and corrective action follow-up
  • Consistent project assurance methods across internal teams, suppliers and locations
  • Clearer accountability for quality, acceptance, change and risk management controls

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can distinguish project assurance, quality control and audit roles within project governance.

  • Project assurance, quality control and audit distinguished by purpose and independence
  • Three lines of defence mapped to project oversight responsibilities
  • Quality management plan aligned with scope, acceptance criteria and governance
  • Assurance gates linked to lifecycle decisions, tolerances and escalation routes
  • Independence, objectivity and confidentiality requirements for internal project auditors
  • Audit charter defines authority, access rights, reporting and follow-up

Participants can evaluate whether project quality planning defines measurable controls and acceptance evidence.

  • ISO 9001 process approach translated into project quality objectives
  • PMBOK quality management processes connected to planning, assurance and control
  • Cost of quality calculated using prevention, appraisal, failure and rework
  • Quality metrics defined with operational definitions, targets, owners and sources
  • Inspection and test plans linked to acceptance criteria and hold points
  • Requirements traceability matrix connects needs, specifications, tests and approvals

Participants can prepare a focused audit programme based on project risks, controls and decision points.

  • Risk-based audit planning prioritises material threats, controls and decision points
  • Audit objectives framed around conformance, effectiveness, efficiency and compliance
  • Audit scope boundaries set by lifecycle phase, suppliers, locations and records
  • Criteria selected from baselines, contracts, policies, standards and regulations
  • Sampling plans use judgmental, random and stratified selection methods
  • Audit programme schedules interviews, walkthroughs, testing and reporting milestones

Participants can obtain, assess and document evidence that supports defensible audit conclusions.

  • Document review tests approved baselines, change records and status reports
  • Process walkthroughs trace a deliverable from requirement through acceptance
  • Interview techniques use open questions, corroboration and contemporaneous notes
  • Evidence matrices link audit criteria, sources, tests and conclusions
  • Attribute sampling tests control operation against defined population characteristics
  • Working papers record facts, exceptions, references and reviewer sign-off

Participants can analyse defects, variation and process weaknesses using recognised quality techniques.

  • Pareto charts rank defect categories by frequency, cost or consequence
  • Fishbone analysis identifies potential causes across people, process and technology
  • Control charts distinguish common-cause variation from special-cause signals
  • Process mapping exposes handoffs, rework loops, delays and control gaps
  • Failure mode and effects analysis scores severity, occurrence and detection
  • Root cause analysis separates causal mechanisms from symptoms and blame

Participants can test whether key project controls operate as intended across delivery disciplines.

  • Earned value data tested against scope completion and approved baselines
  • Schedule audits examine critical paths, logic links, float and recovery actions
  • Cost controls assessed through commitments, accruals, forecasts and contingency
  • Risk registers tested for ownership, triggers, responses and residual exposure
  • Change control samples verify impact analysis, authority and baseline updates
  • Supplier performance reviews assess deliverables, service levels and contractual evidence

Participants can prepare clear audit findings, recommendations and reports for governance stakeholders.

  • Findings classified as nonconformities, observations, opportunities or good practices
  • Condition, criterion, cause and effect structure defensible audit observations
  • Materiality ratings combine impact, likelihood, control weakness and management attention
  • Recommendations specify corrective action, accountable owner, due date and verification
  • Executive reports separate assurance conclusions from operational management detail
  • Closing meetings test factual accuracy without negotiating away valid findings

Participants can manage corrective actions from initial containment through effectiveness verification.

  • Corrective action plans address containment, root cause, remediation and prevention
  • Five Whys and causal factor charts support proportionate corrective actions
  • CAPA registers assign owners, target dates, evidence and verification status
  • Follow-up reviews test implementation, effectiveness and recurrence risk
  • Lessons learned distinguish local fixes from reusable process improvements
  • Management review dashboards track overdue actions, trends and systemic issues

Participants can adapt audit approaches to iterative delivery, external suppliers and regulated requirements.

  • Agile assurance reviews test Definition of Done, backlog and release evidence
  • Hybrid governance reconciles iterative delivery with stage-gate approval requirements
  • Vendor audits examine subcontractor controls, deliverable acceptance and change authority
  • Regulated projects preserve traceability, segregation of duties and approval records
  • Data analytics identifies duplicate payments, aging actions and anomalous trends
  • Remote audits use secure evidence rooms, video walkthroughs and access protocols

Participants can prepare an application plan for conducting a disciplined review of a live project.

  • Audit engagement planning converts project risks into targeted review questions
  • Scoping decisions balance assurance value, available evidence, time and independence
  • Draft audit reports tested for clarity, evidence sufficiency and actionable wording
  • Stakeholder communication plans sequence sponsor briefings, owners and governance forums
  • Personal application plan identifies first audit, allies, milestones and measures
  • Peer review criteria improve consistency of working papers and findings

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Risk-based project audit plan template
  2. Project quality metrics and acceptance checklist
  3. Audit evidence matrix and working-paper pack
  4. Project controls testing checklist
  5. Condition-criterion-cause-effect finding template
  6. Corrective action and follow-up register

Who should attend

  • Project Managers — need independent checks on controls, delivery evidence and quality performance
  • Project Management Office Managers — establish repeatable assurance reviews across project portfolios
  • Project Auditors — apply project-specific criteria, evidence methods and reporting structures
  • Quality Managers — integrate quality management systems with project delivery controls
  • Programme Managers — obtain reliable assurance across interconnected projects and suppliers
  • Internal Audit Professionals — assess project governance, controls and delivery risks more effectively

Skills and tools covered

Risk-based audit planningQuality control testingAudit evidence collectionRoot cause analysisCorrective action managementProject assurance reporting

Tools and standards

ISO 9001, ISO 19011, PMBOK Guide, ISO 21502

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce standards, audit techniques and quality tools, followed by realistic project cases from infrastructure, technology, public-sector and supplier-led delivery settings. Participants analyse project records, plan audit work, conduct simulated interviews, test evidence and draft findings in small groups. Facilitated discussions compare alternative judgments on materiality, sampling and corrective actions. Individual application planning helps participants adapt the templates and methods to current projects, governance arrangements and reporting expectations.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should understand core project management concepts such as scope, schedules, budgets, risks, stakeholders, change control and project governance. Experience working on a project team, supporting a PMO, managing suppliers or reviewing project documentation is useful. Participants should be comfortable reading plans, status reports, risk registers and basic financial information. Prior audit training, quality certification, statistical expertise and formal project management certification are not required. The course explains audit terminology and quality tools before applying them to project cases.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

You should understand basic project management concepts and be able to read common project documents such as plans, risk registers and status reports. Formal audit, quality management or project management certification is not required.

Bring a laptop if possible, along with examples of non-confidential project reports, templates or assurance challenges you want to improve. All core course materials and working templates are provided.

It is designed for project managers, PMO staff, quality professionals, programme managers, internal auditors and governance staff. It is particularly useful for people asked to review project health or provide assurance to sponsors.

General project management courses focus on planning and delivering work, while this course focuses on independently testing whether delivery controls and quality arrangements work. General internal audit courses cover wider organisational audit methods; this course applies those methods to project records, governance and delivery risks.

Participants can use the audit plan, evidence matrix, controls checklist and corrective action register on a current project review. The methods also support stage-gate reviews, supplier assessments, project recovery reviews and PMO assurance activity.

Training runs from 08:30 to 16:30 each day, with about 6.5 contact hours daily. Time is divided between instructor briefings, case analysis, audit simulations, group discussions and preparation of application materials.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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