Lessons learnt workshop (Tier 3 projects)

For Tier 3 projects, the Sponsoring Agency is recommended to complete a PIR by undertaking a lessons learnt workshop to retain lessons learnt from project development processes. To streamline this process, Agencies may discuss multiple similar Tier 3 projects in the one workshop, if appropriate. The workshop should clearly assess what worked well and what can be improved.

ICA can provide assistance to the Project Team to prepare for and facilitate the lessons learnt workshop.

The lessons learnt process for Tier 3 projects is shown in the diagram below.

Lessons learnt process for Tier 3 projects

The PIR processes described in the Post Implementation Review process (Tier 1 and Tier 2) section are not required for Tier 3 projects, but may be undertaken if preferred by the Sponsoring Agency.

Step 1: Request and review documents

The Project Team should develop the document request and collect any documentation available to undertake the lessons learnt assessment.

The Project Team may require the following background material to complete the review:

• Approved Business Case including supporting appendices.
• Other Business Case supporting documents, including any feasibility study, risk management plan, economic analysis, communications strategy, etc.
• Functional Design Brief (if available)
• Other documents relevant to the project.

Other potential documents that the Project Team may request and collect are listed in Step 1: Request project documents on the Post Implementation Review process (Tier 1 and Tier 2) page.

Once the Project Team has collected and reviewed the appropriate documents, it should organise a lessons learnt workshop, attended by the Project Team and key stakeholders (as deemed appropriate). The Project Team may select a facilitator to lead the workshop. The workshop should cover Steps 2 and 3 below and should discuss the Evaluation Categories to identify improvements to feed into future project development.

Step 2: Evaluation assessment

The workshop attendees should consider the four Evaluation Categories (Need, Outcomes, Implementation, Internal Processes). For more information on these Evaluation Categories, refer to the Summary section on Evaluation methodology (Tier 1 and Tier 2) page.

The workshop facilitator should ensure that the following key questions are discussed in the workshop, considering each of the Evaluation Categories:

• Did any key issues arise during project planning, implementation or management?
• What were the drivers of these issues and how were they overcome?
• What went well through the Infrastructure Investment Lifecycle?
• What were the challenges through the Infrastructure Investment Lifecycle?
• Were the required internal processes followed? If they were, were there any key takeaways? If not, why not?
• Did any unexpected benefits, implications or outcomes emerge?
• Do any of the experiences of project staff provide useful insights for future projects?

Step 3: Identify lessons learnt

The workshop facilitator should finalise the workshop with a discussion of the following questions:

• Were any lessons learnt from prior experiences applied? What were these?
• What lessons have been learnt from this project?

The Project Team should document the workshop output as recommendations for future infrastructure investments moving through the Infrastructure Investment Lifecycle. The Project Team should ensure this information is readily available to relevant staff in the Agency.