The APM Body of Knowledge 6th edition defines assurance as: "Project, programme and portfolio(P3) assurance is the process of providing confidence to stakeholders that projects, programmes andportfolios will achieve their scope, time, cost, quality objectives, and realise their benefits."

A key part of the assurance process is the conduct of reviews, whether on specific elements or onthe entirety of a programme or project. There has been increased awareness of the importance ofassurance, partly because of an increased focus on infrastructure but also due to the need to increasethe effectiveness of programme and project management in general.

The APM Body of Knowledge confirmed the need for assurance activity to be planned and coordinated.

The toolkit has been developed by the APM Assurance Specific Interest Group (SIG), a group ofprofessionals with diverse backgrounds in the field of project and programme management andassurance. Along with other project management professionals, they have in the past been confrontedby a fragmented approach to assurance shaped by the many different approaches taken acrossdifferent industries and organisations in the UK.

The lack of a definitive framework and the resulting variation of approach reduces the confidencein assurance planning, management and outputs, increases the risk of duplication or material gaps,creates potential misunderstandings over common terminology and limits comparison of assuranceoutputs for projects, programmes and portfolios. This is especially so when assurance is being soughtacross multi-tier supply chains and partnering relationships.

This has left a gap and driven a desire to establish more consistency around the language being used,definitions of assurance terms, a framework capable of wide application, and outputs out of assurancework. The toolkit, including this guidance, is the product of the experience, skills and knowledge ofthe group who produced it, applied to address this challenge.

This document is the first of an intended suite of programme and project assurance-related guidancedocuments.