Inspections and audits are always carried out in project management. It is a process of observing the performance of work or product against requirements that are agreed upon by the project team, stakeholders, and seller.
Inspections and audits are usually required by the buyer and supported by the seller. It is specified in the procurement contract. This is a tool of the control procurement process and is usually conducted upon the execution of the project. The benefit of this particular project management tool is that it aims to verify if the seller’s deliverables or processes comply with the requirements set by the buyer or project owner.
Another benefit is that this particular tool serves as a risk analysis in which systemic investigation is done to determine the extent of the situation and also to provide an implementation of effective management policies. It is important to take note that the audit system contains a vision of the deals of the organization to implement the changes for improvement.
Inspections and audits may be performed by the project manager but for bigger and more complicated project, inspection and audit teams may be established.
This term is defined in the 5th edition of the PMBOK.