MCA Project Management Excellence Program · Team Recognition
Silver recognition: what your team submits
Silver recognizes teams that keep PPMM alive. Six months after Bronze, the same six documents should still reflect the project, and planning should be running in quarterly sprints. Most of Silver is your Bronze package, still in use.
Nothing here asks you to start over. Silver looks at whether the documents moved with the project, and at how the team plans its next three months.
| BronzeFoundation. The core PPMM outputs exist and are in use. | You are hereSilverDiscipline. The outputs are kept current and planning runs in sprints. | GoldCulture. The team owns the system and it drives decisions. |
What you submit, per project
Six items. Your Bronze documents in their current state, four additions, and a short note from MCA leadership.
- The Bronze six, currentSame documents, in the state you use them today
- Baselines and varianceWhat you planned, against what happened
- Quarterly Implementation PlanThe next three months, in sprints
- Change Control MatrixHow changes get requested, decided, and recorded
- RACI MatrixWho is responsible, who approves, who is consulted and informed
- MCA EndorsementLeadership confirms the team keeps these current
Ready for Silver? Seven questions
- ☐ Has it been at least six months since your Bronze recognition?
- ☐ Have all six Bronze documents been updated within the last quarter?
- ☐ Are the Workplan and S-Curve baselined, with variance against baseline visible?
- ☐ Do you have a Quarterly Implementation Plan for the current quarter, broken into sprints?
- ☐ Does each work package in the current quarter have a named owner?
- ☐ Can you point to at least one change that went through your change control process?
- ☐ Do you have a RACI Matrix covering the work and decisions that need clear ownership?
Five or more yes answers means you are close to Silver: look at the items you could not tick. Fewer than three, ask IPM to work through them with your team.
Where to start
Start with your baselines. Once the Workplan and S-Curve are baselined, everything else at Silver is about showing movement against them.
The Bronze six, current
PPMM Steps 1 to 7
What it is: Your Charter, Workplan, S-Curve, Procurement Matrix, Communications Matrix, and Risk Matrix, as they stand now. The Bronze page lists what each one contains.
Submit: The same formats as at Bronze.
What reviewers check
- ☐ Each document carries the date it was last reviewed or updated.
- ☐ Updates reflect real project movement: completed work packages, revised dates, closed and new risks, procurement status.
- ☐ The documents still agree with each other on WBS codes, dates, and budget figures.
- ☐ The Charter has been re-signed if scope, budget, or key milestones changed.
- ☐ The Risk Matrix has been reviewed within the last 90 days.
- ☐ The Procurement Matrix status matches the current MCA Procurement Plan.
Baselines and variance
Workplan and S-Curve
What it is: A saved baseline for the Workplan and the S-Curve, and the current position against it. This is what makes “kept current” something reviewers can see rather than infer.
Submit: Scheduling software file or PDF showing baseline against current dates, plus the S-Curve workbook with both curves.
What reviewers check
- ☐ The Workplan carries a saved baseline, with its baseline date stated.
- ☐ Current start and finish dates are shown against baseline dates, at least at component level.
- ☐ The S-Curve plots planned against actual cumulative cost through the most recent completed quarter.
- ☐ Where variance is significant, the team can say why, in a note or in the change log.
- ☐ Re-baselining, if it happened, is traceable to an approved change.
Quarterly Implementation Plan
PPMM Step 9
What it is: Your current quarter broken into six two-week sprints, with priority work packages assigned and in progress.
Submit: The board or file your team actually works from: Excel, a screenshot or export of a digital board, or a photograph of a physical one.
What reviewers check
- ☐ Covers the current quarter, with dated sprints.
- ☐ Priority work packages are selected from the WBS and named the same way.
- ☐ Work packages too large for a sprint have been broken down.
- ☐ Work is distributed across the sprints rather than stacked at one end.
- ☐ Each priority work package on the plan has a named owner.
- ☐ At least one previous quarter plan exists, so this is a habit rather than a first attempt.
Change Control Matrix
PPMM Step 8
What it is: How your team requests, decides, and records changes to scope, schedule, and budget, and who can approve what.
Submit: Excel or Word, including the Change Request Form.
What reviewers check
- ☐ A Change Request Form captures a unique ID, description, and the impact on scope, schedule, budget, and risks.
- ☐ Approval thresholds are set by cost, schedule, and scope, with the approver named for each level.
- ☐ Approval levels follow the MCA governance structure and identify where MCC approval or no-objection is required.
- ☐ The change log records each request with its ID, date, decision, and approver.
- ☐ At least one change has been through the process, and the affected documents were updated as a result.
RACI Matrix
PPMM Step 6
What it is: Who is Responsible, who Approves, who is Consulted and who is Informed, across the work and decisions your team needs to assign. It does not have to mirror the Workplan work packages: any recurring decision or process can sit in the matrix. Encouraged at Bronze, required here.
Submit: Excel or Word.
What reviewers check
- ☐ Exactly one person is Responsible for each row in the matrix.
- ☐ An Approver is named for each item or decision.
- ☐ Consulted and Informed roles are filled in, including cross-cutting staff such as procurement, fiscal, legal, and environmental and social.
MCA Endorsement
Signed by MCA leadership
What it is: A one-page note from MCA leadership confirming that the team maintains these documents together and plans its quarters from them.
Submit: Signed PDF on MCA letterhead, using the statement below.
What reviewers check
- ☐ Uses the authorship statement below without changes to its wording.
- ☐ Names the team members who maintain the documents, with position and what each one keeps current.
- ☐ Signed and dated by the MCA CEO or Deputy CEO, or the equivalent position.
Authorship statement to use
MCA Endorsement: Silver Tier Submission
I confirm that the project management documents for [Project or Activity name], [Country], are maintained by the project team named below and are used to plan and run the work. The team updates them as the project changes, plans its quarters from them, and manages changes through the process described in this submission.
| Team member | Position | What they maintain |
|---|---|---|
Name: ____________________ Position: CEO / Deputy CEO / ____________
Signature: ____________________ Date: ____________
When you’re ready to submit
What the review feels like
IPM looks at each item against the checks above. Nothing is graded and nothing fails. If an item falls short, we tell you what to adjust and you resubmit. A team that has slipped keeps its Bronze recognition either way.
How to send it
- Upload the files to the Box folder your team used for Bronze, then email IPM at tkachm@mcc.gov to say they are there, copying the MCC Resident or Deputy Resident Country Director.
- Use the subject line: Silver submission, Country, Project/Activity.
- Include all six items. Partial packages are held until complete.
- IPM confirms receipt and comes back with the result for each item and any notes.
- After Silver, teams become eligible for Gold review six months later.
Housekeeping
- Submit one package per project, or per activity where activities are substantially different efforts.
- Send native, editable Word and Excel files. The Workplan follows the same format rules as at Bronze: an MS Project file, a PDF output, or a link to the living view.
- PPMM templates are recommended, not required. Equivalent tools your team already uses are accepted if they cover the same ground.
- Show dates. Every document should carry the date it was last reviewed or updated.
- Name each file Country_Project_Document_vX_YYYY-MM-DD, for example Nepal_RMP_RiskMatrix_v7_2027-03-15.xlsx.
An initiative of MCC’s Integrated Program Management group.
Questions, or want IPM to sit with your team on any of this: Marc Tkach, tkachm@mcc.gov · Taylor Steelman, steelmants@mcc.gov