Design Reviews
The design or configuration reviews carried out at the conclusion of the conceptual, preliminary, and detailed design stages are the mechanism by which "progress" in achieving the project scope is monitored.[79] Representatives of all the functions on the project team should participate in the reviews, not merely the technical specialists. The purpose is to evaluate the decisions taken by technical specialists not to review the correctness of the technical work.
Compliance with the project requirements and the technical feasibility of the chosen alternatives are key issues in the reviews. In addition, however, the design choices should be assessed from the viewpoint of implementation feasibility. Thus, specialists in procurement, construction, and manufacturing should also be participants. Separate peer reviews, such as those described by McCoy and Brodkorb,[80] are still required to check the mathematical and scientific validity of the analyses and conclusions.
The project manager, as the single point of responsibility for project team performance, should lead the review process at the four key milestones. The sponsor and users must give formal consent to the requirements statement, since it is the agreed scope baseline. In the interest of ensuring the requirements are correctly interpreted, as well as of avoiding surprise rejections at the conclusion of the project, it makes sense for both the sponsor and the users to participate in all of the baseline reviews and to sign off on the design freezes.
79. Ibid, p193
80. Ibid.
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Baselines
and Freezes: 
