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Figure 1 The Extended Quality Assurance Scheme of the Norwegian GovernmentIsolated, QA2 is merely an instrument to secure that a project performs adequately within the borders oftime and resource constraints rather than addressing the question whether this fundamentally is the bestanswer to the needs that the project is supposed to satisfy. Whether the revised scheme as illustrated inFigure 1 will perform as anticipated remains to be seen.Up-front project evaluation in a broad perspectiveIt is generally agreed that effective management will require a broad perspective on a project, taking intoaccount not only the strategy, but also its impact and coherence with needs and priorities of users andaffected parties. In project evaluation, five analytical criteria are commonly used to provide acomprehensive yet simple picture of the status of a project. They constitute the key analytical elements inthe definitions of the term ‘evaluation’ adopted by OECD and the European Commission. These areefficiency, effectiveness, impact, relevance, and sustainability. Taken together, and applied analytically on a project orprocess, they are meant to provide decision-makers with the essential information and clues to establish aprecise diagnosis and make the right decision.Projects can be viewed in different perspectives. Success in an operational perspective is measured interms of efficiency. In a tactical perspective it is measured in terms of effectiveness. And the strategicperspective is explored in terms of the project’s impact, relevance and sustainability. In combination, thefive evaluation criteria cover all three perspectives.As discussed above, the ultimate choice of project alternative under the Norwegian quality assurancescheme is based on a ranking of alternatives on the basis of an early assessment of the anticipated project’sefficiency, effectiveness, relevance, and sustainability.7