Commercial Bank of Ethiopia has undertaken various system upgrading projects in order to improve existing services and keep up with rapidly changing technologies. However, the design and implementation management practice of these projects in financial institutions face numerous challenges that hinder their success. The aim of this paper is to assess the design and implementation of Active directory and E-mail upgrading project in commercial bank of Ethiopia. A descriptive type of study is used to evaluate the practices of project design, project implementation &related PM knowledge areas and the management support practice. A census sampling technique is used to gather primary data using a web based questionnaire instrument. The collected data is analysed with SPSS version 26 statistical software. Mean and standard deviation is used to calculate the data obtained. According to the findings, activity durations are not well estimated, the initial schedule is not maintained, effective sequencing tool was not used, cost estimation is not appropriate, information needs of each stakeholders is not satisfied, project team is not established, risks was not timely addressed and monitored, Project activities were not completed effectively and top managements were appeared to be inefficient at committing resource. This shows that there is a gap in project design and implementation practices and these practices appeared to be poorly implemented throughout AD and E-mail upgrading project. CBE need to give high attention to project design and implementation practices and should implement best practices properly.