project management in practice, fourth edition prepared by scott m. shafer, updated by william e....

Project Management in Practice, Fourth Edition

Prepared byScott M. Shafer,

Updated by William E. Matthews and

Thomas G. Roberts, William Paterson University

Copyright 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 7-1

Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, and Sutton

John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

Monitoring and Control

Copyright 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

7-2

Monitoring is the collection, recording, and reporting of project information

Control uses the monitored data to bring actual performance into agreement with the plan

Monitoring and Control are the opposite sides of project selection (which dictates what to monitor) and planning (which identifies the elements to be controlled)

Plan-Monitor-Control Cycle


7-3

The plan–monitor-control cycle constitutes a “closed loop” process

There is often a temptation to minimize the planning–monitoring–controlling effort so that “real work” can be done

Project Authorization and Expenditure Control System Information Flow


7-4

Designing the Monitoring System


7-5

Identify special characteristics of scope, cost, and time that need to be controlled• specific performance characteristics should be set for

each level of detail in the project

Real-time data must be identified (i.e., collected) to measure achievement against the plan• mechanisms to collect this data must be designed

It is important to avoid the tendency to focus on easily collected data

Data Collection Formats


7-6

Frequency countsRaw numbersSubjective numeric ratingsIndicators and surrogatesVerbal characterizations

Data Analysis


7-7

Aggregation techniquesFitting statistical distributionsCurve fitting

Number of Bugs per Unit of Test Time During Test of Software


7-8

Percent of Specified Performance Met During Successive Repeated Trials


7-9

Ratio of Actual Material Cost to Estimated Material Cost


7-10

Reporting


7-11

Routine performance reports• project status reports• time/cost reports• variance reports

Avoid periodic or routine reportsNot all stakeholders need to

receive same informationImpact of electronic mediaProblems in the relationship

between the project’s information system and the overall organization’s information system

Report Types


7-12

Routine• status, progress, and forecast reports are considered

routine

Exception• a report used for special decisions or unexpected

situations where affected team members need to be made aware, and the change itself documented

Special analysis• the results of a special study which documents a

particular opportunity or problem within the project itself

Meeting Guidelines


7-13

Meetings should be used primarily for group decision making … not for mere progress reports

Distribute written agenda in advance of meeting to ensure that all attendees are properly prepared for the meeting

Meeting Guidelines continued


7-14

Chair of meeting should take minutes• avoid attributing remarks to individuals in the minutes

Avoid excessive formalityIf meeting is held to address specific

crisis, restrict meeting to this issue alone

Virtual Reports, Meetings, and Project Management


7-15

The Internet can be used to communicate and report about the project’s status

• irrespective of the location of the project team members

Software programs allow the project manager to utilize the organization’ local area network or intranet

Virtual project teams … with members spread worldwide

Earned Value


7-16

The earned value (EV) of a task or project is the budgeted cost of the work actually done

• it is calculated by multiplying the budgeted cost of the task by the percentage completion of the task

The percent of a task’s budget actually spent is not good indicator of percent completion

Conventions Used to Estimate Progress on Tasks


7-17

50-50• task is listed as 50% complete when initiated and the

remaining 50% added when task is completed

100%• the task is 100% complete when finished … and zero

percent before that• projects will always appear to be “behind schedule”

Ratio of cost (or time) expended to cost (or time) budgeted

• neither is an accurate estimator of percentage completion

Variances


7-18

Cost/Spending Variance• earned value (EV) – actual cost (AC)

Schedule Variance• earned value (EV) – planned cost (PV)

CPI (Cost Performance Index)• earned value (EV)/actual cost (AC)

SPI (Schedule Performance Index)• earned value (EV)/planned cost (PV)

Additional Items of Interest


7-19

Estimated remaining cost to completion• estimated cost to completion (ETC) = budget at

completion (BAC) – earned value (EV) divided by cost performance index (CPI)

Estimated total cost at completion• estimated at completion (EAC) = estimated cost

to completion ( ETC) + actual cost (AC)

Project Control


7-20

Control, the act of reducing differences between the plan and actuality, is the final element in the planning-monitoring-controlling cycle

Control is a difficult task because• it involves human behavior• problems are rarely clear cut … so that the need for

change and redirection is also fuzzy

Purposes of Control


7-21

Stewardship of organizational assets• physical asset control• human resources management• financial control … through the use of accounting

tools

Regulation of results through the alteration of activities

• this step involves taking action when reality deviates from plan

• it includes both mechanistic and human elements

Purposes of a Control System


7-22

Correct errors … but not to identify and punish the guilty

Control the investment, subject to diminishing returns

Consider impact on creativity and innovation

Ensure that short-run results are not emphasized at the expense of long term results

Primary Mechanisms by which Project Manager Exerts Control


7-23

Sensor• Its purpose is to measure

any aspect of the project’s output that one wishes to control

Standard• The control system must

have a standard of items to measure against

Comparator• Compares the output of

the sensor with the standard

Decision Maker• To decide if the difference

between what is measured and the standard is large enough to warrant attention.

Effector• If the decision maker

decided that some action is required to reduced the difference between what the sensor measures and the standard requires, the effector must then take action

7-24

Components of a Control System


Types of Control Systems


7-25

Go/No-Go controls• a predetermined standard must be met for permission

to be granted to continue

Post-control (postperformance reviews)• applied after the project has been completed• purpose is to allow future projects to learn from past

project experience

Sample Project Milestone Status Report


7-26

Tools for Control


7-27

Variance analysisTrend projectionsEarned value analysisCritical ratio:

cost actual

cost budgeted

progress scheduled

progress actual

Trend Projection


7-28

Critical Ratios with Control Limits


7-29

Cost Control Chart


7-30

Scope Creep


7-31

Scope creep is the uncontrolled changes in a project’s scope … and is frequently cited by project managers as the single most important problem they face

Common Reasons for Change Requests• client modifications to project • modifications resulting from insights gained by project

team members• availability of new materials• introduction of new technologies

Purpose of Change Control System


7-32

Review all requested changesIdentify all impacts the change may

have on other project tasksEvaluate advantages and disadvantages

of requested changeInstall process so that individual with

authority may accept or reject changes

Purpose of Change Control System continued


7-33

Most importantly: communicate accepted change to concerned parties

Ensure that the changes are implemented properly

Prepare reports that summarize all changes made to-date and their impact

Rules for Controlling Scope Creep


7-34

Include a change control system in every project contract

Require all changes be introduced by a change order

Require approval in writing by the client’s agent and senior management

Consult with project manager prior to preparation of change order

Amend master plan to reflect changes

Copyright


7-35

Copyright John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction or translation of this work

beyond that permitted in Section 117 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act without express permission of the copyright owner is unlawful. Request for further information should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. The purchaser may make back-up copies for his/her own use only and not for distribution or resale. The Publisher assumes no responsibility for errors, omissions, or damages, caused by the use of these programs or from the use of the information herein.

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