Flashcards
Project monitoring & control
Cards in this deck (14)
- 1Monitoring and control: - Monitoring is the collection of recording, and reporting of project information - Control uses the monitored data to bring actual performance into agreement with the plan - Monitoring & control are the opposite sides of project selection and planning * project selectiong declared what to monitor * Project planning identifies the elements to be controlledPlan-monitor-control cycle:
- The Plan-monitor-control cycle consists a "closed loop" process - continues until the project is complete
- With complex projects, there is a temptation to minimize the planning–monitoring–controlling effort so that “real work” can be done
It is these projects that need the planning– monitoring–controlling process the most - 2Designing the monitring system: - 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 project - Real time data must be identifies to measure achievement against the plan - It is imp to avoid the tendency to focus on easily collected dataData collection and reporting:
- Once data to monitor has been decided, mechanims to collect this data must be designed
- Analusis is used to transform data into information
- A number of questions come up:
*Should we use special forms?
* Should data be collected before/after milestones?
* Should time and cost data be collected at the same time? - 3Data collection: 1. Frequency counts 2. Raw numbers 3. Subjective numeric ratings 4. Indicators and surrogates 5. Verbal characterisationsData analysis:
- Data analysis techniques
* Simple aggregation - averaging for eg
* Fitting statistical distribution functions to the data
* curve fitting
- Significant difference from the plan should be flagged - 4Reporting and report types: - Routine performance reports * Project status reports * Time/costs reports * Variance reports - Avoid periodic or routine reports - Not all stakeholder need to recieve some info - Electronic media make it possible to customise info for different audiences - Report should be times to allow control to be exercised before completion of the task
- 5Report benefits: - Provide the mutual understanding between stakeholders in a project - They help communicate the need for coordination among those working on project - They establish and maintain a communicatio network for global projects - Reports can communicate info about changes to a project - They help maintain the visibility of the project - Improve motivationMeetings:
- Many reports delivered in meetings
- Meetings can be regular, high formalised, to informal , gte togethers
* presentation, Q&A sessions
- Meetings must be well run to be effective - 6Meeting guidelines: - Meetings should be used for group decision making, not for progress reporrs - Distribute written agenda in advance of meeting to ensure that all attendees are properly prepared for the meeting - For a crisis meeting, restrict discussion to that issue - The should take minutes - Avoid excessive formality - If meeting is held to address specific crisis, restrict meeting to this issue aloneEarned value:
- The EV of a task or a project is the budgested cost of the work actually done
- calculated by multiplying the budgested cost of the task by the percentage completion of the task
this is difficult bc
= Budgeted cost of a task is clear
= % of completion is not
The percent of a task’s budget actually spent is not good indicator of percent completion - 7—next
- 8Two simple rules for variances: - A negative variance is bad and a positiive variance is good - The spending and schedule variances ar calculated as the earned value minus some other measure
- 9—
- 10Project control : - Control, the act of reduing difference between the plan and the actuality - Final element in planning monitoring cycle - It is to no avail if actions are not taken when reality deviates significantly from what was planned - Control is difficult - it involves human behaviour, probs are rarely clear cutPupose of control:
1. Stewardship of organisation assets:
- physical asset control
- human resources management
- financial control through the use of accounting tools
2. Regulation of results through the altetnation of activities
- This step involves taking action when rality deviates from the plan
- It includes both mechanistic and human elements - 11Purposes of control system: - Main purpose is to correct errors - not to identify and punish the guilty. Managers must realise that the past cannot be chnaged - Control the investment, subject to dimnishing returns - Consider impact on creativity and innocation - The control system should employ the lowest degree of hassle consistent with accomplishing its goalsMechanism to exert control:
- Process reviews - an analsis of the process of reaching the porject objective
- Personell assigmemnt - Control can also be excersise through personnel assignments based on past productivity
- Resource allocation - resources are usually allocated to the more productive or imporant tasks and this can significantly influence the attainment of project results - 12—Control system components:
- Sensor - purpose is to measure any aspect 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 b/w what is measure and the standard is large enough to warrant attention
- Effector - if some action is required to reduced the differences, the effector must then take action
- 13—
- 14—done
