The project control life cycle (PCLC) steps
1. |
Produce project plan |
2. |
Monitor progress against plan |
3. |
Compare actual progress with planned progress |
4. |
Identify variations from the plan |
5. |
Apply corrective action as / if necessary |
Steps 2 - 5 should be repeated to continue the control cycle
Taking corrective action
PMs role is day to day to apply minor corrections as required |
Major corrections need to be referred to superiors |
Tolerance – PMs authority to make changes or apply corrective action |
Exception report – outlines problem and options for solution, given to the project board. Includes: |
- |
Background |
- |
Reasons why the exception arose |
- |
Options |
- |
Risks |
- |
Exception plans showing how the project needs to be amended to implement suggestions |
- |
Amended business case |
- |
Recommendations |
Contingency pool – set of resources controlled by PM and can be allocated by PM as needed |
Recommendations may include: |
Work harder, longer or faster |
Solve a short term problem or meet a deadline. Tired, stressed and demotivated staff. Increased costs if overtime paid |
Increase resources |
Adding more people in IT does not often increase productivity, often it decreases. Training takes time and uses current resources. Expensive. |
Replan |
Reallocate the time on tasks which took shorter than expected. Internal movement of staff at no extra cost. |
Extend the time scale |
Sensible option. Common choice, requires negotiation. Extending deadline often seen as weak management or the project being out of control. More expensive |
Reduce scope |
Deliverables removed or delayed until later. Does not reduce costs, but value to the user may be reduced |
Terminate the project |
If no other option is ok, this maybe the only sensible thing to do. Maybe politically unacceptable |
|
|
Monitoring progress
What should we monitor? |
Progress toward deliverables, products and milestones. Progress in the WBS. % complete. Resource usage. Expenditure. Scope and size of deliverables. Watch out for scope creep. Monitor quality. |
How should we monitor? |
Formal |
Lay frequency, content and format out at the beginning of the project. |
- |
Advantage: get commitment from people in writing and establish routines |
- |
Disadvantage: reports maybe seen as an unproductive overhead. Staff need to be convinced of the value |
- |
Types: Written progress reports, email, progress meetings |
Informal |
Manager have an awareness of what team enduring |
- |
Advantage: more honest and faster communication of problems |
- |
Disadvantage: need to avoid micro managing |
- |
How: Chats with the team individually |
Purpose of Team meetings
AKA Checkpoint meetings |
Weekly / agile might be daily |
Report from team leader to PM will be prepared. AKA Checkpoint report |
Agenda typically |
- |
Each team members progress against their plans |
- |
Reasons for variances |
- |
Expected progress – what each team member will do next |
- |
Current problems or issues |
- |
Possible future problems – may include risks from the risk register |
Issues log: record issues in an issues log, which will be updated as they are resolved |
Backlog list: In an agile project a backlog list of tasks completed and to be done would be updated |
Programme board / steering committee meetings
Projects are sometimes grouped into programmes, where a number of projects contribute to a set of overarching objectives |
Freq |
Less frequent |
Agenda |
Less detailed. More of a business focus than a project focus |
Cumulative value chart with earned value
|
|
Applying control
No point in monitoring without control |
Do through the reporting cycle |
- |
Problems reported in progress |
- |
Apply controls to bring it back on course (Move resources from non-critical to critical) |
- |
Review allocation of resources |
- |
Reduce scope |
Important to understand |
The people responsible for the project have the right to change the project objectives, not the project manager |
Reporting structure
Reports should be concise and relevant. Sent only to those who need them.
Highlight report
The report to the steering committee |
Intervals and topics in report need to conform to requirements of the recipients and the importance of what is being conveyed. |
Obtain formal agreement on reporting procedures from all parties involved |
Purpose of Project board meetings
Attendees |
PM and project board members, perhaps a secretary |
Freq |
~monthly. Larger projects probably has less frequency of catch ups |
Agenda |
Similar as for team meeting |
Report |
Highlight report, supplied by PM |
Highlight report - typically includes the following information |
- |
Details of progress against project plan |
- |
Current milestones achieved |
- |
Deliverables completed |
- |
Resource usage |
- |
Reasons for any deviations from the plan |
- |
New issues and unresolved issues |
- |
Changes to risks assessments |
- |
Plans for the next period and products to be delivered |
- |
Graphical representations of progress information |
Graphical representation of progress information
Gantt chart |
You will need to compare the current situation with the original plan, so the details on the Gantt chart need to be baselined |
- |
Take a snapshot of the schedule at key points |
- |
Maybe several but an important one will be the final agreed schedule at the beginning of the project |
Cumulative resource chart |
- |
Present usage details |
- |
Aka S curve chart |
- |
Data points: Expected expenditure & Actual expenditure |
Earned value analysis (EVA) |
- |
See if we are ahead or behind time, and above or below budget |
- |
EVA shows budget originally allocated to completed items |
- |
When completed we can say value is earned |
|
Created By
https://www.speedwell.com.au
Metadata
Favourited By
Comments
No comments yet. Add yours below!
Add a Comment
Related Cheat Sheets
More Cheat Sheets by NatalieMoore