Project Management in Practice, Fourth Edition Prepared by Scott 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.
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Project Management in Practice, Fourth Edition Prepared by Scott M. Shafer, Updated by William E. Matthews and Thomas G. Roberts, William Paterson University.
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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.
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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
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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
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Designing the Monitoring System
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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
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Frequency countsRaw numbersSubjective numeric ratingsIndicators and surrogatesVerbal characterizations
Number of Bugs per Unit of Test Time During Test of Software
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Percent of Specified Performance Met During Successive Repeated Trials
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Ratio of Actual Material Cost to Estimated Material Cost
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Reporting
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Components of a Control System
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Types of Control Systems
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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
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Tools for Control
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Variance analysisTrend projectionsEarned value analysisCritical ratio:
cost actual
cost budgeted
progress scheduled
progress actual
Trend Projection
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Critical Ratios with Control Limits
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Cost Control Chart
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Scope Creep
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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
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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
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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
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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
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