Introduction to Project Monitoring & Controlling, The Planning, Monitoring, Controlling Cycle

The main roles and responsibilities associated with project planning are:

(i) Senior responsible owner: Ensuring that the project has a coherent set of plans at the appropriate levels; the SRO will approve plans including any proposed changes to scope, cost or timescale and monitor the impact of plan changes on the business case and stage progress against agreed tolerances

(ii) Project board: Is responsible for the decision-making process supporting project plan creation; the board will approve all stage and project plans including exception plans and all associated resource, time and cost implications

(iii) Project manager: Preparing project and stage plans, monitoring and updating them regularly; the PM will liaise with the programme manager on relevant planning issues and alert the SRO or project board to any potential exception conditions, preparing exception plans as required

(iv) Project management office: Administering project change control procedures, maintain planning standards and procedures and updating and maintaining all project, stage, team and other relevant plans under the direction of the project manager; the PMO will provide advice and guidance on practical matters associated with plans.

Monitoring, Reporting and Control

Monitoring is about assessing what work has been completed for a programme or project including costs, risks and issues. In addition, the SRO and board will routinely monitor if the business case continues to be viable and in alignment with strategic objectives. This usually takes the form of the production of documentation and reports at key stages. Monitoring is used to oversee progress of products, outputs, and outcomes.

Reporting provides the programme or project board with a summary of the status of the programme or project at intervals defined by them. Reporting advises the correct people at the correct time of positive and negative events, allowing for progression or remedial action as appropriate.

Controls usually relate to stages in projects and are established to control the delivery of the project’s outputs. In project management, controls are:

Event driven: The control occurs because a specific event has taken place; examples are end stage reports, completion of a project initiation document and creation of an exception plan

Time driven: Controls are regular progress feedbacks; examples include checkpoint and highlight reporting

Controls then assist with both monitoring and reporting by provision of required review points such as end stage assessments. This does not replace the need for the board to maintain an overall view of progress.

An example of the monitoring process in a project environment.

The key programme and project monitors, controls and reports are:

Business case: This effectively describes what the value is to the sponsoring organization from the outcomes of the programme; managing the business case is about value management of benefits, costs, timescales and risks

Project plan: A comprehensive plan which clearly defines the products to be produced, resources and time needed for all activities, any dependencies between activities and points at which progress will be monitored and controlled with any agreed tolerances

Project initiation document (or project execution plan in construction projects): This document defines all major aspects of the project and forms the basis for its management and the assessment of its overall success; the two primary uses of the document are to ensure that the project has a complete and sound basis before there is any major commitment to it and to act as a base document against which the project can assess progress, change management issues and ongoing viability questions.

Stage plan: Provides detail of how and when the objectives for the stage are to be met by showing the deliverables, activities and resources required; it provides a baseline against which stage progress will be measured and is used as the basis of management control throughout the stage

Work package: Sets out all information needed to deliver one or more specialist products; the necessary information is collated by the project manager and used to formally pass responsibility for work or delivery to a team leader or member

Change control strategy: This documents the procedure to ensure that the processing of all project issues is controlled, including the submission, analysis and decision making

Highlight reports: Provide the project board (and possibly other stakeholders) with a summary of the stage status at intervals defined by them; it is used to monitor stage and project progress and will be used by the project manager to advise the project board of any potential problems

Checkpoint report: These are sent from the team manager to the project manager at a frequency defined in the stage plan or work package detailing the status of work for each member of a team

Project issue log: This is a generic term for any matter that has to be brought to the attention of the project team and requires an answer

Risk management log: Risks can be threats to the successful delivery of the programme or project; they are usually recorded in a risk register

End stage report: Summarises progress to date and provides an overview of the project as a whole, including the impact of the stage on the project plan, the business case and identified risks; the project board uses the information to decide what action to take

End project report: This is sent from the project manager to the project board; it confirms the hand-over of all deliverables, provides an updated business case, and an assessment of how well the project has done against its PID

Lessons learned report: Describes the lessons learned in undertaking a project; it is approved by the project board then held centrally for the benefit of future projects; if the project is one of a number attached to a programme this document will also be used as input to the programme review

Post project review: This will document whether business benefits have been realised and if recommendations for future improvements have been recorded.

Importance of project monitoring and control

Monitoring and control keeps projects on track. The right controls can play a major part in completing projects on time. The data gathered also lets project managers make informed decisions. They can take advantage of opportunities, make changes and avoid crisis management issues.

Put simply, monitoring and control ensures the seamless execution of tasks. This improves productivity and efficiency.

Monitoring and control method

When setting up a project’s monitoring and control process, first establish the project baselines. This includes the scope, schedule and budget. Use this information to benchmark the project’s progress throughout the lifecycle.

Use a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) to break a project down into small units of work, or sub-tasks. This makes the work easier to manage and evaluate. This enables easier detection of issues, keeps the project under control and allows for easier progress verification. It also helps prevent team members from feeling overwhelmed.

Monitoring and control techniques

There are a range of monitoring and control techniques that can be used by project managers, including:

A Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM). This maps, or traces, the project’s requirements to the deliverables. The matrix correlates the relationship between two baseline documents. This makes the project’s tasks more visible. It also prevents new tasks or requirements being added to the project without approval.

This makes the project’s tasks more visible. It also prevents new tasks or requirements being added to the project without approval.

A control chart monitors the project’s quality. There are two basic forms of control chart; a univariate control chart displays one project characteristic, while a multivariate chart displays more than one.

Review and status meetings further analyse problems, finding out why something happened. They can also highlight any issues that might happen later.