Project management Topic 7 Controls

What is a control? Decision making activities – Planning – Monitor progress – Compare achievement with plan – Detect problems – Initiate corrective action – Authorise further work Ensure the project produces the right products Sticks to schedule and to planned resource usage and cost Project business case remains viable

Project Board controls Major controls – Project Initiation – End of Stage Assessment – Highlights Report – Exception Report – Exception Assessment – Project Closure Management by exception – Stage plan approved – Progress from reports – Deviation from plans, control action needed

Project initiation Before money and time is committed the project is thoroughly understood: – The project goals and reasons – What products will be delivered and how they will be delivered – Who has responsibility and authority – Project boundaries and external interfaces – What assumptions have been or can be made – What major risks might prevent success – When will products will be delivered – How much the project will cost – How the project will be controlled – How the project will be divided into stages – How the acceptability of its products will be assessed

Stages A collection of activities and product delivery managed as a unit All projects should be planned in stages Each stage is controlled with a decision point Decision points are to: – Review direction and project viability – Ensure key decisions are made before the detailed work of implementing them begins – Review risks Planning horizons – Unable to plan later stages in detail – broad outline only

Tolerance – The allowable deviation from the plan Deviations from project plan, stage plan, work package – Metric for time and cost, quality, risk, scope – Tolerances are assigned by a management level to the level below for the activity Project Board > Project Manager > Team Manager – When the tolerance is expected to be exceeded A work package, stage plan or project plan deviation will occur The level of management above must be notified

End of Stage Assessment Mandatory control point at the end of each stage Project Board approves work to date and decides whether or not to start the next stage – Reviews results (in End of Stage Report) with Stage Plan – Checks quality has been met – Checks for changes in the business case, external events, risks – Review overall project status – Reviews the next stage plan and baselines it after approval – Reviews tolerances set for the next stage

Reports Highlight – Contains achievements for the current period, achievements expected for the next period and actual or potential problems (early warnings) – Confirms that progress is being made within tolerances – Prepared for Project Board by Project Manager Exception – Describes a forecasted deviation, analysis of exceptions and options to proceed and recommendation

Controlled close Project Board ensures that: – All agreed products have been delivered and accepted, arrangements made for support and maintenance, statistics and lessons learned are gathered, plan made to check benefits have been achieved End Project Notification – Advise all of project close and release facilities and services Lessons Learned Report – What worked well, what didn’t Follow-on Actions Recommendations – Unfinished business, known problems, changes not implemented End Project Report – How well the project achieved its objectives Post-project Review – Review the benefits achieved by the project after some time in operations

Project Manager controls Day-to-day control within the stage Changes within the tolerance do not affect the business case Major responsibility to monitor progress – Authorises Work Packages Controls for quality, time, cost, reporting and handover requirements – Receives Checkpoint Reports Contains progress information on the activities completed and problems encountered for the work package

Work Packages Product Description – Defines the Product – Specifies standards to be used – Specifies quality criteria to make product fit for purpose – Initial checklist for checking quality All product descriptions must be approved by Project Board (including project assurance) Control information – Tolerances, timeframe, costs, reporting and handover requirements

Checkpoint Report What is going to plan? What is not going to plan? What is likely to fail? Checks all aspects of team work against the plan Indicates the status of the work done by the specialists for the stage Prepared for Project Manager by Team Manager on a regular time-driven basis

Quality Control Quality Reviews to inspect a completed product for errors Planned and independent inspection by peers – Errors are identified – Corrective action is planned – Corrections are checked Quality Review is logged as a record of inspection

Project Issues Change control for unexpected deviations from plan, questions and areas of concern, suggestions and requests – All are logged as Project Issues – Priority and impact are assessed – Decisions are made, escalation if effect of change will be outside of tolerance – Feedback is provided No change is made without knowledge and approval of appropriate management level

Fundamentals Each Stage is a control point for decision-making Management by exception with tolerances Major controls for Project Board – Project Initiation – End Stage Assessment – Highlights Report – Exception Report – Exception Assessment – Project Closure Major controls for Project Manager – Work Packages – Checkpoint Reports