1. Project monitoring and Control
CO3808 and CO2403
Project monitoring and Control
Adapted from original by C. Casey UCLan

2. Adapted from original by C. Casey UCLan
Objectives
Explain the need for monitoring & control
SMART principles
Devise a monitoring process for a small project
Discuss rules for monitoring meetings
Explain the use of earned value diagrams
Suggest feasible control actions
Key lesson: spot problems early & take action
Adapted from original by C. Casey UCLan

3. Adapted from original by C. Casey UCLan
Monitoring & Control
Monitoring
Checking actual and likely progress against planned progress
Tracking Progress to date
Control
Making changes to plan if necessary
Altering the schedule
Escalating problems / issues if necessary
Taking action to avoid (bigger) future problems
Adapted from original by C. Casey UCLan

4. Why Monitor and Control?
If we don’t do this we have no way of knowing if we are on schedule
We may need to convince management that we are in control of a project (evidence)
We need to be able to spot problems to be able to react to them
As an aside this will help
Develop human resources (project management skills)
Preserve financial resources (by tracking costs)
Maintain team morale (it helps if the team know where they are)
Enhance reputation (if projects are seen to be controlled)
Adapted from original by C. Casey UCLan

5. Adapted from original by C. Casey UCLan
Using Milestones
What are they?
A low level planning tool
An identifiable outcome that can be fixed in time
Usually signify a ‘major’ event in the lifecycle of a project
Often set external to project team
Allocating Milestones
Identify the tasks which lead to a milestone being reached (and any dependencies)
Milestones are often associated with actual outcomes such as a design document, or a completed program
Agree the work-effort required to reach the milestone and the end-date
Agree with "worker“ – i.e. the person(s) allocated to the tasks that lead up to that milestone
Adapted from original by C. Casey UCLan

6. Being SMART (Milestones or Objectives)
Be Specific
define what is wanted or what is going to be achieved
Make sure it is Measurable
So that you know when it has been met
Make sure they are Achievable
it should be possible (get this Agreed with the client)
They should be Realistic
with the resources you have (time, cost and quality)
By what Time – agree the due-date of the milestone
Milestones are then fixed in your project schedule, this way you can determine if you are ahead or behind schedule.
Adapted from original by C. Casey UCLan

7. Adapted from original by C. Casey UCLan
Monitoring Progress
Know what has been done
Functionality & Quality
Know what has been spent (the cost of effort and other resources)
Know How long has been taken (the duration of time)
What remains to be done (is a task complete)
Time, cost and quality interact
you cannot increase quality without increasing costs or time used
Adapted from original by C. Casey UCLan

8. Adapted from original by C. Casey UCLan
Typical Problems
Unexpected technical difficulties
Lack of resources when needed (scheduling helps predict these)
Quality problems (client or project team not happy with performance)
Changes to specifications (change control procedures can help manage these)
Poor monitoring hiding problems (fire-fighting rather than managing problems)
Unpredicted changes in costs – can lead to budgeting difficulties
Inaccurate initial time estimates – can lead to all sorts of problems
External changes (e.g. Government rules) – can have very major impacts upon a project
Interference from other projects, business priorities will need to be determined
Adapted from original by C. Casey UCLan

9. Risk Management - Assessment
Risk Identification
A risk of only 1 Java programmer for a project
Identify the Risk Probability and Severity and rate them
High, Med or Low for each factor (1,2,3)..then Multiply together
Leads to an overall risk level – High, High is 1 and Low, Low is 9 etc..
H,H Risks need urgent action
L,L Risks may be insignificant
Risk
Severity
Likelihood
Action
Major changes in user requirement
High
Medium
Sign off user requirements
Use formal change control
Performance problems
Monitor performance tests
Deviations from plans
Low
Weekly progress meeting
Changes in regulations
Use government contacts
Adapted from original by C. Casey UCLan

10. Risk Management – Taking Action
What to do about a Risk – there are 2 strategies
How can the Risk be Avoided (reduce the probability of it occurring)
Don’t use Java!
How can the impact of the Risk be Reduced
Train another programmer
Ongoing Risk Management
Employ another Java programmer if a Java programmer leaves
Adapted from original by C. Casey UCLan

11. Monitoring: Reporting
Use the Plan (schedule)
define milestones
Collect Information on Progress
report current position & predict progress
Identify Problems
display information (charts and tables) & discuss
Management by exception
Give project team members responsibility for their own tasks
Only report if there is a deviation from the schedule
What are the Advantages & Disadvantages of this technique?
Adapted from original by C. Casey UCLan

12. Sources of information
Quality Control & Assurance Results
Regular Progress Reports from staff
Details of effort used so far
Estimate of effort needed to complete
Project new estimated total effort against Original estimated total effort
task
owner
days used
days left
planned days
late
s2.1
Staff1 5 12 -2
s2.2
Staff2 10 2 8 +4
s2.3
Staff3 3 +1
Adapted from original by C. Casey UCLan

13. Adapted from original by C. Casey UCLan
Monitoring: meetings
Hold Regularly at appropriate intervals
Discuss work in appropriate detail
What is appropriate – depends upon project / team size
Status of meetings is important – make sure that they are well attended
What will be considered?
all work activities belonging to group
all problems affecting group's goals
Adapted from original by C. Casey UCLan

14. Adapted from original by C. Casey UCLan
Meetings Need Rules
Participants need
authority to make commitments
appropriate information to make decisions
Rules: discipline and preparation
For problems bring a solution
reasons, impact, recovery plan, help needed
Solve time-consuming problems elsewhere
Encourage honesty (it is the best policy)
Record key points & disseminate quickly
Escalate disputes to appropriate manager to solve
Adapted from original by C. Casey UCLan

15. Adapted from original by C. Casey UCLan
Tracking Progress
Can be shown on Gantt charts
Adapted from original by C. Casey UCLan

16. Can be done by ‘Earned Value ‘
Each task has a value in terms of its contribution to the overall project – measured by time or effort
Project broken into sub-tasks etc.. To break this detail down
the proportion of the project (effort, or duration)
Task T1 T2 T3 T4 T5
Completed by 5 14 20 28 30
Earned Value % 17 45 67 94
100
Planned
Task T1 T3 T5 T2 T4
Completed by 4 8 16 28
Earned Value % 17 37 44 74
100
Actual
Adapted from original by C. Casey UCLan

17. Earned Value Chart About week 12, the project falls behind
% Complete
Planned
100
Actual 80 60 40 20
Weeks 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36
About week 12, the project falls behind
A simple technique – what disadvantages are there?

18. Adapted from original by C. Casey UCLan
Control Methods
Of Individual project team members
informal discussions to resolve simple issues
disciplinary action if necessary
Training if necessary
Of project Team
resource re-deployment to respond to problems
additional resources if required
Of the Project
alterations to schedule as a result of monitoring work
alterations to goals if necessary
communicating progress with team regularly
Adapted from original by C. Casey UCLan

19. Adapted from original by C. Casey UCLan
Control
Identify and Agree Solutions to problems
Involves technical and political issues
Implement the Solution
Allocate responsibility and authority
Check
Ensure problem has been solved
Learn
Act to prevent recurrence of problem
Modifying the processes rather than just fixing the immediate problem
Adapted from original by C. Casey UCLan

20. Adapted from original by C. Casey UCLan
Summary
Monitoring & control are important
Must be planned at start of project
These are two of the key skills of a good project manager
Monitoring Methods
Milestones
Diagrams
Meetings
Control involves people management
Adapted from original by C. Casey UCLan