Project management a managerial approach chapter 10

Project Management: A
Managerial Approach
Chapter 10 – Monitoring and
Information Systems
© 2006 John Wiley


Overview
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•
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Closed-loop System
Monitor System Design
Data Collection
Project Reports
Earned Value Charts

© 2006 John Wiley


Monitoring and Information Systems
• Evaluation and control of projects are the opposite sides of
project selection and planning
• Logic of selection dictates the components to be evaluated
• The details of the planning expose the elements to be
controlled
• Monitoring is the collecting, recording, and reporting
information concerning any and all aspects of project

performance
© 2006 John Wiley

Chapter 10-1


The Planning - Monitoring - Controlling Cycle
• The key things to be planned, monitored, and controlled
are time (schedule), cost (budget), and specifications
• The planning methods require a significantly greater
investment of time and energy early in the life cycle of
the project
• These methods significantly reduce the extent and cost
of poor performance and time/cost overruns

© 2006 John Wiley

Chapter 10-2


The Planning - Monitoring - Controlling Cycle
• The control process should be perceived as a
closed loop system
• In a closed loop system, revised plans and
schedules should follow corrective actions
• The planning-monitoring-controlling cycle is
continuously in process until the project is
complete
© 2006 John Wiley

Chapter 10-3


Project Control Closed-Loop
MANAGEMENT FEEDBACK LOOPS

“Customer”
IDs Need

“Ballpark”
Resource
Estimates

“Project Plan
And Schedule”

Develop
Functional
Specs

Verify
Specs w/
“Customer

Design Specs
to Engineering Specs

Functional
Specs to
Design Specs

Implement,
Monitor, &
Control

Stakeholder
Feedback

PM TEAM FEEDBACK LOOPS
© 2006 John Wiley

REPORT/MONITOR FEEDBACK LOOPS

PLANNING/SCHEDULING FEEDBACK LOOPS


Information Flow for the Planning Monitoring - Controlling Cycle

© 2006 John Wiley

Chapter 10-4


Designing the Monitoring System
• The first step in setting up any monitoring system is to
identify the key factors to be controlled
• The project manager must define precisely which specific
characteristics of performance, cost, and time should be
controlled
• Exact boundaries must then be established, within which

control should be maintained

© 2006 John Wiley

Chapter 10-5


Designing the Monitoring System
• The best source of items to be monitored is the project
action plan
• The monitoring system is a direct connection between
planning and control
• It is common to focus monitoring activities on data that
are easily gathered - rather than important
• Monitoring should concentrate primarily on measuring
various facets of output rather than intensity of activity
© 2006 John Wiley

Chapter 10-6


Designing the Monitoring System
• The measurement of project performance usually poses
the most difficult data gathering problem
• Performance criteria, standards, and data collection
procedures must be established for each of the factors to
be measured
• Information to be collected may consist of accounting
data, operating data, engineering test data, customer
reactions, specification changes and the like

© 2006 John Wiley

Chapter 10-7


Monitoring for Effectiveness
• Monitoring can serve to maintain high morale
on the project team
• Monitoring can also alert team members to
problems that will have to be solved
• The purpose of the monitoring system is to
gather and report data
• The purpose of the control system is to act on
the data
© 2006 John Wiley

Chapter 10-12


Data Collection Sources
• It is necessary to define precisely what pieces of
information should be gathered and when
• A large proportion of all data collected take one of
the following forms:
–
–
–
–
–

Frequency counts
Raw numbers
Subjective numeric ratings
Indicators
Verbal measures

© 2006 John Wiley

Chapter 10-8


Data Collection Reports
• After data collection has been completed, reports
on progress should be generated
• These reports include project status reports,
time/cost reports, and variance reports
• Causes and effects should be identified and trends
noted
• Plans, charts and tables should be updated on a
timely basis
© 2006 John Wiley

Chapter 10-9


How to Collect Data
• A count of “bugs” found during a series of tests
run on a new piece of software:

© 2006 John Wiley

Chapter 10-10


How to Collect Data
• Percent of specified performance met during
repeated trials

© 2006 John Wiley

Chapter 10-11


Data Diagnosis
• Significant differences from plan should be highlighted
or “flagged” so that they cannot be overlooked by the
controller
• Some care should be given to the issues of honesty and
bias
• An internal audit serves the purpose of ensuring all
information gathered is honest
• No audit can prevent bias - all data are biased by those
who report them
© 2006 John Wiley

Chapter 10-13


How to Collect Data
• The project manager is often dependent on team

members to call attention to problems
• The project manager must make sure that the bearer
of bad news is not punished; nor the admitter-to-error
executed
• The hider-of-mistakes may be shot with impunity and then sent to corporate Siberia

© 2006 John Wiley

Chapter 10-14


Reporting Process
• The monitoring system ought to be constructed so that it
addresses every level of management
• Reports do not need to be of the same depth or at the
same frequency for each level
• The relationship of project reports to the project action
plan or WBS is the key to the determination of both
report content and frequency

© 2006 John Wiley

Chapter 10-15


Reporting Process Effectiveness
• Reports must contain data relevant to the control of
specific tasks that are being carried out according to a
specific schedule
• The frequency of reporting should be great enough to

allow control to be exerted during or before the period in
which the task is scheduled for completion
• The timing of reports should generally correspond to the
timing of project milestones

© 2006 John Wiley

Chapter 10-16


Monitoring System Drivers
• The nature of the monitoring system should be consistent
with the logic of the planning, budgeting, and scheduling
systems
• The primary objective is to ensure achievement of the
project plan through control
• The scheduling and resource usage columns of the
project action plan will serve as the key to the design of
project reports
© 2006 John Wiley

Chapter 10-17


Reporting Outcomes
• Benefits of detailed, timely reports delivered to the proper
people:
–
–
–

–

Mutual understanding of the goals of the project
Awareness of the progress of parallel activities
More realistic planning for the needs of all groups
Understanding the relationships of individual tasks to one another
and the overall project
– Early warning signals of potential problems and delays
– Faster management action in response to unacceptable or
inappropriate work
– Higher visibility to top management

© 2006 John Wiley

Chapter 10-18


Report Types
• For the purposes of project management, we
can consider three distinct types of reports:
– Routine - Regular
– Exception – Management Interest
– Special analysis – “Lessons Learned”

© 2006 John Wiley

Chapter 10-19


Report Types

• Exception reports are useful in two cases:
– First, they are directly oriented to project
management decision making and should be
distributed to the team members who will have a
prime responsibility for decisions
– Second, they may be used when a decision is
made on an exception basis and it is desirable to
inform other managers as well as to document the
decision
© 2006 John Wiley

Chapter 10-20


Report Types
• Special analysis reports are used to disseminate
the results of special studies conducted as a part
of the project
– These reports may also be used in response to
special problems that arise during the project
– Usually they cover matters that may be of interest to
other project managers, or make use of analytic
methods that might be helpful on other projects
© 2006 John Wiley

Chapter 10-21


Meetings
• Most often, reports are delivered in face-to-face

meetings, and in telephone conference calls
• Some simple rules can lead to more productive
meetings:
– Use meetings for making group decisions
– Have preset starting and stopping times
– Make sure that homework is done prior to the
meeting
© 2006 John Wiley

Chapter 10-22