Project Management Control

1. Project Management Control Presented by Jeff Harris April 14, 2003 Kennesaw State University BISM 3200

3. Project Management Overview Project management is a set of principles, methods, tools, and techniques for the effective management of objective-oriented work. The project management process involves these tasks: • Assembling a project team with the expertise to execute the project • Establishing the technical objectives • Planning the project • Managing changes to the scope • Controlling the undertaking so that it is completed on schedule and within budget

12. Five-Step Model for Project Control Step 2. Analyze the impact of possible variances This step is divided into three parts. Part 1 - Compare planned to actual results looking for variances. Questions to ask here include: Are we ahead or behind schedule?Are we over or under budget? Are we using the staff’s time wisely? Are we getting the results that we expected? Part 2 - Determine the cause of any problems. Typical causes of problems include poorly defined objectives, poor estimates, changes in scope, and staff problems. Part 3 - Prepare analysis or forecast reports for future completion dates and staff resource usage.

13. Five-Step Model for Project Control Step 3. Act on the problems discovered in the previous step There are three courses of action here: 1) Do nothing. 2) Look at the plan and make modifications to the schedule to solve the problem. 3) Start negotiating tradeoffs – like adding time, additional resources, more money, and resizing the scope of the project.

16. Using Status Reports for Project Control Status reports should contain five sections: 1. Where are we today? 2. Where will we be at the next report? 3. What is our budget position? 4. What items jeopardize project completion? 5. Who deserves recognition?

18. Questions ?