OBS 220
Chapter 14: Determining project progress and results
Aspects of project determination- determine can mean:
1. To give direction to or decide the course of
2. To be the cause of, to influence or to regulate
3. To limit in scope
4. To reach a decision
5. To come to a conclusion or resolution
The Project manager and decision making
During project execution a PM need to:
- Give direction
- Re-plan
- Influence
- Guard the scope
- Follow-up to ensure proper results are delivered
PM decision making involves:
- Personally making decisions
- Delegating decisions
- Being part of a group that makes decisions
- Facilitating a decision making process
Project balanced scorecard approach
• Concept behind balanced scorecard is that an organization needs to be evaluated
from the perspectives of
customer, internal
business, financial and
growth and innovation
• When project manager
seeks to monitor and
control a project,
different critical aspects
are often interrelated,
and thus their impacts on
each other must be
considered
Internal project issues
• These issues (integration, risk and communication) can be envisioned as the projects
nerve center
• Problems in any of them travel to other projects areas
• When dealing with project nerve center, project managers direct and manage
project work; monitor and control project work; perform integrated change control;
Created by: Sabrina Dias
, implement risk responses monitor project risk; and manage and monitor
communication
• PM needs to understand priorities and make decisions
Direct and manage project work
• Directing and managing project work = performing the work as defined in various
components of the project management plan, including approved changes, with an
intent to accomplish project objectives
• Project manager authorize work, they should empower others to the extent
possible, yet control them to the extent necessary
• Clear who is allowed to authorize each portion of work
• Work to be performed can come from one of several sources
• Primary source is the work package level of the work breakdown structure, however
approved corrective actions, preventive actions and defect repairs may also trigger
work to be authorized
• Resource-constrained projects – the project is limited by budget constraints
• Time-constrained/ completion date nonnegotiable – organizations may have to
expand more resources to complete project and project cost is likely to exceed
planned cost
Monitor and control project work
• Monitoring and controlling project work = a series of activities such as identifying
work packages for tracking, reviewing and documenting the progress to ensure that
the project execution meets performance objectives as defined in the project plan
• Monitor = reviewing the progress and capturing project performance data with
reference to the project plan; developing performance measures; and
communicating performance info
• Control = assessing actual performance obtained from monitoring a work element
and comparing it with planned performance, determining variances, analyzing trends
to identify and implement process improvements, evaluating possible alternatives,
and recommending appropriate corrective action as needed
• Variance = a measurable departure from a planned baseline or expected value, often
measured in quantitative terms, but qualitative measures cannot be ruled out
• Monitoring and controlling allow project managers to keep an eye on many projects
activities that can indicate how well the project performance is progressing
• Monitoring and controlling are not activities that are done only once , they are
continuous, they occur parallel with project execution, they need to be timely, and it
allows workers to self-control their work when possible
• Types of project control:
o Steering control
▪ Used extensively on projects
▪ Compare actual performance against project plan
▪ Work is compared to the plan on a continual basis to see if progress is
equal to, better than, or worse than project plan
o Go/no go control
▪ Used extensively on projects
Created by: Sabrina Dias
Chapter 14: Determining project progress and results
Aspects of project determination- determine can mean:
1. To give direction to or decide the course of
2. To be the cause of, to influence or to regulate
3. To limit in scope
4. To reach a decision
5. To come to a conclusion or resolution
The Project manager and decision making
During project execution a PM need to:
- Give direction
- Re-plan
- Influence
- Guard the scope
- Follow-up to ensure proper results are delivered
PM decision making involves:
- Personally making decisions
- Delegating decisions
- Being part of a group that makes decisions
- Facilitating a decision making process
Project balanced scorecard approach
• Concept behind balanced scorecard is that an organization needs to be evaluated
from the perspectives of
customer, internal
business, financial and
growth and innovation
• When project manager
seeks to monitor and
control a project,
different critical aspects
are often interrelated,
and thus their impacts on
each other must be
considered
Internal project issues
• These issues (integration, risk and communication) can be envisioned as the projects
nerve center
• Problems in any of them travel to other projects areas
• When dealing with project nerve center, project managers direct and manage
project work; monitor and control project work; perform integrated change control;
Created by: Sabrina Dias
, implement risk responses monitor project risk; and manage and monitor
communication
• PM needs to understand priorities and make decisions
Direct and manage project work
• Directing and managing project work = performing the work as defined in various
components of the project management plan, including approved changes, with an
intent to accomplish project objectives
• Project manager authorize work, they should empower others to the extent
possible, yet control them to the extent necessary
• Clear who is allowed to authorize each portion of work
• Work to be performed can come from one of several sources
• Primary source is the work package level of the work breakdown structure, however
approved corrective actions, preventive actions and defect repairs may also trigger
work to be authorized
• Resource-constrained projects – the project is limited by budget constraints
• Time-constrained/ completion date nonnegotiable – organizations may have to
expand more resources to complete project and project cost is likely to exceed
planned cost
Monitor and control project work
• Monitoring and controlling project work = a series of activities such as identifying
work packages for tracking, reviewing and documenting the progress to ensure that
the project execution meets performance objectives as defined in the project plan
• Monitor = reviewing the progress and capturing project performance data with
reference to the project plan; developing performance measures; and
communicating performance info
• Control = assessing actual performance obtained from monitoring a work element
and comparing it with planned performance, determining variances, analyzing trends
to identify and implement process improvements, evaluating possible alternatives,
and recommending appropriate corrective action as needed
• Variance = a measurable departure from a planned baseline or expected value, often
measured in quantitative terms, but qualitative measures cannot be ruled out
• Monitoring and controlling allow project managers to keep an eye on many projects
activities that can indicate how well the project performance is progressing
• Monitoring and controlling are not activities that are done only once , they are
continuous, they occur parallel with project execution, they need to be timely, and it
allows workers to self-control their work when possible
• Types of project control:
o Steering control
▪ Used extensively on projects
▪ Compare actual performance against project plan
▪ Work is compared to the plan on a continual basis to see if progress is
equal to, better than, or worse than project plan
o Go/no go control
▪ Used extensively on projects
Created by: Sabrina Dias
