Methods to Monitor Projects

Overview

Overview

The monitoring and controlling process differentiates from other processes (i.e., initiating, planning, executing, and closing out), in that, it spans throughout the whole project. Project managers should ensure that everything is on track (e.g., scheduled activities are completed on time, there is no budget overrun), and take the project back on track if it deviates from its three main baselines, which are triple (iron) constraints, scope, schedule and cost, and other constraints such as quality and resources, and the satisfaction of the client and stakeholder eventually. Project managers implement a holistic approach by focusing on all the aspects of a project to keep the project on track and accomplish a successful closeout where the client and stakeholders are satisfied with the project outcomes. There are various techniques utilized to monitor and control the projects, which have been discussed in sections 11.2 and 11.3 in this chapter.

Source: Abdullah Oguz, https://pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu/project-management-navigating-the-complexity/chapter/11-0-learning-objectives-and-overview/
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Monitoring and Controlling Project Work

Before the project gets approval to continue, business (or systems) analysts, or a team of analysts and product owners combined with representatives of business units and other relevant stakeholders create a business case and benefits realization management plan. Project managers may also participate in this process if the organization has a PMO (see Chapters 2 and 3). At the very beginning of the project, that is the initiation phase, the project charter is prepared, and with the approval of the project sponsor and the client, project plans are built upon those documents and processes in order to elaborate on the main pillars of the project (i.e., scope, schedule, cost, quality, risks, resources, and stakeholders). While establishing a strong baseline is a key factor in project success, ineffective monitoring and controlling can spoil all the efforts that were done to establish this strong baseline. Let's remember the causes which lead to project failure to meet the project activities as discussed in Chapter 1 under "1.4 Project Success". According to the PMI 2020 Pulse of the Profession report, the factors responsible for the failure were listed as a lack of clearly defined and/or achievable milestones and objectives to measure progress (37%), poor communication (19%), lack of communication by senior management (18%), employee resistance (14%), and insufficient funding (9%). The monitoring and controlling process relies on clearly defined milestones and objectives to measure progress. One of the key responsibilities of a project manager is to monitor and control all the project work and ensure that everything is on track. This process consists of tracking, reviewing, and reporting the overall progress to meet the performance objectives defined in the project management plan.

It is important to note that it is much easier to monitor project success on small projects. Due to far fewer team members, stakeholders, and complexities to consider, the project's progress is more easily observed. However, on higher complexity projects that require many people, who are often spread out over different locations, project leaders are unable to use simple observation to assess progress. In these instances, it is important to have more robust tools and techniques (see sections 1.2 and 1.3 for qualitative and quantitative monitoring tools) that monitor the success of the full project team.

The project team evaluates its performance against the plans that have been developed. Every project requires a monitoring and control system. This system considers the following:

1. What information is needed and how should it be collected?
2. When (and with what frequency) should this information be collected?
3. Who should collect and analyze this information?
4. How should this information be represented from a reporting perspective?
5. Who should prepare the reports?
6. Who should receive the reports?

Monitoring and controlling project work allows stakeholders to understand the current state of the project, recognize the actions taken to address any performance issues, and have visibility into the future project status with cost and schedule forecasts. It is important to note that it is much easier to monitor the progress and performance issues on small projects. Due to far fewer team members, stakeholders, and complexities to consider, the project's progress is more easily observed. However, in more complex projects that require many people, who are often spread out over different locations, project leaders are unable to use simple observation to assess progress. In these instances, it is important to have more robust tools and techniques that monitor the success of the full project team (see Sections 11.1.2, 11.2, and 11.3 below).

The Difference between Monitoring and Controlling

Although the process is traditionally named "monitoring and controlling", we should know that there are differences between these two concepts. Controlling cannot be carried out by the project team if monitoring has not been done properly or at all. Thus, monitoring leads to controlling while controlling may require more monitoring if controlling determines that sufficient information couldn't be derived from the monitoring process.

Let's clarify the distinction between monitoring and controlling.

Monitoring

• Collecting project performance data
• Producing performance measures
• Reporting and disseminating performance information

Controlling:

• Comparing actual performance with planned performance
• Analyzing variances
• Assessing trends to affect process improvements
• Evaluating possible alternatives
• Recommending appropriate corrective action as needed

As seen above, we collect the data and analyze them to create performance measures. For example, our project dashboard can indicate our current status regarding the schedule and budget. We can also have a detailed Excel file exhibiting our day-to-day activities and actual costs. If this data is produced properly, we can continue with the controlling first by comparing the actual performance with planned performance, that is the project baseline. After we evaluate the variances and trends, we can evaluate possible alternatives to recommend corrective actions.

Monitoring and controlling process involves regularly measuring progress on a project to ensure it continues meeting objectives and addressing current organizational needs. It involves determining what corrective action is required, when it must occur, and who must do it. Monitoring begins at the very beginning of the project (initiation) and increases in density in the planning phase because it is easy to get off track with planning efforts (Figure 11.1). Besides, the execution of project activities would need a considerable amount of attention from the project manager and team to monitor and control activities and performance measures (Figure 11.1). When the traditional predictive/waterfall development methodology is used, the team monitors performance against the timeline, budget, scope, and quality objectives for the entire project. When an adaptive approach is used, progress within the iteration is assessed (see Chapter 12).

Tools Utilized to Conduct Effective Monitoring

Effective monitoring requires an effective system that allows the project team to collect performance data accurately and with minimum errors. The commonly collected information includes the status of the project budget and the project schedule. The work completed to date, what has yet to be completed, and the likelihood of completing the project on time and within budget are of particular interest. How this monitoring is performed quantitatively will be detailed below in 11.3 "Earned Value Management". In addition, it is important to identify the risks and issues that require attention. Whenever possible, information technology should be used to collect and analyze the information and distribute the reports. Different organizations require different roles to collect and analyze the project information. In organizations with a project management office (PMO), PMOs may be accountable for progress reporting in an "end-to-end" way, meaning they would be involved from information collection all the way to report distribution. Organizational policies (from a formal perspective) and organizational culture (from an informal perspective) influence who and how progress monitoring is performed.

One of the common methods used to monitor progress is team meetings. Team meetings are highly collaborative and serve many purposes, including information sharing and team development. Depending on the nature of the project, these meetings may be focused exclusively on sharing the status of tasks underway. It is also possible for status discussions to lead to team planning. The individuals who participate in these meetings vary depending on many factors, such as development methodology in use, organizational culture, project complexity, and status of the overall project. The frequency of team meetings is pretty higher in agile (adaptive) projects than the traditional (predictive/waterfall) projects in order to ensure agility, flexibility, on-time interventions, and timely feedback from team members and the product owner. For example, agile teams, in particular Scrum teams, have daily standups to discuss what has been completed since the last standup meeting, what is planned to complete until the next meeting, and what the impediments, risks, and problems that members may encounter are (see Chapter 12, Section 12.2.2).

Project teams typically develop different reports for different stakeholders. Stakeholders who have a high interest and high power/influence will receive more information, more frequently (recall the stakeholder power/interest grid presented in Chapter 5). Depending on the priority and duration of the project, the reporting frequency could be daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly.

We can mention three different types of project reports as follows:

1. Status reports – where the project stands at a specific point in time
2. Progress reports – what the project team has accomplished during a certain period
3. Forecast reports – future project status based on current project status and known trends

Tables 11.1, 11.2, and 11.3 exhibit short examples of status, progress and forecast reports, respectively, based on our example of the overall case discussed throughout the book (see Section 1.2.4 "Case Study 1.2: Characteristics of Another Project Undertaken by Grocery LLC (M-Commerce Project)").

Activities/Deliverables Completed Since Last Reporting Period

WBS #

Activities & Deliverables for the Next Reporting Period

Qualitative Monitoring

Qualitative monitoring, as its name implies, involves measuring quality rather than quantity. In the context of project management, qualitative monitoring addresses the following questions:

• Scope: Is the team delivering on the intended scope in order to fulfill the project's objectives and organizational needs?
• Quality: Is the quality of the deliverables meeting stakeholder expectations?
• Stakeholders: Are stakeholders engaged?
• Communications: Are project communications effective?
• Risks: Are risks and opportunities being effectively managed by the team?
• Resources: Are resources being effectively managed and available as expected?
• Procurement: Are the expectations outlined in procurement contracts being adhered to by vendors?
• Team Management: Has the team become high-performing and are individual team members meeting performance expectations?

Validating and Controlling Scope

The approach taken to monitor and control scope depends on the development methodology used. The predictive/waterfall approach involves a sequential definition of requirements and scope, which then leads to solution development. This approach is commonly utilized when the organization has a clear vision of the project's end outcome. Given this, monitoring and controlling scope occurs with the premise that significant scope changes are not expected. Validating scope involves formal acceptance of the completed project deliverables by the project sponsor and their assigned designates. Acceptance often requires deliverable reviews where the quality of the work is inspected before sign-off is provided. Changes may be required. These changes can be a result of poor quality (which leads to re-work) or new requirements intended to improve the organizational value of the project's outcomes. New requirements are carefully controlled. This is necessary because once solution development begins, the project's resources, timelines, and budget were all defined with a specific scope in mind. A scope change may mean those resources, timelines, and budgets are now insufficient to deliver on the increased scope. Controlling scope in this situation requires the project team to assess the impact of the new requirement on all the project's constraints. If necessary, the team will seek approval for additional funding, time, and/or resources to pursue the new requirement. Project leaders need to reserve judgment on scope changes until the impact and benefits are clearly understood. The term "scope creep" refers to the poorly controlled expansion of scope over time. This means that the scope expands, perhaps unintentionally, without an understanding of its impact on the project's other constraints, such as time and budget. Therefore, utilizing an integrated approach for change management is a critical success factor for projects using the predictive/waterfall approach.

Projects that follow an adaptive development methodology, such as agile, view scope change very differently. Scope definition, as well as solution development and testing, occur in an iterative or incremental fashion. As new requirements are identified, they are evaluated from a cost/complexity and benefit perspective, and if worth pursuing, they will be scheduled into a future iteration. A continuous improvement mindset encourages scope definition to occur in cycles.

Controlling Quality

Quality is about ensuring the expectations of the project sponsor have been met. This involves ensuring the expectations of the end-user community are well understood. High quality is achieved by planning for it (proactive) rather than by reacting to problems after they are identified (reactive).

Standards are chosen and processes are established to achieve those standards in the planning phase. Project quality focuses on the end deliverables that reflect the purpose of the project. The project leader is responsible for developing a quality management plan that defines the quality expectations and for ensuring the specifications and expectations are met. In the execution phase, the project team attempts to prevent quality issues from occurring with the use of quality management techniques, such as checklists, assessments, and lean six-sigma tools. Lean six-sigma tools are focused on creating efficient and effective processes that involve error-proofing methods.

In the monitoring and control phase, the project team reviews the project deliverables to ensure they are ready for review and sign-off. Ideally, this review leads to deliverable acceptance. However, the team may encounter problems that they are unable to prevent. When this occurs, the team's objective is to determine how to fix these problems. One of the most effective ways to address a problem is to begin by understanding its root cause(s). Cause-and-effect diagrams, which are also referred to as fishbone or Ishikawa diagrams, are very effective for this purpose.

Monitoring Stakeholder Engagement

Project teams cannot control stakeholders. However, they can significantly influence their level of engagement. During the planning phase of a project, the stakeholder register is created (see Chapter 5) which is an effective tool for keeping track of a project's stakeholders, their relative interest in the project, and their level of power/influence over the project's outcomes. The register provides an effective starting place for determining how to engage stakeholders according to their power and interest levels if a Power/Interest Grid is used.

During the monitoring and control phase, the project team looks for new stakeholders and monitors the engagement level of existing stakeholders. Engagement techniques will vary from one organization to another as their respective cultural norms and values influence how individuals work together. Some organizations prefer face-to-face interaction while others prefer the use of electronic messaging and project team websites. Whatever the methods are used to engage stakeholders, it is important to keep stakeholders informed of the project's progress and to find the right approaches for meaningfully involving stakeholders throughout the life of the project.

A project leader's interpersonal skills are critical in stakeholder management. Some stakeholders may have become unresponsive to the project team's requests. When this occurs, the project leader's relationship-building skills will be put to the test as they attempt to understand the stakeholder's actions. Conflict resolution skills, such as negotiating, are vital because stakeholders are very likely to have differing priorities, and successfully navigating these conflicts can be the difference between project success and project failure.

Monitoring Communications

Communication is one of the most effective ways to keep team members and all other stakeholders engaged. In order for this communication to be effective, it must be developed and delivered in ways that consider stakeholder roles and communication preferences. During the planning phase, a communication plan would be created to guide the project team's communication efforts throughout the project (See Chapter 6). It is important for project leaders to proactively determine if the selected communication methods will be suitable for the key stakeholders. This is done by directly asking them and monitoring their responsiveness to the communication delivered. Another important way to determine if project stakeholders are well-informed is to pay careful attention to the questions they ask. Questions about project progress that have been addressed in recent project communications are a good sign that the communication techniques may not be effective for a particular stakeholder. When this occurs, it is time to revisit the communication plan and make the appropriate adjustments.

Controlling Procurements

Monitoring procurement includes ensuring the vendors' performance meets the agreed-upon, often contractual, requirements. The complexity of the project determines the number and type of vendors procured. This, in turn, determines the nature of the monitored activities. For instance, projects that only require supplies to be purchased externally will have much simpler vendor management processes than projects that had to outsource the completion of some of the work to external consultants.

Key tools and techniques that may be used in procurement management include inspections, audits, formal change control methods, vendor-produced performance reports, payment systems, and contract administration.

Monitoring Risks

Monitoring and controlling risks involves implementing a risk management plan. A key aspect of this plan is often the risk register, which helps the team keep track of the project risks, triggers (early warning signs), and risk responses (See Chapter 10). Risk responses can be implemented in any phase of the project as long as documentation is kept up to date.

Many project teams establish contingency plans and contingency funds to account for all types of risks (e.g., negative and positive risks, individual and overall project risks). When these risks materialize, the project team determines if the contingency plans and/or funds will address these risks and, if so, they will be implemented. If contingency plans/funds don't suffice, the project team must identify workarounds.  Contingency plans and workarounds are then monitored to determine if they were effective. Additional corrective action may be required.

Controlling Resources

Projects require human resources, physical resources, and services in order to produce the desired outcomes (See Chapter 8). During monitoring and controlling, the project leader assesses the effectiveness of all types of resources.

With respect to the project team, effective project managers continuously assess the performance of the team and its members. Effective coaching and mentoring skills are essential and can be the difference between project success and failure. In addition, a project leader must sometimes make the difficult decision to replace team members when they are not able to perform as expected or the ensuing conflicts cannot be resolved. Conflict management skills are important in this regard. Proactive conflict management requires the project leader to continuously monitor stress levels in the team in an attempt to anticipate the likelihood of rising conflict. Monitoring resource utilization levels in the project schedule and staying connected to project team members are also critical activities that the project leader must perform. Lastly, many projects require people with different skills at different times. Project leaders should be actively monitoring when these skills will be required and ensuring people join/transition off the project at the appropriate times.

The availability and effectiveness of physical resources are also closely monitored. In some instances, faulty or ineffective equipment has to be replaced. If the scope of the project changes, new equipment and technology may be required, which, in turn, may lead to additional work in procurement management.

Monitoring and controlling is about integrating all the teams while assuring that work is being completed at a steady rate to keep the project on track. This phase is vital to the overall success of the project. Thus, requiring additional, highly-skilled resources, is a key consideration during the planning phase.

Earned Value Management (EVM)

A project manager must regularly compare the amount of money spent with the budgeted amount and report this information to key stakeholders. In addition, project managers must also compare the progress of the actual work completed with the estimated durations in the project schedule. One of the quantitative monitoring techniques project managers utilize is Earned Value Management (EVM) which combines scope, schedule and cost baselines to determine the project's well-being and to decide whether an action is required in case of problems. EVM is essential to project success. It is used extensively in many business fields and organizations such as the Department of Defense (DOD) and construction industries while the IT industry has not due to the reasons such as practicing agile (adaptive) project management and hence lack of a fixed baseline.

EVM is a quantitative monitoring technique that uses metrics and indexes to assess project performance. Earned value analysis compares the performance measurement baseline to the actual schedule and cost performance. EVM integrates the scope baseline with the cost baseline and schedule baseline to form the performance measurement baseline [ii]. The application of earned value in the early initiation and planning phases of a project increases the validity and usefulness of the cost and schedule baseline and is an excellent verification of the project scope assumptions and the scope baseline. Once established, these baselines become the best source for understanding project performance during execution. A comparison of actual performance (both cost and schedule) against this baseline provides feedback on project status and data, not only for projecting probable outcomes but also for management to make timely and useful decisions using objective data. EVM, known as "management with the lights on", is based on the principle that past patterns and trends can indicate future conditions. EVM helps us clearly and objectively see where our project is headed compared to where it's supposed to be.

EVM can help answer the questions below:

• Are we delivering more or less work than planned?
• When is the project likely to be completed?
• Are we currently over or under budget?
• What is the remaining work likely to cost?
• What is the entire project likely to cost?
• How much will we be over or under budget at the end of the project?
• What is driving the significant cost and/or schedule variances?

In EVM, there is an important point that must be clarified. We will always see monetary amounts even though we are measuring the scope or schedule performance. The denominator for all of them is the currency we are using for our project. If we are using the US dollar, the denominator would be the US dollar. The analogy for EVM would be doing shopping in a market. We buy different items such as olive oil, cookies, milk, eggs, and laundry detergent. All these items are converted to a monetary value, and it allows us to compare the prices between different brands. In the end, we know the total amount in dollars. This is exactly what is happening for EVM. Therefore, when we see a result showing dollars, it doesn't necessarily mean that it is related to the cost. It can indicate a problem in scope (e.g., not all planned activities have been completed) or schedule (e.g., the project is behind schedule).

Main EVM Parameters

To start with EVM, we should elaborate on three key dimensions. They are:

1. Planned Value (PV) is the amount of work that is estimated and planned to be done by a particular date in the project. This work is measured by the cost of planned work by a specific date. As explained above, EVM measures all the values with monetary units to create a common measurement scale. PV includes contingency reserve while excluding management reserve. Microsoft Project also uses the term BCWS (Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled) besides PV. Total PV can be referred to as Performance Measurement Baseline (PMB) or Budget at Completion (BAC).

Let's consider our Grocery LLC's m-commerce project. Let's assume that we outsourced the development component to a software company. Therefore, this component would be a project for this company. They divided the development of the mobile app interface and the backend part into ten activities (e.g., user profile and settings, items to purchase with pictures, features and prices, payment, order tracking, databases, etc.). There are ten activities to finish the development of the mobile app (scope baseline). Then, we can continue with the testing of the mobile app. Each development activity was scheduled to be three days. In total, the mobile app will be ready to test in thirty days (schedule baseline). Let's also assume that we need to pay $2,000 for each phase. Total cost baseline for all ten activities is $20,000 ($2,000 x 10). For earned value analysis, we consider $20,000 as our total planned value which is also named BAC (Budget at Completion).

2. Earned Value (EV) is the amount of work that has been completed by a particular date in the project. This work is measured by the cost of work performed and completed by a specific date. Microsoft Project also uses the term BCWP (Budgeted Cost of Work Performed) besides EV.

Let's assume that the company we outsourced the development component finished five activities at the end of the eighteenth day. The planned value by that day was 6 activities, which amounts to $12,000 ($2,000 x 6). However, only five activities were completed, which is 50% of the planned work. This is our earned value which can be measured as $10,000 ($2,000 x 5).

3. Actual Cost (AC) is the sum of the amounts which has been spent on the project so far. Microsoft Project also uses the term ACWP (Actual Cost of Work Performed) besides AC.

For the five activities completed, we paid $11,200. This is the actual cost at the end of the eighteenth day (the status date).

Variance Analysis

After we calculate PV, EV, and AC, we can conduct variance analysis to figure out if we are on, over, or under budget, and if we are on, behind, or ahead of the schedule.

Cost Variance (CV) and Cost Performance Index (CPI)

The difference between EV and AC is the cost variance (CV).

CV = EV – AC

If the cost variance is negative, we can conclude that the project as of the status date is over budget. If the cost variance is positive, this indicates that the project is under budget. IF CV is zero, it means that the project is on track in terms of the budget.

In our example, at the end of the eighteenth day, we could finish five activities. EV is $10,000, and AC is $11,200.

CV = 10,000 – 11,200 = -1,200

It means that our project stands over the budget.

Instead of CV, we can also use CPI (Cost Performance Index) which gives us a ratio instead of an absolute number. CPI uses the same variables as CV but expresses them as a ratio. CPI is calculated as follows:

CPI = EV / AC

CPI = 10,000 / 11,200 = 0.89

CPI is a measure of the cost efficiency of budget resources. When CPI is less than 1.0, it indicates a cost overrun. When CPI is greater than 1.0, it indicates a cost underrun for the work completed. If it is 1.0, it indicates that the project budget is on track.

Schedule Variance (SV) and Schedule Performance Index (SPI)

The difference between planned value and actual progress (earned value) is the schedule variance (SV).

SV = EV − PV

If less value has been earned than was planned, the schedule variance is negative, which means the project is behind schedule. If there is a positive variance, it indicates that the project is ahead of its planned schedule. If SV is zero, it means that the project schedule is on track.

In our example, at the end of the eighteenth day, we could finish five activities. EV is $10,000, and PV is $12,000.

SV = 10,000 – 12,000 = -2,000

It means that our project is behind its schedule. -$2,000 does not indicate a number related to the cost. As mentioned above, the monetary unit is the common measure we are using for the schedule baseline and variance as well.

Instead of SV, we can also use SPI (Schedule Performance Index) which gives us a ratio instead of an absolute number. SPI uses the same variables as SV but expresses them as a ratio. SPI is calculated as follows:

SPI = EV / PV

SPI = 10,000 / 12,000 = 0.83

SPI is a measure of schedule efficiency. It measures how efficiently the project team is accomplishing the work. When SPI is less than 1.0, it indicates that the project is behind schedule while an SPI that is greater than 1.0 indicates that the project is ahead of schedule. If it is 1.0, it indicates that the project schedule is on track.

Trend Analysis

After PV, EV, and AC values are generated, and variance analysis is performed, we can conduct trend analysis to predict how our project may perform during the rest of the project, and when the project is completed.

Trend Analysis for Schedule

We can estimate the new project completion time. In our example, the project is behind schedule. Let's figure out if we may have a delay if the SPI remains the same. We had scheduled to finish the development component in 30 days. The current SPI is 0.83. If we cannot improve the SPI, we will end up with a delay.

Adjusted schedule estimate = Original schedule estimate (schedule baseline) / SPI

Adjusted schedule estimate = 30 days / 0.83 = 36.14 days

Therefore, we may have a delay of 6 days in this component.

Trend Analysis for Budget

We can estimate the new project budget. In our example, the project is over budget. Therefore, may we expect to spend more than what we estimated in our cost baseline (BAC – budget at completion which is the total PV)? If we assume that CPI won't change during the rest of the project, we can use the formula below:

EAC (Estimate at Completion) = BAC / CPI

EAC = $20,000 / 0.89 = $22,472

Therefore, we can estimate that we may find ourselves spending $22,472 instead of $20,000 which was our cost baseline. The difference between BAC and EAC gives us VAC (Variance at Completion).

VAC = BAC – EAC

VAC = $20,000 – $22,472 = -$2,472

Thus, if we cannot improve the current CPI, we may spend an additional $2,427 when the project is completed.

Another parameter that we can generate is ETC (Estimate to Complete).

ETC = EAC – AC

ETC = $22,472 – $11,200 = $11,272

Thus, we expect to spend $11,272 during the rest of the project.

The third parameter we can use is TCPI (To-Complete Performance Index). Project managers use TCPI to calculate the CPI that is required to get back the project on budget.

TCPI = (BAC-EV) / (BAC-AC)

TCPI = ($20,000 – $10,000) / ($20,000 – $11,200) = 1.14

The project manager should assess the CPI (1.14) required to get the project back on track with its cost baseline. This assessment would be based on various factors such as the availability and quality of resources for the remaining activities, and the project team's commitment and performance.

Change Control Process

The monitoring and controlling process is a constant process starting at the very beginning of the project, and it finishes when the project is closed out. As detailed in Section 11.1, monitoring and controlling involves regularly measuring progress on a project to ensure it continues meeting objectives and addressing current organizational needs. Project managers monitor the project work by collecting project performance data, producing performance measures, and reporting and disseminating performance information. Then, they compare actual performance with planned performance, analyze variances and assess trends to affect process improvements (see Section 11.3), and finally evaluate possible alternatives and recommend appropriate corrective action as needed.

In order to manage the control process effectively, projects must have a change management plan and a configuration management plan which are sub-plans of the overall project management plan. A change management plan provides the direction for managing the change control process and documents the roles and responsibilities of the approval authority or the change control board if available. The configuration management plan describes the configurable items of the project and identifies the items that will be recorded and updated so that the product of the project remains consistent and operable. Therefore, these plans guide project managers and teams while they need to make a change in the project, and configure primarily the product scope.

When we find a problem, we can't just make a change since we should evaluate possible alternatives and consider risk response strategies and the availability of contingency reserves. What if corrective actions exceed our schedule or budget constraints? We need to evaluate triple constraint elements (scope, schedule, and cost) and other constraints such as resources and quality. Compromising the quality of the outcomes and deliverables would endanger the approval process, and hence lead to a project failure. Therefore, we have to figure out if it is worth making the change. Change control is a set of procedures that let us make changes in an organized way.

Anytime we need to make a change to our project management plan, we need to start with a change request. This request is generally in the form of a document (Table 11.4). Any change to the project needs to be documented so we can figure out what needs to be done, by when, and by whom. Any stakeholder can request a change. Once the change request is documented, it is submitted to a change control board, in particular, if the project is within a program or portfolio, and this necessitates the submission of change requests exceeding a specified cost. A change control board is a group of people who consider changes for approval. Not every change control system has a board. The change control system is designed based on various factors such as the size and complexity of the project, organizational policies, business field, and contract requirements. The change requests are generally submitted to the project sponsor by the project manager for review and approval. The project manager is responsible to monitor the change process from the very beginning to the very end. Putting the recommended changes through change control will help us evaluate the impact and update all the necessary documents. Not all changes are approved, but if the changes and repairs are approved, we send them back to the team to put them in place.

Change requests are made to modify documents, deliverables, and baselines. They are issued to expand, adjust, or reduce project scope, product scope, or quality requirements and schedule or cost baselines. They can include corrective actions, preventive actions, defect repairs, and updates. Project teams may need to assess the product and project scope, and this may require the teams to discuss the issues with stakeholders to determine if there is a need to revise requirements or add new ones.

In order to keep the track of change requests and actions taken, a "Project Change Request Tracking Log" (Table 11.5) can be held along with an "Issue Log".

Although monitoring and controlling process is performed throughout the project, most of the effort would be expended especially during the execution (implementation) phase. Resources outside the core project team are assigned, and costs are usually the highest during this phase. Besides, scheduling issues would arise in this phase as project activities are carried out and human and physical resources are assigned. Project managers experience the greatest conflicts over the schedule in this phase. Some activities may take longer than estimated. Some risks may occur creating schedule slippages. Project managers first apply techniques without the need for a change request if triple constraints aren't affected. Nevertheless, project managers should implement a holistic approach by taking into account all constraints and knowledge areas.

Project Software

These images use Microsoft Project software; however, most project software will have the same capabilities.

This sectionwill elaborate on how to conduct an EVM analysis. Table 11.6 provides a project with 15 activities.

In this project, the resources that are assigned to each activity are given in Table 11.7. All the resources are "Work" type resources which means that they are either people or equipment.

Under the View tab, we click the "Resource Sheet". Then, we can type the resource names and costs as seen in Table 11.7. The Resource Sheet on MS Project is given in Figure 11.3.

Let's select all the resources except additional costs from the drop-down menu for each resource on the Gantt Chart view. Besides, we add a new column "Cost" to the left of "Resource Names". As can be seen in Figure 11.4, the total estimated cost of the project is $52,400. This figure would be also our BAC (Budget at Completion).

Under the "Task" tab, we can select "Tracking Gantt" from the drop-down menu (Figure 11.5).

In order to create schedule and cost baselines, we must create a baseline by clicking "Set Baseline" under the "Project" tab. We can click OK as shown in Figure 11.6.

The Tracking Gantt Chart is shown in Figure 11.7. As we haven't indicated any progress yet, all the progress percentages are zero percent. Each bar is now composed of two horizontal parts. The lower part which is darker displays the baseline.

The project started on June 6, 2022. The estimated completion date is December 30, 2022. Let's assume that some time passed in the project. Let's make the current date September 18, 2022. Under the "Project" tab, click "Project Information". Changing the current date won't suffice (Figure 11.8). It will help us to see the date on the Gantt Chart. Rather, we need to change the status date to create a scenario as of September 18, 2022.

Now, we can change the completion percentages for each activity, and add "Additional Resources" to create the impression as if we made some progress on activities, and spent more money on some of the activities. As indicated in Table 11.7, additional costs are added to activities C and F (Figure 11.9). The project cost changed to $55,800 with the additional costs from its cost baseline of $52,400.

As shown in Table 11.8, we will also change the completion percentages for each activity.

We can use the shortcuts for completion percentages (0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, 100%). Or double-clicking a task opens the "Task Information" window. From the "Percent complete" on this window, we can type any percentage (Figure 11.10).

After we mark the completion percentages for each task, we can see the percentages to the left of each bar on the Gantt Chart (Figure 11.11). Besides, the upper horizontal section of each bar will get darker for 100% completion, and the "Indicators" column will place ticks for these activities. Activity H has a 50% completion. Therefore, its upper horizontal section turned darker red for half of the activity. We should remember that weekends are considered holidays on Microsoft Project (default setting). Therefore, the coverage area may not necessarily display a 50% area on a bar.

So, our scenario dictates that we finished 100% of activities A, B, C, D, E, F, and G, and 50% of activity H. Besides, we spent more money on activities C and F.

Now, we can open the EVM table. In the View tab, we click Tables and select More Tables. In the new menu window, we choose Earned Value. In the new sheet, we should insert SPI as a new column to the right of the existing "SV" column, and CPI as a new column to the right of the existing "CV" column. Figure 11.12 displays the Earned Value table view as of September 18, 2022. An SPI value of 0.92 indicates that our project is behind schedule. A CPI value of 0.88 indicates that our project has an overrun budget issue. Microsoft Project provides EAC, BAC, and VAC values (Figure 11.12). Our cost baseline was $52,400. If we assume that the CPI value of 0.88 doesn't change during the rest of the project, we can estimate to pay $59,761 (EAC – Estimate at Completion) by the end of the project, which is $7,361 (VAC – Variation at Completion) more than our cost baseline.

Our schedule baseline was 30 weeks (Figure 11.2). SPI is 0.92 as of September 18, 2022. If we cannot improve this SPI and it remains the same during the rest of the project, there may be a delay of 2.6 weeks [1 – (30 weeks / 0.92)].

Key Takeaways

• The monitoring and controlling process consists of tracking, reviewing, and reporting the overall progress to meet the performance objectives defined in the project management plan.
• Project managers monitor the project work by collecting project performance data, producing performance measures, and reporting and disseminating performance information. Then, they compare actual performance with planned performance, analyze variances and assess trends to affect process improvements, and finally evaluate possible alternatives and recommend appropriate corrective action as needed.
• Qualitative monitoring involves measuring quality rather than quantity, and it focuses on the scope, quality, stakeholders, communications, risks, resources, procurement, and team management.
• Earned Value Management (EVM) is a quantitative monitoring technique that uses metrics and indexes to assess project performance. Earned value analysis compares the performance measurement baseline to the actual schedule and cost performance.
• The main EVM parameters are planned value (PV), earned value (EV), and actual cost (AC).
• CPI is a measure of the cost efficiency of budget resources. When CPI is less than 1.0, it indicates a cost overrun.
• SPI is a measure of schedule efficiency. When SPI is less than 1.0, it indicates that the project is behind schedule.
• After PV, EV, and AC values are generated, and variance analysis (e.g., CPI and SPI) is performed, we can conduct trend analysis to predict how our project may perform during the rest of the project, and when the project is completed.
• In order to manage the control process effectively, projects must have a change management plan and a configuration management plan which are sub-plans of the overall project management plan.
• Any change to the project needs to be documented so we can figure out what needs to be done, by when, and by whom. Any stakeholder can request a change.