Project Management

Chapter 15 : Project Control

The Fundamental of Project Control

The Objectives of Control

Reasons for Measuring Durations and Cost Deviations

Control as a Function of Management

Control VS Risk

Balancing the Control System

Control of Change and Scope Creep

Progress Reporting System

Types of Project Status Reports

Graphical Reporting Tools

Project Status Review Meetings

Managing Risk

Chapter Summary

Project control is the process of collecting information related to the performance of the system, comparing it with the desired level of performance and taking corrective action to decrease the gap between the actual and the desired performance levels. In this chapter we discussed various topics pertaining to controlling projects, starting from the fundamental purposes of project control and the types of project status reports to the controlling of change and scope creep. We also highlighted the importance of project status review meetings, risk management and quality management. The important topics discussed in this chapter are:

• Control is aimed at managing the deviations in cost, time and performance of a project.

• The basic purposes of control is to regulate and control the firm's core assets such as physical, financial and human resources.

• A control system should be cost effective. Since it is closely related with the behavior of the humans involved in the project it should be designed in such a way that it balances the degree of control exercised and the risks involved.

• The reasons for measuring duration and cost deviations are to identify deviations from the curve early, dampen oscillation, facilitate early corrective action, estimate weekly schedule variance and to determine weekly effort variance.

• There are three types of control processes, cybernetic controls, go/no-go controls and post controls.

• The most important reason for deviations from the budget is scope creep. One factor that causes scope creep is the absence of a detailed definition of scope. Repeated attempts by the project team and the client to improve the product/service is another.

• Depending on the degree of detail and the frequency of reporting, project status reports can be classified into five categories. They are current period reports, cumulative reports, exception reports, stoplight reports and variance reports.

• There are three types of reporting techniques that use graphs as their reporting tools. They are Gantt charts, mile stone trend charts and cost schedule control.

• A project undergoes the different kinds of reviews during its life-cycle. They are Status reviews that review the status of cost, performance, schedule and scope of the project, A design review that reviews the design of a product or service to ensure that it meets client requirements and a process review that reviews the processes and checks for the possibility of any improvements.

• Risk can be defined as the probability of not meeting a pre-defined project goal.

• Quality can be defined as the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service which bear on its ability to satisfy a stated or implied need.

Next Chapter>>