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Determining Project Progress
and Results
Chapter 14
Contemporary Project Management
Kloppenborg
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Chapter
Vignette
Duke Energy
• Fundamental reason for determining project
progress and results:
Presenting actionable, decision-making
information to project leaders
• Many Duke Energy projects are related to
SmartGrid efforts to change the way the electric
utility system delivers power
• Utility set the standard for its industry by
completing over 90% of projects on time and
within budget
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Chapter
Vignette
Duke Energy
• Managing the entire group of projects as a
portfolio is paramount
• Present valuable decision-making data to
resource and leadership groups
What are the key factors for your project?
Who needs the project progress data?
What do they need to know to make
good decision?
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
At the end of this chapter…
• Develop and demonstrate use of a change
control system
• Demonstrate how to monitor and control project
risks
• Create and present a project progress report
• Describe project quality control terms and tools
• Use earned value analysis to calculate current
and future project progress
• Document project progress using MS Project
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Five 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.
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The PM and Decision Making
The project manager may need to
1. personally make decisions
2. be part of a group that makes decisions
3. delegate decision making to others
4. facilitate the process by which the decision is
made.
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Project Balanced Scorecard Approach
• An organization needs to be evaluated along
customer, internal business, financial, and
growth/innovation perspectives.
• Different aspects of a project are often
interrelated and their impacts on each other
need to be considered.
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Balanced Scorecard Approach to
Project Determination
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Internal Project Issues
• Project work and risks form the project’s internal
issues
• Project managers deal with these issues by:
–
–
–
–
–
Directing and managing project execution
Monitoring and controlling the project work
Performing integrated change control
Monitoring and controlling project risks
Reporting project performance
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Direct and Manage Project Execution
• Empower others when possible  control others
when necessary
• It should be clear who is allowed to authorize
work to commence
• The project management plan identifies work to
be accomplished
• The PM or his appointee must tell someone
when it is time to perform the work.
Direct and manage project execution – “the process of
performing the work defined in the project management plan
the project’s
objectives.”
PMBOK®
Guideor posted
© to
2012achieve
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Sources of Work to be Performed
• The work package level of the work breakdown
structure.
• Approved corrective actions
• Preventive actions
• Defect repairs
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Aids to Project Tradeoff Decisions
• Well-developed project charters
• Effective stakeholder management
• Clear communications
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted
to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Monitor and Control Project Work
Monitor and control project work – “the processes
required to track, review, and regulate the progress to
meet the performance objectives of the project plan.”
PMBOK® Guide
Monitor – “collect project performance data with
respect to a plan, produce performance measures,
and report and disseminate performance information.”
PMBOK® Guide
Control – “comparing actual performance with
planned performance, analyzing variances, assessing
trends to effect process improvements, evaluating
possible alternatives, and recommending appropriate
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scanned, copied or
duplicated, or posted
corrective
action
when
needed.”
Guide
to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Monitor and Control Project Work
• A smart PM keeps an eye on many things that
can indicate how well the project is doing and is
prepared to act if necessary to get the project
back on track
What
metrics
to keep
What to
measure
How to
report
results
Variance – “a quantifiable deviation, departure, or divergence
away from a known baseline or expected value.”PMBOK®
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toGuide
a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Monitor and Control Project Work
•
•
•
•
Happens continuously throughout the project
Activities occur in parallel with project execution
Activities need to be timely
Allow workers to self-control their work where
possible
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Types of Project Control
• Steering control - on a continual basis, the
work is compared to the plan to see if progress
is equal to, better than, or worse than the project
plan
• Go/no go control - requires a project manager
to receive approval to continue.
• Recommendations can include corrective
actions, preventive actions, and defect repair
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Results of Monitoring and Controlling
1. If the actual progress is very different than the original
intent, perhaps the project charter needs to be
revisited to ensure that the project still makes sense.
2. If progress is somewhat different than planned, but the
charter is still a good guide, perhaps the project plan
needs to be adjusted.
3. If the project plan is still a useful guide, perhaps minor
adjustments need to be made in day-to-day
instructions within the project executing stage.
4. Finally, if the results indicate the customer is ready to
accept the project deliverables, perhaps it is time to
proceed into the project closing stage.
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Results of Monitoring and Controlling a
Project
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Perform Integrated Change Control
• The decision to approve the proposed change
needs to be made by the correct person or
group.
Change control – “identifying, documenting, approving or
rejecting, and controlling changes to the project baselines.”
PMBOK® Guide
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Perform Integrated Change Control
Integrated change control “the process of reviewing all
change requests, approving changes, and managing
changes to deliverables, organizational process assets,
project documents, and project management plan.”
PMBOK® Guide
Change control board – “a formally constituted group of
stakeholders responsible for reviewing, evaluating,
approving, delaying, or rejecting changes to the project.”
PMBOK® Guide
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Risk
• A risk management plan is used to guide risk
monitoring and controlling activities.
• A risk register is used to record each identified
risk, its priority, potential causes, and potential
responses.
• The risk management plan and risk register are
used to monitor and control project risks and to
resolve them when they occur.
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Monitoring and Controlling Project Risk
• Consider multiple responses to a given risk
• For previously identified risk events:
– Track the identified risks
– Execute the response plans
– Evaluate their effectiveness.
Monitor and control risk – “the process of
implementing risk response plans, tracking identified
risks, monitoring residual risks, identifying new risks,
and evaluating risk processes throughout the
project.”PMBOK® Guide
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Resolving Project Risks
• Unanticipated risks may materialize
• Recognize that unknown risks may surface and
add contingency time, budget, and/or other
resources to cover these unknowns
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Risk Event Resolution Strategies
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Distribute Information
Distribute information – “the process of making relevant
information available to project stakeholders as
planned.”PMBOK® Guide
• Determine project information needs
• Establish an information retrieval and distribution
system
• Collect information on executed work and work
in progress
• Report progress to all stakeholders.
Distribute the right project information, to the right
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Learning. All Rights in
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be scanned, at
copied
or duplicated,
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stakeholders,
the right
the
right time
to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Determine Project Information Needs
• Communicate accurately - Be factually
honest, but also present information in a manner
that people are likely to interpret correctly.
• Communicate promptly - Provide the
information soon enough so that it is useful to
the recipient.
• Communicate effectively - effectiveness is the
extent to which the receiver opens, understands,
and acts appropriately upon the communication.
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Establish Information Retrieval and
Distribution System
• Project information can be retrieved from many different
sources
• Project information can be distributed via many systems
1. Target the communications. More is not better when
people are already overloaded.
2. Many methods are available, and the choices change
rapidly. Use new methods as they help, but do not
discard proven methods just for the sake of change.
3. Projects often have many stakeholders who need
specific information. Use your communications plan and
always keep asking if there is any other stakeholder in
need of upward, downward, or sideways
communications.
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Active Listening
•
•
•
•
Focus on what the person is saying
Ask clarifying questions and paraphrase
Make eye contact and use eager body language
Make an effort to understand the meaning of the
message and the emotions the communicator is
feeling
• Orally confirm what has been heard
• Follow up with an e-mail for documentation.
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Collect Information on Executed
Work and Work in Progress
• How well is this particular activity proceeding in terms of time
and budget?
• How well is the entire project proceeding in terms of time and
budget?
• How much more money will need to be spent to finish?
• To what extent does the quality of this work meet
requirements?
• How many hours of human resource time have we used to
complete this activity compared to how much we estimated?
• What methods that we have used are worth repeating?
• What methods that we have used need to be improved before
we do that type of work again?
• What evidence supports the answers to the above questions?
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Report Performance
• Meetings, reports, feedback received, and
documentation.
• At fixed time intervals or at key project
milestones
• Within the project team and to functional
managers who control resources
Report performance – “the process of collecting and
distributing performance information, including status
reporting, progress measurements and forecasting.”
PMBOK® Guide
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Report Performance
• Report weekly or even daily on a project with
critical time pressure.
• Emphasis should be on specifics
• Report the target date, current status, and what
other work or information on which progress
depends
• Update the risk register and issues logs
• Consider recommended changes
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Time Horizons for Project Performance
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Customer Issues
• Quality assurance
• Quality control
Perform quality assurance – “the application of
planned, systematic quality activities to ensure that the
project will employ all processes needed to meet
requirements.” PMBOK® Guide
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Quality Assurance
• Project manager ensures that work is performed
correctly and that key stakeholders are
convinced that the work is performed correctly
• Project quality assurance includes conducting
quality audits and improving project processes
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Audit
• A review of documented procedures and actual practice
• Audits are undertaken to improve the manner in which
work is accomplished
• An audit begins with a review of the official
documentation of how a process should be performed
• Interview the workers and have them explain (or better
yet—demonstrate) how they perform the work
• Records are investigated to see if the documentation is
complete and current
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Auditors Data
1. Documentation of how the work is supposed to
be done
2. Descriptions of how the work is actually done
3. Documentation to verify how the work was
completed
•
Project quality audits can be a fruitful source of
lessons learned.
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Process Improvement
• Processes can be measured for both efficiency
and effectiveness
• A more efficient process uses fewer inputs to
create the same amount of outputs
• A more effective process is one that creates
higher quality deliverables that better please the
stakeholders.
Process – a set of interrelated actions and activities
performed to achieve a specified set of products, results,
or services.
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Avenues for Improving Project
Processes
• Interpret the results from quality control
measurements
• Feedback from customers, suppliers, work
associates, and other stakeholders
• Benchmarking is a structured consideration of
how another organization performs a process
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Steps to Benchmarking
1. Determine a process that needs dramatic improvement.
2. Identify another organization that performs that process
very well.
3. Make a deal with that organization to learn from them
4. Determine what needs to be observed and what
questions need to be asked.
5. Make a site visit to observe and question the other
organization.
6. Decide which observed methods will help the
organization.
7. Adapt the methods to fit the organization’s culture and
situation.
8. Try the new methods on a small scale.
9. Evaluate the results.
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If the
methods
good
enough, adopt them.
to10.
a publicly
accessible
website, are
in whole
or in part.
Quality Control
• Quality control deals with comparing specific
project measurements with stakeholder’s
standards
• Quality control purposes:
– To reduce the number of defects and
inefficiencies
– To improve the project process and outputs
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Quality control consists of…
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Monitoring the project to ensure that everything is
proceeding according to plan
Identifying when things are different enough from the
plan to warrant preventive or corrective actions
Repairing defects
Determining and eliminating root causes of problems
Providing specific measurements for quality assurance
Providing recommendations for corrective and
preventive actions
Implementing approved changes as directed by the
project’s integrated change control system.
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Monitor the Project Quality
• Focus on inputs, processes, and output
• Ensure that the materials, information, and other
inputs provided meet the required specifications
and will work satisfactorily
• Minimize rework which wastes time and money
• Use internal inspection to ensure the
deliverables work before they are sent to the
customer
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Lessons Regarding Project
Inspections
• Inspect before a critical or expensive process to make
sure the inputs are good before spending a large amount
of money or time on them.
• Process steps where one worker hands off work to
another worker are good places for both workers to
inspect.
• Milestones identified in the project charter provide good
inspection points.
• Think of inspection in terms of units (individual
components), integration (how components work
together), and the system (how the deliverable as a
whole performs).
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Pairs of Project Quality Control Terms
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Quality Control Terms
• Prevention vs. Inspection - keeping errors out
of a process vs. trying to find errors so they do
not get to the customer
• Sample vs. Population - big enough sample to
be representative of the population, small
enough sample that it is cost and time effective
• Attribute vs. Variable - An attribute is a yes or
no test; a variable is something that can be
measured
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Quality Control Terms
• Tolerance vs. Control Limit - A tolerance limit
is what the customer will accept; A control limit
reflects what the process can consistently
deliver when things are behaving normally
• Special vs. Common cause - Special causes
are statistically unlikely events that mean
something is different than normal. Common
causes are normal or random variation that is
considered part of operating the system at its
current capability.
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Quality Control Terms
• Preventive vs. Corrective Action - Preventive
action is a proactive approach of making a
change because a problem may occur
otherwise. Corrective action is a reactive
approach of making a change to fix a problem
that has occurred
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Project Quality Control Tools
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Quality Control Tools
• Flow chart - flow charts can be used to show
any level of detail from the overall flow of an
entire project down to very specific details of a
critical process
• Check sheet - Decide exactly what data will be
useful in understanding and controlling a
process and create a form to collect that
information
• Pareto chart - Quickly understand the primary
causes of a particular problem using the 80/20
rule, where 80 percent of defects often come
from only about 20 percent of all the sources.
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Estimating Project Cost Flow Chart
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Check Sheet for Labor Cost Estimating
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Pareto Chart of Labor Estimating
Process Problems
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Quality Control Tools
• Cause and Effect diagram – (a.k.a. the
fishbone diagram because it resembles a fish
skeleton and the Ishikawa diagram after its
developer ) constructed with each “big bone”
representing a category of possible causes.
• Histogram
• Run chart
• Control chart
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Pareto Chart Cause and Effect
Relationship
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Histogram of Impact of Number of
Days to Create Estimate
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Run Chart Example
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Control Chart Example
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Financial Issues
• Cost and schedule are so closely related that
they are monitored and controlled at the same
time.
• Cost and schedule are financial issues.
• Start with the approved cost and schedule
baseline.
• Determine current status of the schedule and
cost.
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Financial Issues
• Methods for controlling cost and schedule
include
– Earned value management
– Project scheduling software (MS Project)
• If the schedule or budget has changed by a preagreed amount, changes should be formally
recommended and managed through the
integrated changes control system.
• Cost control requires consideration that no more
money is spent than the amount authorized.
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Earned Value Management
• A decision-making tool for examining how a
project is doing at a given point in time
• Allows a project team to understand their
project’s progress in terms of cost and schedule
• Team may make predictions concerning the
project’s schedule and cost control
• Allows for quick assessment of how the project
is doing according to the baseline plan
Earned value management – “a management methodology
for integrating scope, schedule, and resources, and for
objectively
measuring
project
performance
progress.”
© 2012
Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.
May not
be scanned, copiedand
or duplicated,
or posted
to aPMBOK®
publicly accessible
website, in whole or in part.
Guide
Earned Value Management Terms
• Cost and schedule are considered
independently
• Earned value terms deal with only 2 time frames
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Earned Value Management Example
Using EV Management Terms
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Currently Known Values
Planned value (PV) – “the authorized budget assigned
to the scheduled work to be accomplished.….”
PMBOK® Guide
Earned value (EV) – “the value of completed work
expressed in terms of approved budget assigned to
that work.…” PMBOK® Guide
Actual cost (AC) – “total costs actually incurred and
recorded in accomplishing work performed during a
given time period.…” PMBOK® Guide
Budget at completion (BAC) – “the sum of all
budgeted values established for the work to be
performed on a project.… The total planned value of
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted
the project..”
PMBOK®
Guide
to a publicly
accessible website,
in whole or in part.
Variances
Schedule variance (SV) – “a measure of
schedule performance on a project. It is …EV
minus PV.” PMBOK® Guide
SV  EV - PV
Cost variance (CV) – “a measure of cost
performance on a project. It is … EV – AC.”
PMBOK® Guide
CV  EV - AC
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Indexes
Schedule performance index (SPI) – “a measure of
schedule efficiency on a project. It is … EV divided by
PV.” PMBOK® Guide
SPI  EV/PV
Cost performance index (CPI) – “a measure of cost
efficiency on a project. It is …EV divided by AC.”
PMBOK® Guide
CPI  EV/AC
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Estimates
• Use past performance to estimate future
performance
Estimate to complete (ETC) – “the expected cost
needed to complete all the remaining work for … the
project.” PMBOK® Guide
ETC  (BAC - EV)/CPI
Estimate at completion (EAC) – “the expected total
cost of … the project when the
defined scope of work will be completed. It is AC plus
ETC.” PMBOK® Guide
EAC  AC  ETC
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Using MS Project to Monitor and
Control Projects
1. What makes a schedule useful
2. How MS Project recalculates the schedule
based upon reported actuals
3. Current and future impacts of time and cost
variances
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
What Makes a Schedule Useful?
•
Three sets of data including dates, duration,
work, and cost
1. The Baseline set (Baseline Start, Baseline
Finish, Baseline Duration, Baseline Work, and
Baseline Cost) - a copy of the stakeholder
approved scheduled values. Also called the
planned schedule.
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
What Makes a Schedule Useful?
2. Past actual time and cost results—the Actual
set (Actual Start, Actual Finish, Actual Duration,
Actual Work, and Actual Cost). Actual set,
sometimes called performance data.
•
What actually happened as reported by the
resources assigned to activities.
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What Makes a Schedule Useful?
3. Future estimated time and costs—the
Scheduled set (Start, Finish, Duration, Work,
and Cost fields). Scheduled values are used or
calculated by MS Project.
•
Values are continuously recalculated as
activities and estimates are entered, as the
project network is defined, as resources are
assigned and balanced, and as actuals are
entered.
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How MS Project Recalculates the
Schedule Based on Reported Actuals
• MS Project copies data entered into Actual fields
into Scheduled fields
• MS Project recalculates future activity schedules
based on past activities and future estimates
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Impacts of Time and Cost
Variance
1. Time and cost performance variances from
baseline
2. Critical path changes
3. Resource allocation issues
4. Emerging risks
5. Remaining contingency and management
reserves
6. The impacts of proposed changes.
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted
to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Define the Performance Update
Process
• Who reports?
– All team members and suppliers assigned to activities
that were scheduled during the past reporting period
– Any resource wanting to change the estimate of a
soon to start activity
• What is reported?
– Actual Start, Actual Finish, Actual Duration Complete,
and Estimated Remaining Duration
– Estimated Remaining Duration and Actual Finish are
the two most important values collected
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted
to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Define the Performance Update
Process
• When to report?
– Status Date is usually driven by the date of the
stakeholder review meeting and the time needed to
make adjustments before that meeting.
– Publish the day of the week (Status Date or As of
Date) for reporting, as well as the frequency.
• How to report?
– List of team members current assignments
– Previously reported actuals—start, completed
duration, and remaining duration—for those
assignments.
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted
to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Steps to Update the Project Schedule
Step 1: Acquire the Performance Data
• Duration-based data.
• Collect the date when the assignment started, how
much duration is now completed, how much duration
remains, and the actual finish date (if finished).
Step 2: Set the Status Date (As Of)
• Project-Properties-Project Information
• Status date – enter the status date
• OK
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted
to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Display Status Date
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted
to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Steps to Update the Project Schedule
Step 3: Display the Status Date Line on the Gantt Chart
• Format –Format – Gridlines – enter Gridlines
• Line to change – Status Date
• Type: solid line
• Color: Darker Orange
• OK
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted
to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Steps to Update the Project Schedule
Step 4: Enter the Duration-Based Performance Data
• Click Activity A
• Task tab - Schedule group - Mark on Track
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted
to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Steps to Update the Project Schedule
Steps to Update the Project Schedule
Gantt Chart View with Actuals Applied
Steps to Update the Project Schedule
Step 5: Re-schedule Remaining Work
• Click on Activity D
• Project – Status group – Update Project
• Update Project dialog – Reschedule uncompleted work
• Select Activity – Update tasks
• Enter Status Date
• Click on Selected tasks
• Repeat for Activity F
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted
to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Gantt Chart with Remaining Work
Rescheduled
• Step 6: Revise Future Estimates
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted
to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Replanning if Necessary
• Use the integrated change control system to
understand the impact of proposed changes to
secure approval to make the change
What kinds of changes might we make in response to the
problems?
Does the approval for a change need to be escalated to higher
management?
• A person who escalates minor decisions may
seem weak and indecisive
• A person who fails to escalate major decisions
exhibits poor judgment
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted
to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Summary
• A project manager needs to understand how changes in
one area might impact another area
• Project managers need to monitor and control project
activities
• Adjustments to projects that may have a sizable impact
will be processed through the project’s integrated
change control process.
• Potential changes will be proposed, approved/
disapproved, documented, and the approved changes
will be implemented.
• A risk register is maintained to keep track of active risks,
whether the risk events transpire, and how they are
handled.
© 2012
Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted
to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Summary
• Project managers need to control project aspects that
are subject to potential tradeoffs—scope, quality, cost,
and schedule.
• The project manager seeks to understand how a change
in one project aspect will impact the others
• Quality control tools are used to understand what the
quality level is, where problems may exist, what the root
causes are for problems, and how to improve the project
processes so the problems do not reoccur.
• Earned value management and MS Project are both
quite helpful in understanding, documenting, and
improving upon cost and schedule progress.
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted
to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
D. D. Williamson’s Rules for
Project Control
• Face-to-Face Meetings – report to GOT 1/mo.
– Deadline pressures
– Sponsors report
– Reaffirm purpose and scope
• PMO – weekly updates/monitoring
–
–
–
–
What has happened with project?
What is going to happen in the next 2 weeks?
Possible/proposed changes
Revisit major risks
PM in Action Example
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to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
D. D. Williamson’s Rules for
Project Control
• GOT
– All GOT members talking with PM face-to-face any
time they are at each plant
PM in Action Example
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted
to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.