CH.

4: THE PROJECT
CONTROL
Monitoring a Project
Measuring Project Performance
Communicating:
Constructing the progress schedule
Preparing a status Report

Four Stages of Project Control
Controlling a Project maintaining and measuring its performance,
one it gets underway involves the following four stages:

1. Periodically reviewing the performance of each project activity
on the schedule,
2. Measuring and Evaluating its performance against the planned
project objectives,
3. Taking the necessary action on critical activities that are
affecting project performance, and
4. Communicating overall progress to management and project
team through meetings, memos and written reports. These reports
emphasize the critical activities that are falling behind schedule and
what corrective actions they require.
Measuring Project Performance
Project control is an early warning system in order to get
fixed projects problems at the initial stages of the
project. It compares early start/ early finish schedule,
based on the original plan, with actual performance of
the project. There are following four distinct stages:
MONITOR: Periodic checking of the plan and schedule
ASSESS: Identifying the critical items and problems
RESOLVE: Finding solutions to the problems
COMMUNICATE: Advising management, project team
members, J.V. partners, suppliers, vendors and
contractors about project status.


1. Monitoring the Project
It is continuous checking of the
performance of the project, which is
essential to keep the project under control.
The project team periodically (at least
once in a month) formally checks the total
project
In case of disturbing signs that the project
may be heading for difficulties, formal
monitoring and reporting will be more
frequent
Monitoring the Project (contd.)
The present status of each project activity
is noted and recorded during the
monitoring stage
Then, we will see, whether any of the
project activities will significantly affect the
schedule
The project team members responsible
for their respective activities review and
confirm changes on the planning diagram
Memos, status, meetings or any other
means of communication serve the same
purpose.
2. Assessing the Project
This stage determines what effect the changes
have on the projects schedule, particularly on
the project completion date
To observe the total effect, a completely new
schedule is to be prepared requiring
recalculations of the total float for each activity.
This will result to some diagramatic changes on
some activities, which is a sign that a new
schedule needs to be recalculated
Assessing the Project (Contd.)
The new schedule will be helpful to recognize
all activities with 0 float and also those with
relatively small float
The new schedule gives more attention to
these activities:
to prevent further potential delays and
to reduce their durations as a possible way
to restore the project to its original completion
date
The revised schedule is quite complete. It is
very helpful resolve the scheduling problems.
3. Resolving Problems
In order to solve the planning and scheduling concerns/
problems of the project, following questions must be
answered:
1. Which specific activities are behind schedule? How much will
they delay the project date if not corrected?
2. What are the reasons for the delays that have caused the project to
fall behind schedule?
3. What steps have been or are being taken to get back the project on
schedule?
4. Will any other specific recommendations for further action restore
the schedule and prevent further concerns?
The advantage of the project control approach, using the early
warning system, is that it allows time to resolve the problems.
4. Communicating
It is important to communicate the project status to management,
suppliers, vendors, contractors, and project team members
Although, a written report is possibly one of the most valuable
communication devices, other effective means include phone calls,
memos, personal contact, and meeting formally as well as
continuously throughout the project
A written periodic project status report should be distributed to
all those who want to see the project reach successful conclusion.
A status report represents a view of what is happening in the project,
offering readers an opportunity to suggest improvements early
enough to make an impact on the projects progress
The status report is not voluminous: it is essentially a summary
The report includes a background of the project, highlights of the
critical areas, and outlines of the resolutions and improvements
planned.
Constructing the Progress Schedule
A bar chart is an excellent way of tracing the
progress of the project and its individual
activities
Progress of the project on a daily, weekly or
monthly basis can be shown by employing the
same type of bar chart that was constructed for
the time schedule bar chart. A chart of this type
is called a progress schedule
Each individual project item with its progress can
be shown separately and noted on the schedule

Rules for Constructing the Progress
Schedule
Following rules should be followed to allow uniform interpretation of
the progress schedule:
1. The rectangular bars represent the duration of the project activity.
The filled portion of the bar represents how much of the activity has
been completed
2. Extending the rectangular bar with a dotted bar indicates an
extension of the duration for that activity
3. Float of an activity is shown with an arrow. The length of the arrow is
the float value of the activity
4. The symbol for a major event date, or milestone is left hollow until
the event is achieved, then it is filled
5. The planned completion date is also a milestone. If the completion
date needs to be extended because of time delays, the extended
milestone is shown with broken lines.
Preparing Project Status Report
A complete project status report will include following three
documents:
1. Cover letter: It contains brief statements related to description of the
project, completion dates and milestones. The cover letter is
addressed to the management as well as all other personnel with a
vested interest in the project. A cover letter avoids great detail. If
additional information is needed, the reader can review the rest of
the status package.
2. Executive Highlights: outline the status of the most important aspects
of the project. Highlights will consist of a series of bulleted or
numbered statements. Each statement is a brief and specific
sentence or two.
3. Summary Bar Chart: is a graphic display of the project status. The
summary bar chart, used for management reports, employs the late
finish schedule. It displays all activities at their latest finish dates. It
also incorporates all the project activities, but highlights only the
critical items.