PROJECT

MANAGEMENT
AND CONTROL
UNIT IV
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 milestone technique: where a task is given a value based on the

achievement of milestones that have been assigned values as part
of the original budget plan;
 percentage complete: in some cases there may be a way of
objectively measuring the amount of work completed
The baseline budget
 The first stage in setting up an earned value analysis is to create
the baseline budget.
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 The baseline budget is based on the project plan and shows the
forecast growth in earned value through time. Baseline budget
calculation in a diagram
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Monitoring earned value

 Having created the baseline budget, the next task is to monitor
earned value as the project progresses.
 This is done by monitoring the completion of tasks.
 As well as recording EV, the actual cost of each task can be
collected as actual cost (AC).
 This is also known as the actual cost of work performed
(ACWP).
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Schedule variance (SV)

 The schedule variance is measured in cost terms as EV – PV and
indicates the degree to which the value of completed work
differs from that planned.
Time variance (TV)
 This is the difference between the time when the achievement of
the current earned value was planned to occur and the time now.
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Cost variance (CV)

 This is calculated as EV – AC and indicates the difference
between the earned value or budgeted cost and the actual cost of
completed work.
Performance ratios
 Two ratios are commonly tracked: the cost performance index
(CPI = EV/AC) and the schedule performance index (SPI =
EV/PV).
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 Suppose a project is to be completed in one year at the cost of

£100,000. After three months, you realize that the project is 30%
complete at a cost of £40,000. Assess the performance of the
project.
 PRIORITIZING MONITORING

 however, that monitoring takes time and uses resources that

might sometimes be put to better use!
 we list the priorities we might apply in deciding levels of
monitoring.
 Critical path activities : Any delay in an activity on the critical
path will cause a delay in the completion date for the project. –
Highest priority
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 Activities with no free float A delay in any activity with no free

float will delay at least some subsequent activities
 Activities with less than a specified float If any activity has
very little float it might use up this float before the regular
activity monitoring brings the problem to the project manager’s
attention. Close monitoring required
 High-risk activities
 Activities using critical resources
 GETTING THE PROJECT BACK TO TARGET

 Almost any project will, at one time or another, be subject to

delays and unexpected events.

 In most cases, the project manager, at least initially, tries to

ensure that the scheduled project end date remains unaffected.

 There are two main strategies to consider when drawing up plans

to bring a project back on target – shortening the critical path or
altering the activity precedence requirements.
 SHORTEN THE CRITICAL PATH
 The overall duration of a project is determined by the current
critical path, so speeding up non-critical path activities will not
bring forward a project completion date.
 However, there are several ways in which this might be done.
 Adding resources – especially staff - Exhorting staff to ‘work
harder’ might have some effect, such as increasing the resources
available for some critical activity.
 Increase use of current resources - Resource levels can be
increased by making them available for longer.
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 Reallocate staff to critical activities - The project manager

might consider allocating more efficient staff to activities on the
critical path or swapping resources between critical and non-
critical activities.
 Reduce scope The amount of work to be done could be reduced
by reducing the scope of the functionality to be delivered.
 Reduce quality Some quality-related activities such as system
testing could be curtailed.
 RECONSIDER THE PRECEDENCE REQUIREMENTS

 If attempting to shorten critical activities proves insufficient, the

next step is to consider the constraints by which some activities
have to be deferred pending completion of others.
 One way to overcome precedence constraints is to subdivide an
activity into a component that can start immediately and one that
is still constrained as before.
 If we do decide to alter the precedence requirements in such a
way, it is clearly important to be aware that quality might be
compromised and to make a considered decision to compromise
quality where needed.
 MAINTAINING THE BUSINESS CASE

 In making decisions about the management of the project, the

main concern of the project sponsor, that is, the stakeholder who
is putting up the money for the project, is whether the business
case for the project has been preserved.
Exception planning
 The project manager will normally be allowed to change the
detail of a plan as long as the agreed project outcomes are
produced on time and within budget.
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 Some changes to the plan might have an impact on the delivery

date, project scope or costs.
 One approach, adopted by PRINCE2, is to require the project
manager to write an exception report that explains the reasons
for the deviation from the existing plan.
 Project manager will be producing a more detailed exception
plan.
 CHANGE CONTROL

 When a document such as the user requirements is being

developed there may be many different versions of the document
as it undergoes cycles of development and review.
 Any change control process at this point would be very informal
and flexible.
 At some point what is assumed to be the final version will be
created.
 This is baselined, effectively frozen.
 CHANGE CONTROL PROCEDURES

 A simple change control procedure for operational systems might

have the following steps:
1. One or more users might perceive a need for a modification to a
system and ask for a change request to be passed to the
development staff.
2. The user management would consider the change request and, if
they approve it, pass it to the development management.
3. There would be one person within the development area who
would receive and process RFCs.
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4. The development representative would report back to the user
management on the findings and the user management would
decide whether, in view of the cost quoted, they wish to go ahead.
5. There would be some individual or group who represented the
major stakeholders, both users and developers and also the project
sponsor, who would have the authority to prioritize the RFCs for
action.
6. Once an RFC has been approved for action, one or more
developers are authorized to take copies of the master products that
are to be modified.
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7. The copies are modified. In the case of software components this
would involve modifying the code and recompiling and testing it.
8. When the development of new versions of the product has been
completed the user management will be notified and copies of the
software will be released for user acceptance testing.
9. When the user is satisfied that the products are adequate they
will authorize their operational release. The master copies of
configuration items will be replaced.
 CHANGES IN SCOPE OF A SYSTEM

 A common occurrence with IS development projects is for the

size of the system gradually to increase.
 One cause of this is changes to requirements that are requested
by users.
 The scope of a project needs to be carefully monitored and
controlled.
 One way is to re-estimate the system size in terms of SLOC or
function points at key milestones
 CONFIGURATION LIBRARIAN’S ROLE

 Control of changes and documentation ought to be the

responsibility of someone who may variously be named the
configuration librarian, the configuration manager or the project
librarian.
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 Among this person’s duties would be:
 The identification of all items that are subject to change control;
 The establishment and maintenance of a central repository of the
master copies of all project documentation and software
products;
 The setting up and running of a formal set of procedures to deal
with changes;
 The maintenance of records of who has access to which library
items and the status of each library item
THANK YOU