Elena Humeniuk
PPM Consultant
Did you know every project has a life cycle containing critical phases? One of the most crucial project phases is monitoring and controlling, which occurs at the same time as the project’s execution stage. Monitoring and controlling in project management entails observing, tracking, carrying out necessary changes, and taking proactive measures as the project progresses. In this article, we will review the parallel processes project managers need to adopt while undertaking monitoring and controlling initiatives. We will also discuss the importance of the monitoring and controlling phase.
The Aim of Project Monitoring and Controlling
Project monitoring and controlling ensures that your project is on track and within the set budget scope. According to the Project Management Institute, 70 percent of projects fail to deliver their targeted outcome. However, after implementing proper project management monitoring and controlling, there was a 20 percent drop in the failure rate.
But what exactly happens in the monitoring and controlling phase of project management? Let’s break down the phase into two parallel stages: project monitoring and project controlling.
Project Monitoring
This stage is where you regularly observe and track your project’s progression. This first step in the phase involves collecting data about different aspects of your project. This stage includes activities such as:
- Tracking project milestones as well as deliverables.
- Checking that the project is on track to meet stated goals, objectives, and key performance indicators (KPIs), and developing reports on performance metrics.
- Monitoring project manager performance metrics.
- Ensuring the project’s timeline and schedule is on track.
- Assessing the budget and cost of the project against the forecasts.
- Preventing scope creep by controlling project scope.
- Performing an overall assessment of quality control and reviews.
- Monitoring potential issues and creating an issue log.
- Conducting risk assessments and creating risk management plans.
- Conducting status reports, reviews, and setting up progress meetings.
The project monitoring stage allows project managers and stakeholders to ensure everything goes according to plan. It enables them to identify and address any issues, risk factors, and deviations from the intended plans.
Project Controlling
The second stage in the project management phase is project controlling. In this action-taking stage, you put the controls and measures needed to rectify issues or address changes identified during the monitoring stage. Activities in this stage may include:
- Analyzing the data derived from the project monitoring stage.
- Reviewing the original plan and assessing changes.
- Prioritizing activities based on their potential impact on the project.
- Making informed decisions about the project’s budget, schedule, or timeline to get the project back on track.
- Delivering updated documentation, such as revised project schedules.
- Communicating and negotiating with key stakeholders.
Differences and Similarities Between Monitoring and Controlling in Project Management
In the monitoring stage, the focus is on observing and tracking the project’s progress. This will ensure the project is moving in the right direction and tasks are being performed on time. In the controlling stage, the focus is on taking any necessary corrective and preventive measures. This is to ensure that the project meets its desired goals and objectives.
Monitoring and controlling activities in project management are essential to a project’s success. Both are key for project managers who want to deliver expected outcomes within the specified constraints.
Importance of Project Monitoring and Controlling
Monitoring and controlling project performance is a crucial stage for any project manager. Through these activities, a project manager can receive live, accurate feedback on a project’s successes, failures, and progress. Project monitoring and control is a reliable tool that helps enterprise management avoid many typical project management pitfalls.
Project managers need the monitoring and controlling phase to identify the root cause of a problem. Project managers can make informed decisions and avoid assumptions by tracking, observing, and analyzing project data. This phase can answer the challenges identified and may even assist project managers in delegating responsibilities more effectively.
Leverage KPI Report
To properly monitor and control projects, set several quantifiable milestones or checkpoints. You can set a goal of completing a particular number of deliverables each day, week, or month. These measures are called key performance indicators (KPIs) and are used to rate the success of your project.
When you focus on KPIs during the project monitoring and control phase, you can ensure your team is on the right track. But you will likely miss your deliverables deadlines if you’re not meeting up with production.
Use KPI reports to monitor and control project work effectively. Set up a status report that contacts all concerned parties to update your team regularly. Adopt tools to systemize and automate the entire process instead of relying on one employee to send daily updates.
Monitor Change Requests
Even the best-laid plans cannot eliminate all the challenges at once. In the monitoring and controlling phase of project management, change requests from your team, clients, and stakeholders must be reviewed and addressed. In some instances, you might have to overhaul whole processes. The good thing is that you can make monitoring change requests easy by adopting a centralized request hub. Some work management tools allow teams to create user-friendly request queues that systematically organize input from inside and outside sources.
Scope Tracking
Sometimes, clients might change their minds about the project scope, even though work has already begun. Use the project management monitoring and controlling phase to rethink your strategy and see if you can make room for increased scope based on the actual budget and timeline.
If you cannot, revisit your planning phase and clarify expectations, bring your project charter up to date, and clarify new positions and obligations. Once you have taken these steps, proceed with your project execution.
Quality, Cost, and Risk Control
Cost management is essential for a project manager who wants to monitor and control project work process effectively. However, expanded scope, change order, and unforeseen circumstances are risk factors that can impact your budget.
While planning on how to monitor and control project work, track and report all updates to your projected budget clearly and consistently. Doing this will allow you to closely monitor any changes and see how they will affect the project’s profitability.
It is also crucial to keep track of the product. Quality management entails that your deliverables will satisfy your client’s expectations. In turn, this will keep you in control. So, be sure to review quality-related processes and KPIs when necessary. This will ensure you are on the right track to meeting expectations.
Lastly, remember to review and track risks capable of hindering your project’s progress. List potential risks and regularly evaluate their likelihood of occurring. Then, develop informed control measures to mitigate or eradicate the threat.
Final Thoughts
Effective monitoring and controlling in project management requires utmost attention and care. Communication is key to keeping all involved up to date on progress and changes. Regular meetings with remote teams, clients, and stakeholders are necessary to avoid missed deadlines and misunderstandings.
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