How do you monitor and control the progress and performance of your IT project schedule?
A project schedule is a vital tool for managing and delivering IT projects on time, within budget, and with quality. But creating a project schedule is not enough. You also need to monitor and control the progress and performance of your project schedule throughout the project lifecycle. How do you do that? Here are some tips and best practices to help you.
The baseline is the approved version of your project schedule that serves as a reference point for measuring progress and performance. You should define the baseline at the beginning of your project, after you have planned and estimated the scope, time, cost, and resources of your project. You should also communicate the baseline to your project team, stakeholders, and sponsors, and get their buy-in and approval. This will ensure that everyone is on the same page and has a clear understanding of the project expectations and deliverables.
-
Establishing and communicating a baseline is crucial for the success of IT projects. This approved version of the project schedule serves as a reference for progress and should be established after careful planning of scope, time, costs, and resources. To ensure clear communication, it is advisable to use modern project management tools like MS Project or Asana, which provide visual representations of schedules and display changes in real time. Secure stakeholder approval by scheduling regular reviews and updates to keep the project team and sponsors informed and engaged.
-
Effective monitoring and control ensures projects are delivered on time, and within budget. Key techniques: 1. Define schedule management procedures upfront. 2. Track progress against schedule baselines via earned value management. 3. Require time tracking on tasks for actuals vs estimates. 4. Look for early warning signs like missed milestones. 5. Review critical paths regularly for blockers. 6. Flag schedule risks from the team during standups. 7. Evaluate change requests for schedule impact. 8. Hold post-mortems after sprints to identify improvements. 9. Use burndown charts and velocity tracking for agile projects. 10. Automate where possible with scheduling/PM tools. 11. Empower PMs to take corrective actions if off-track.
The actuals are the data that reflect the current status and performance of your project schedule. They include the actual start and finish dates, duration, work, and cost of each task and milestone in your project schedule. You should track and update the actuals regularly, preferably on a weekly or biweekly basis, depending on the size and complexity of your project. You can use various tools and methods to track and update the actuals, such as timesheets, progress reports, status meetings, and software applications.
-
To effectively monitor your IT project plan, regularly tracking and updating actual values is crucial. These data reveal the real start and end dates, as well as costs and effort for each task. Utilize timesheets and software solutions like Microsoft Project or JIRA to accurately capture progress and highlight deviations early. Incorporate these updates into weekly status meetings to maintain oversight and make timely adjustments.
Once you have the actuals, you need to compare them with the baseline to measure the variance and deviation of your project schedule. The variance is the difference between the actual and the baseline values of a given parameter, such as time, cost, or scope. The deviation is the percentage of the variance relative to the baseline value. You can use various metrics and indicators to compare the actuals with the baseline, such as schedule variance (SV), schedule performance index (SPI), earned value (EV), planned value (PV), and critical path analysis (CPA).
-
To effectively monitor the progress and performance of your IT project plan, comparing actual values with the baseline is essential. Use metrics like Schedule Performance Index (SPI) and Earned Value (EV) to accurately capture deviations. Tools like Microsoft Project or JIRA provide comprehensive features for visualizing these metrics. Pay special attention to significant variances that require prompt intervention, and use Critical Path Analysis (CPA) to identify potential risks early on.
If you find any significant variance or deviation in your project schedule, you need to identify and analyze the causes of the variance. The causes of variance can be internal or external, positive or negative, predictable or unpredictable, and controllable or uncontrollable. Some common causes of variance in IT projects are scope changes, resource constraints, technical issues, stakeholder expectations, risks, and dependencies. You should use root cause analysis (RCA) techniques to find out the underlying reasons and factors that contribute to the variance.
-
When deviations are detected in your IT project plan, thorough root cause analysis is crucial. Identify whether the causes are internal or external, and whether they are predictable or unpredictable. Use root cause analysis (RCA) techniques such as the Ishikawa diagram or the 5-Whys analysis to uncover deeper reasons. Effective tracking can be supported by tools like JIRA or Microsoft Project, which help monitor scope changes, resource constraints, and technical challenges, addressing them in a timely manner.
After you have identified and analyzed the causes of variance, you need to implement corrective and preventive actions to bring your project schedule back on track or to avoid further deviation. Corrective actions are the actions that you take to fix or mitigate the existing variance and to align your project schedule with the baseline. Preventive actions are the actions that you take to prevent or reduce the potential variance and to protect your project schedule from future risks and issues. You should document and communicate your corrective and preventive actions to your project team, stakeholders, and sponsors, and monitor their impact and effectiveness.
-
After identifying deviations in your plan, effective corrective and preventive measures are essential. Implement corrective actions using tools like JIRA or Trello to align current status with the baseline plan, ensuring all steps are well-documented. Preventive measures, supported by risk analysis and regular reviews, safeguard the schedule against future issues. Communicate all actions transparently to the team and stakeholders and regularly evaluate their effectiveness to ensure the success of the IT project.
Sometimes, despite your best efforts, you may not be able to implement corrective or preventive actions to resolve or prevent the variance in your project schedule. In such cases, you may need to review and revise the baseline to reflect the current reality and feasibility of your project. You should only revise the baseline when there are significant changes in the project scope, time, cost, or quality that affect the project objectives and deliverables. You should also follow a formal change management process to request, approve, and communicate the changes to the baseline.
Rate this article
More relevant reading
-
Project ManagementHow can you use the critical path method (CPM) to schedule projects?
-
Critical ThinkingHow can you create a project schedule that is both realistic and responsive to changing market conditions?
-
Project DeliveryWhat are the common challenges and best practices for developing a project schedule baseline?
-
Critical ThinkingHow can you manage limited resources when creating a project schedule?