Project Communication, Tracking, and Reporting

Importance of Good Communications The greatest threat to many projects is a failure to communicate Our culture does not portray IT professionals as being good communicators Research shows that IT professionals must be able to communicate effectively to succeed in their positions Strong verbal skills are a key factor in career advancement for IT professionals

PMBOK – Project Communications Management Processes Communications Planning — attempts to answer: How will information be stored? How will knowledge be stored? What information goes to whom, when, and how? Who can access what information? Who will update the information and knowledge? What media of communication is best?

PMBOK – Project Communications Management – Continued Information Distribution—getting the right information to the right people in the right format Performance Reporting—collection and dissemination of project information to the various project stakeholders. Administrative Closure—verifying and documenting the project’s progress.

Project Communications Plan can be formal or informal, depending on the needs of the project stakeholders and the size of the project communications plan should determine: Who has specific information needs? What are those information needs? How will a particular stakeholder’s information needs be met? When can a stakeholder expect to receive this information? How will this information be received?

Project Communications Plan

Project Communications Plan Stakeholders Doc. Name Doc. Format Contact Person Due Customer Management Monthly Stat. Report Hard copy Gail Feldman, Tony Silva 1st month Customer Business Staff Julie Grant, Jeff Martin Customer Tech. Staff E-mail Evan Dodge, Nancy Michaels Internal Management Bob Thomson Internal Busi. & Tech. Staff Intranet Angie Liu Training Subcontractor Training Plan Jonathan Kraus 11/1/1999 Software Subcontractor Software Imp. Plan Barbara Gates 6/162000

Media Choice Table

Project Metrics Project Metric - qualitative measurement of some attribute of the project. Project metrics should focus on the following key areas: Scope Schedule Budget Resources Quality Risk

Project Metrics Metric Description Scope Change Requests The number of scope changes requested by the client or sponsor. Scope Change Approvals The number of scope changes that were approved. Overdue tasks The number of tasks that were started but not finished by the expected date or time. Tasks that should have started The number of task that should have started but have been delayed. Over budgeted tasks The number of tasks (and dollar amount) of tasks that have cost more to complete than expected Earned Value Budgeted Cost of Work Performed (BCWP) Over allocated Resources The number of resources assigned to more than one task. Turnover The number of project team members who quit or terminated. Training Hours The number of training hours per project team member.

A good project metric should be: Edberg, 1997 Understandable Quantifiable Cost Effective Proven High Impact

Project Measurement Principles Meyer, 1994 A measurement system should allow the team to gauge its progress. The team should design its own measurement system. Adopt only a handful of measures. Measures should track results and progress.

Dashboard Metric

Monitor And Control Progress Purpose of Control To track progress To detect variance from plan To take corrective action

Monitor And Control Progress Tracking Techniques Conducting periodic project status meetings in which each team member reports progress and problems Evaluating the results of all reviews conducted throughout the software engineering process Determining whether formal project milestones have been accomplished by the scheduled date. Comparing actual start date to planned start date for each project task listed in the project table Meeting informally with practitioners to obtain their subjective assessment of progress to date and problems.

Monitor And Control Progress Graphical Reporting Tools Gantt Charts Milestone Charts Metrics Cost Schedule Control (Earned Value)

Gantt Chart Project Status Report

Earned Value Suppose you just signed a contract with a consulting firm called Dewey, Cheatem, and Howe for developing an IS. Project Budget, Schedule, Tasks $40,000 4 months 20 Tasks (evenly divided over 4 months) $2,000 per task 5 tasks per month Therefore , you plan to pay $10,000/month. This is called budgeted cost of work scheduled (BCWS).

Planned Budget-Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled (BCWS)

Payment due immediately! Invoice End of Month 1 Dewey, Cheatem, & Howe Amount Due: $8,000 Payment due immediately! page 1 of 2 Actual Cost of Work Performances (ACWP)

BCWS Versus ACWP Is your project ahead of budget $2,000 ?

Invoice Complete only 3 from 5 tasks Dewey, Cheatem, & Howe Work Completed for Month 1 Task A - $2,000 Task B - $3,000 Task C - $3,000 page 2 of 2 Complete only 3 from 5 tasks Spent $8,000 to achieve only $6,000 of actual work 6,000 is Earned Value

Comparison of BCWS, ACWP, and Budgeted Cost of Work Performed (BCWP)

Definitions Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled (BCWS) Planned expenditure cash flows based on the completion of tasks in accordance with the project’s budget and schedule Actual Cost of Work Performed (ACWP) Actual Project Expense based on completed tasks Earned Value or Budgeted Cost of Work Performed (BCWP) The amount of the budget that we should have spent for a given amount of work completed

Cost/Performance Indicators

Cost Metrics Cost Variance (CV)-The difference between a task’s estimated cost and its actual cost: CV = BCWP - ACWP Negative Value = over budget and/or behind schedule Positive Value = under budget and/or ahead of schedule Cost Performance Index (CPI)-percentage of work completed per dollar spent CPI = BCWP  ACWP ratio > 1 = ahead of schedule and/or under budget ratio < 1 = behind schedule and/or over budget

Cost Variance

Schedule Metrics Schedule Variance (SV) – the difference in terms of cost between the current progress and our originally scheduled progress SV = BCWP – BCWS Schedule Performance Index (SPI) – a ratio of the work performed to the work scheduled. SPI = BCWP  BCWS ratio > 1 = ahead of schedule and/or under budget ratio < 1 = behind schedule and/or over budget

Schedule Variance

Earned Value Metrics Minimum Funds Needed if things do not get worse Minimum funds = Original total budget  CPI Funds Needed if things continue to get worse at the same level of slippage Funds Needed = Original total budget  (CPI x SPI)

Reporting Performance and Progress Reporting Categories Reviews Formal & informal meetings with stakeholders May focus on specific deliverables or milestones Used to get acceptance, surface problems or issues, or make key decisions

Reporting Performance and Progress Reporting Categories Status Reporting Describes present state of the project Compares actual progress to baseline plan Scope, schedule, and budget Like a snap shot of the project at a specific time

A run up or down of four or more successive data points

A Change of More Than Three Standard Deviation

Reporting Performance and Progress Reporting Categories What activities or tasks has the team accomplished? Actual versus planned Forecast Reporting Predicting the project’s future status or progress Example: trend analysis

Information Distribution Face-to-Face Meetings (F2F) Telephone, email, other wireless technology Collaboration technology NetMeeting, Groove, Notes, Exchange

Running Effective Meetings Determine if a meeting can be avoided Define the purpose and intended outcome of the meeting Determine who should attend the meeting Provide an agenda to participants before the meeting Prepare handouts, visual aids, and make logistical arrangements ahead of time Run the meeting professionally Build relationships

Using E-Mail Effectively Make sure that e-mail is an appropriate medium for what you want to communicate Be sure to send the e-mail to the right people Use meaningful subjects Limit the content to one main subject, and be as clear and concise as possible Limit the number and size of attachments Delete e-mail you don’t need, and don’t open it if you question the source Make sure your virus software is up to date Respond to and file e-mails quickly Learn how to use important features

Using Templates for Project Communications Many technical people are afraid to ask for help Providing examples and templates for project communications saves time and money Organizations can develop their own templates, use some provided by outside organizations, or use samples from textbooks Recall that research shows that companies that excel in project management make effective use of templates

Sample Template for a Monthly Progress Report

Sample Template for a Letter of Agreement for a Class Project

Outline for a Final Project Report

Communication and Collaboration Matrix

The BITTC KMS Extranet

BITTC Project Team’s Learning Cycle