Monitoring and Control UNIT 4 Monitoring and Control

Monitoring and Control definition. Monitoring what is happening, taking the appropriate actions when: we have delays, the costs are over planed, or some of the previous conditions, accorded before, and that were important in the planning and acceptance, are missed. 3

Goals: Determine if the project is under control. Identify if the project is out of control. 4

Determine if the project is under control. We arrive to the milestones: On time. With the expected resources. With the quality expected. It’s economically acceptable. 5

If the project is out of control. As soon as we observe some deviations, we must: Revise the plan. Negotiate the new plan with the client. 6

Definition: Controlling a software project... “... Defined as all the management activities that ensure that the actual work goes according to plan. It measures performance against goals and plans, reveals when and were deviations exists, and by putting in motion actions to correct deviations, helps ensure accomplishment of plans” (Thayer 1988) 7

Definition: “Control... (Reifer) ... is the process of making things happen in an ordered manner or according to plan.” (Reifer) 8

Creating the framework Exercising control over a project and ensuring that targets are met is a matter of regular monitoring, finding out what is happening, and comparing it with current targets.

Project control cycle

Responsibilities Project steering committee Project board Reporting formal or informal

Assessing progress The concept of a reporting hierarchy was introduced in Chapter 1. The main lesson here is that the details relating to project progress have to originate with the people actually doing the work and have then to be fed up through the management structure. At each management level there is going to be some summarising and commentary before information is passed up to the next level. This means that there is always a danger of ‘information overload’ as information passes from the many to the few. 11 Chapter 9 11

Categories of reporting

Setting Checkpoints Taking Snapshots Based on regular time intervals Can be weekly or monthly or quarterly Depend on what to check and how to Based on a particular event At the end of each activity In the middle of a critical activity Taking Snapshots Team leader- assess daily Project manager – weekly or monthly.