Lecture 12
Managing Project
Control and Closure
Project Control
• The process that allows monitoring and
measurement of project progress and directing
influence over the plan to account for any
discrepancies between planned progress and actual
progress
Philosophy of Project Control
• The management style the manager employs in
following the plan and dealing with problems or
changes in the plan
• Types:
– Dogmatic
• Little or no tolerance for deviation from the original plan
– Laid-back
• Allows any changes or problems that arise, attempting to make
numerous changes along the way to allow for the multiple
problems and changes
– Pragmatic
• A compromise between the dogmatic and laid-back philosophies
that sticks to a plan, but is flexible enough to allow for changes
Philosophy Determinants
• Project size
• Level of value or importance
• Risk
• Number of stakeholders
Levers for Controlling Projects
• Communication
– Flow and quality
• Participation
– Team member contribution level as well as those of the
stakeholders
• Analysis and action
– Project leader’s ability to understand a given situation and
take appropriate action
• Commitment
– Buy-in by team members and stakeholders
Project Closure
• Final implementation and training related to the
project, getting acceptance and signoff on the
project, and archiving the results of the project and
lessons learned from it
Importance of Project Closure
• Signifies the official end to the project
• Involves:
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System installation
Training for end-users/support staff
Documentation and archiving project
Management methods applied
Lessons learned
Techniques for Managing
Project Control
• Standard Operating Procedures
– Activities and reporting methods instituted during the
course of the project to monitor its progress and to
provide reports for project managers and stakeholders
– Project log
• Recordings of project activities
– Progress report template
• Communication to stakeholders on project activities
– Monitor and control project work processes
Monitor & Control
Project Work
• The process of collecting, measuring, and
disseminating information related to performance, as
well as assessing measurements and trends in order
to make any improvements
Monitor & Control Project Work Processes
Inputs
• Project management plan
– Defines how the project will be executed, monitored and
controlled, and closed
• Work performance information
– Information indicating the status of project activities yet to
be completed
• Rejected change requests
– Change requests, supporting documentation, and rejected
justification
Monitor & Control Project Work Processes
Techniques
• Project management methodology
– The process that helps the project team monitor and control the work
being performed in accordance with the project management plan
• Project management information system
– MS Project or similar tools
• Earned value technique
– A cost-control technique that provides estimates on the likelihood the
project will meet schedule and budget requirements
• Expert judgment
– Recommendations by skilled and experienced personnel related to
monitoring and controlling project work activities
Monitor & Control Project Work Processes
Outputs
• Recommended corrective actions
– Documented recommendations needed to bring future project
performance into conformance with the project management plan
• Recommended preventive actions
– Documented recommendations that minimize the probability of
negative consequences to the project
• Forecasts
– Estimates or predictions of conditions or events in the project’s future
• Recommended defect repair
• Requested changes
Integrated Change Control
• The process of identifying, evaluating, and managing
changes that occur from project initiation through
project closure
Integrated Change Control
Inputs
• Project management plan
• Requested changes
• Work performance information
• Recommended preventive actions
• Recommended corrective actions
• Recommended defect repair
• Deliverables
Integrated Change Control
Tools & Techniques
• Project management methodology
• Project management information system
• Expert judgment
Integrated Change Control
Outputs
• Approved change requests
– Documented and authorized changes that are scheduled for implementation by the
project team
• Rejected change requests
– Requested changes that were not chosen for implementation
• Approved corrective actions
– Documented and authorized guidelines necessary to bring future project performance in
conformance with the project management plan
• Approved preventive actions
– Actions to reduce the probability of negative consequences to the project due to
identified risks
• Approved defect repair
– Approved and authorized actions that are recommended to correct defects in the
project deliverables
Project Control Techniques
1. Scope control
2. Schedule control
3. Cost control
4. Quality control
5. Risk monitoring and control
1. Scope Control
• The process of assuring that only agreed-upon
changes are made to the project’s scope
Scope Control Process
Inputs
• Scope statement
– Defines the current boundaries of the project
• Work breakdown structure
– Project divided into work packages
• WBS dictionary
– Work package content defined
• Scope management plan
– Document that describes how the project scope is defined,
documented, verified, managed, and controlled during the
project life cycle
Scope Control Process
Inputs (cont.)
• Performance reports
– Describe what the project team has accomplished so far in
terms of the deliverables that have been completed
• Approved change requests
– Agreed-upon modification to the project scope baseline
• Work performance information
– Indication of the status of the different activities required
to complete the project
Scope Control Process
Tools & Techniques
• Scope change control system
– Formal, documented process that describes the procedures for
changing the project scope and product scope
• Scope variance analysis
– Identifying the cause of variance relative to the project baseline and
determining whether any corrective action is needed
• Scope reporting system
– Process of periodically ascertaining and documenting the status of
cost, schedule, and technical (quality) performance
• Configuration management system
– Guidelines that ensure that the requested changes to the project and
product scope are thoroughly considered and documented before
being implemented
Scope Control Process
Outputs
• Updates to project scope statement
• Updates to WBS
• Updates to WBS dictionary
• Updates to scope baseline
• Requested changes
• Recommended corrective action
• Updates to organizational process assets
• Updates to project management plan
2. Schedule Control
• The process of setting procedures and rules in place
for controlling changes to the project schedule
Schedule Control
Inputs
• Schedule management plan
– Specifies how the project schedule will be managed and controlled
• Schedule baseline
– Used to measure and report schedule performance
• Performance reports
– Describe what the project team has accomplished so far in terms of
the planned dates that have been met and those that have not
• Approved change requests
– Agreed upon modification to the agreed upon schedule baseline
Schedule Control
Tools & Techniques
• Progress reporting
• Schedule change control system
• Performance measurement
• Project management software
• Variance analysis
• Schedule comparison bar charts
Schedule Control
Tools & Techniques
• Progress reporting
– Documenting what the project team has accomplished
during a certain period of time
• Schedule change control system
– Process for evaluating and implementing potential
schedule changes, including change approval authorization
hierarchies
• Performance measurement
– Determine the magnitude and criticality of schedule
variations
Schedule Control
Tools & Techniques (cont.)
• Project management software
– Tracks project schedules or forecast the effects of
variations in activity completion dates
• Variance analysis
– Evaluate potential and/or actual variance on the project
schedule
• Schedule comparison bar charts
– Displays the status of an activity based on the schedule
baseline and the current status of the same activity
Schedule Control
Outputs
• Schedule updates
• Performance measures
– Stakeholders informed
• Requested changes
• Recommended corrective actions
– Procedures initiated to address schedule performance
problems
Schedule Control
Outputs (cont.)
• Updates to organizational process assets
– Causes of variance documented; justification for correction
action; lessons learned
• Updates to activity list
• Updates to activity attributes
• Updates to project management plan
– Project schedule is brought up-to-date to reflect approved
schedule changes
3. Cost Control
• The process of ensuring that only appropriate
changes are included in the modified cost baseline
• Cost baseline
Cost Control
Inputs
– Time-phased budget that is used to measure and monitor cost
performance
• Project funding requirements
• Performance reports
– Provides information related to cost and resource performance as the
project is executed
• Work performance information
– Status and cost of the different activities required to complete the
project
• Approved change requests
• Project management plan
Project Funding
• Estimates can be:
– Top-down: spending limit is set by senior management
– Bottom-up: costs are totaled for each project activity
which provides the estimated total cost of the project
Cost Control
Tools & Techniques
• Cost control change system
– the procedures by which changes can be made to the cost baseline
just as the schedule change control system is used to provide
procedures for making changes to the schedule
• Performance measurement analysis
– Assesses the magnitude of any variance occurring during project
execution (e.g. EVM)
• Forecasting
– Estimates or predictions of conditions or events in the project’s future
that are determined from information and knowledge available at the
time of the forecast
Cost Control
Tools & Techniques (cont.)
• Project performance review
– Assessment cost performance over time, the activities that are
running over or under budget, and milestones that have been met and
those that remain to be met
• Project management software
– Assists project team in monitoring planned performance against the
actual performance and to forecast the effects of any changes on the
planned project cost
• Variance management
– Specifies how changes to the cost baseline will be managed
Cost Control
Outputs
• Updates to cost estimates
• Updates to cost baseline
• Performance measurements
– Reported to key stakeholders
• Forecasted completion
• Requested changes
Cost Control
Outputs (cont.)
• Recommended corrective actions
• Organizational process assets updates
– Causes of variances identified; justification for corrective
action; and lessons learned
• Updates to project management plan
Earned Value Management
(EVM)
• Variance analysis technique that tracks the physical
accomplishment of work. EVM can measure
technical performance (i.e., accomplishment of
planned work - scope), schedule performance (i.e.,
behind/ahead of schedule - time), and cost
performance (i.e., under/over budget - cost)
EVM Known's
• Planned value (PV)
 How much work you planned or budgeted to have
accomplished (in dollars) by now or at a given point of
time
• Actual cost (AC)
 How much you have actually spent by now (in dollars)
4. Quality Control
• The process of screening the project results to
determine whether they conform to relevant quality
standards and identifying means to eliminate causes
of unsatisfactory results
Quality Control
Inputs
• Quality management plan
– specifies how quality measures will be implemented
during a project
• Quality metrics
– Defines specific processes, events, or products, and
include an explanation of how they will be measured in
terms of quality
• Quality checklists
– Documentation that ensures a specific set of actions
necessary for quality control has been correctly performed
Quality Control
Inputs (cont.)
• Organizational process assets
– Lessons learned from previous projects
• Work performance information
– Technical performance measures, project deliverables
completion status, and the implementation of the required
corrective actions
• Approved change requests
– An agreed upon modification of the quality management
plan
• Deliverables
– Any unique and verifiable product of a process that is
defined in the project management plan
Quality Control
Tools & Techniques
See Chapter 8 for Review
• Cause-and-effect diagrams
• Control charts
• Flowcharts
• Histograms
• Pareto charts
• Run charts
• Scatter diagrams
• Statistical sampling
• Inspection
• Defect repair review
Quality Control
Outputs
• Quality control measurements
– Results of the quality control process activities used in the quality assurance
process for a reevaluation of the quality standards
• Validated defect repair
– Re-inspection of repaired items to determine whether they can be accepted
or rejected based on established project quality standards
• Updates to quality baseline
– Quality baseline is updated to reflect any changes
• Recommended corrective actions
– Documented and authorized guidelines necessary to bring the quality of
project deliverables in conformance to the standards
• Recommended preventive actions
– Actions to reduce the probability of nonconformance to the standards
Quality Control
Outputs (cont.)
• Requested changes
– Change requests triggered by quality control processes
• Recommended defect repair
– Defects in project deliverables are identified and recommended for repair
• Updates to organization process assets
– The causes of variances, the justification for any corrective action, and any
lessons learned during the perform quality control process are added to the
historical database
• Validated deliverables
– Quality of the project deliverables is compared to set standards with those
that conform to the standards being accepted
• Updates to project management plan
– Additions to reflect the approved changes to the quality management plan
resulting from the perform quality control process
5. Risk Monitoring and Control
• The process of identifying, analyzing, and planning
for new risks, keeping track of identified risks,
reanalyzing existing risks, monitoring trigger
conditions for contingency plans, monitoring residual
risks, and reviewing the execution of risk responses
Risk Monitoring and Control
Inputs
• Risk management plan
– Information pertaining to assignment of people, including the risk owners,
time, and other resources to project risk management
• Risk register
– Identifies risks and risk owners, agreed-upon risk responses, specific
implementation actions, warning signs of risk, residual and secondary risks,
and the time and cost contingency reserves
• Approved change requests
– Modification to risk management plan
• Work performance information
– Project deliverable status, corrective actions, and performance reports
• Performance reports
– Documented work performance information that may influence risk
management processes
Risk Monitoring and Control
Tools & Techniques
• Risk reassessment
– Periodic reviews to identify new or changing risks
• Risk audits
– Evaluates effectiveness of risk strategies as well as risk owners
• Variance and trend analysis
– Identifies deviations from the baseline plan
• Technical performance measurement
– Metrics used to measure goals associated with specific project milestone
• Reserve analysis
– Comparison of the amount of contingency reserves remaining to the amount
of risk remaining at any time in the project
• Status meetings
– Inclusion of risk management discussions during project team meetings
Risk Monitoring and Control
Outputs
• Updates to risk register
– Outcomes of risk assessments, risk audits, and periodic risk reviews added to risk
register
• Requested changes
– Requested modifications to risk management plan
• Recommended corrective actions
– Contingency and workaround plans for emerging risks
• Recommended preventive actions
– Actions to bring project into compliance with project plan
• Updates to organizational process assets
– Causes of variances, justification for corrective actions and lessons learned are added to
historical database
• Updates to project management plan
– Project management plan is updated to reflect approved changes related to risk
management
Project Closure
1.
End report
–
2.
Document that contains a record of the project management
techniques employed over the course of the project, surveys, and
outstanding items that still need to be resolved
Post-implementation review
–
3.
Document that is usually completed 6 to 12 months after
implementation as a check on whether the outcomes of the project
were as expected, whether ongoing costs are as expected, and
whether implementing the product yields net benefits
Handover
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Completed project is delivered to the client and personnel are
trained on the new system
End Report
Questions?