PROJECT MONITORING , EVALUATION & CONTROL

PROJECT MONITORING, EVALUATION, AND CONTROL

In this section, information will be provided concerning how project performance can be
monitored, evaluated, and controlled.
Control is the process of maintaining oversight over the use of the resources on the project to
determine how well the actual project results are being accomplished to meet planned project
cost, schedule, and technical performance objectives.
There are four key elements in a control system as depicted in below fig..

Establishing Standards

Taking corrective action Observing performance

Comparing actual performance

In order to properly assess project progress, several conditions and understandings are required.
These are:
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• Team members must understand and be committed to the importance of the process of
project monitoring, evaluation, and control.
• Information derived from the Work Breakdown Structure is required to measure project
progress.
• The work package is the basic project unit around which progress on the project can be
measured and evaluated.
• Information used for project control purposes must be relevant, timely, and amenable to the
plotting of trends in the use of project resources.
• Measurement of project results must start with an evaluation of the status of all of the work
packages on the project.
• Information collected and compiled concerning the status of the project must be tempered
by the judgment of the project team members and executives concerned.

Elements in the Control System

1. Establishing standards from the project plan typically include:
• Scope of work
• Product specifications
• Work breakdown structure
• Work packages
• Cost estimates
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• Master and supporting schedules
• Technical performance objectives
• Financial forecasts and funding plans
• Quality/ reliability standards
• Owner satisfaction
• Stakeholder satisfaction
• General/ senior manager satisfaction
• Project team satisfaction
• Vendor/subcontractor performance metrics
• Project team effectiveness
• Other performance standards derived from the project plan
2. Observing performance
involves receiving relevant, sufficient and timely information about the status of the project,
which comes from many sources:
• Formal reports
• Briefings
• Informal conversations
• Review meetings
• Miscellaneous documentation, such as customer perceptions; letters; e-mail; memoranda;
audit reports; ‘‘walking the project’’; observations; talking with stakeholders; listening
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During the project review meetings, asking and seeking answers to the following questions
can give valuable insight into how well the project is doing. These questions include:
• Where is the project with respect to schedule, cost, and technical performance, objectives
and goals?
• Where are the project work packages with respect to schedule, cost, and technical
performance objectives and goals?
• What is going right on the project?
• What is going wrong?
• What problems are emerging?
• What opportunities are emerging?
• Does the project continue to have an operational or strategic fit with the organization’s
mission?
• Is there anything that should be done that is not being done, and are we doing things we
shouldn’t be doing?
• Are the project stakeholders comfortable with the results of the project?
• How is the project customer image; Is the customer happy with the way things are going?
• Has an independent project evaluation been conducted?
• Is the project being managed on a total ‘‘project management systems’’ basis?
• Is the project team an effective organization?
• Does the project take advantage of the strength that the organization possesses?
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• Does the project avoid a dependence on the weakness of the organization?
• Is the project making money for the organization?
Ongoing monitoring of the project performance should be carried out at the following levels:
• The work package level
• The functional manager’s level
• The project team level
• The general manager’s level
• The project owner’s level
3. Comparing planned and actual performance in the use of resources .....
on the project to determine how well such use has contributed to the fulfilment of the
project objectives. Project performance must be evaluated on a regular basis to identify
variances from plans.
An important part of the control process is to take preventive action to solve actual or
anticipated problems. The major preventive actions include strategies for:
• Overall change control that involves coordinating project changes across the entire project
• Scope control
• Schedule control
• Cost control
• Technical (product) control
• Risk control
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The functioning of an effective project control system in the context of comparing planned
actual performance includes the opportunity to find answers to several questions about the
project:
• How is the project performing?
• If there are deviations from the project plan, what are the causes of these deviations?
• What can be done to correct these deviations?
• What can be done to prevent these deviations in the future?
• How many open issues are there compared with our history of projects at this point and
size?
4. Corrective action can take many strategies...
to bring the planned and actual use of resources back into harmony. Some of these
strategies include:
• Re planning
• Reallocation of funds
• Reallocation of resources
• Reassignment of authority / responsibility
• Rescheduling
• Revising cost estimates
• Modification of technical performance objectives
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• Change project scope
• Change product specifications
• Terminate the project
• Stopping work on the project and re planning/ redirecting the entire project

Project Audits
Project audits provide an opportunity to have an independent and expert appraisal of where
the project stands. The basic purposes of an audit include:
• Determining what is going right, and why
• Determining what is going wrong, and why
• Identifying forces and factors that have prevented or may prevent achievement of cost,
schedule, and technical performance objectives
• Evaluating the efficiency of existing project management strategy, including organizational
support, policies, procedures, practices, techniques, guidelines, action plans, funding
patterns, and human and nonhuman resource utilization
• Providing for an exchange of ideas, information, problems, solutions, and strategies with
the project team members
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A project audit should cover key activities depending on the nature of the project. A sample
of these key activities are included below.

1. Engineering
2. Manufacturing
3. Finance and accounting
4. Contracts
5. Purchasing
6. Marketing
7. Human resources
8. Organization and management
9. Quality
10. Test and deployment
11. Logistics
12. Construction / Production
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Types of Project Audits (7)
Project audits will vary according to the need for comparing the plan to the actual execution practices.
Planning and conduct of the audit focus upon the purpose and expected outcome. Typical project audits
are as follows:
• Progress Audit
The review of project progress in terms of the three primary goals for schedule progress, budget
expenditures, and technical progress.
The outcome for this type of audit would be a comparison of the planned progress in each of the three
areas against the actual accomplishments.
This would provide senior management a report on the effectiveness of the project’s execution.
• Process Audit
The review of practices by the project team to ensure they are following the prescribed process and that
the process is effective in meeting the planned goals. One example of a process audit could be a test of a
new piece of equipment to determine the functionality.
The test process would provide assurance that the testing was producing the correct results. The results
of the audit would provide confidence as to whether the process is capable of producing the desired
outcome.
• System Audit
The review of a technical or administrative system to ensure it is functioning according to the
documented guidance. The system would typically be a project support operation or function such as
Issue Management, Change Management, or Communication Plan.
These areas would often be supporting functions for the overall project and areas that are critical to
ensuring project accomplishment. The result of the audit would be a report on the adequacy of the
system to support the project’s work.
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• Product Audit
The review of the technical accomplishment of the project in building the product. It is a
comparison of the technical achievement according to the plan (e.g., product description,
statement of work, specification) and compared to the actual. The outcome of the audit
gives confidence as to the convergence of the technical parameters and the work. The result
of the audit is a report stating the degree of convergence on the technical solution.

• Contract Audit
The review of work on the project and a comparison with the contractual requirements to
determine compliance. This audit provides confidence that the project team is performing
the work required by the contract and that all specific requirements, such as workmanship
or process usage, are being met. The result of the audit is a report of the degree of
compliance with the contractual requirements.

• General Audit
The review of all aspects of a project and a comparison of those planned versus actual
accomplishments. This type of audit encompasses all areas of the project and is used to
identify noncompliance with the plans, practices, processes, procedures, and requirements.
The audit may vary as to the depth of examination and time spent in any one area. The
result of this type of audit is a report on the degree of compliance with all requirements for
conducting projects.
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• Special Audit
The review of specific parameters of a project to determine the progress or status of a
project. This type of audit is typically triggered by a loss of confidence in the project’s
achievements in a specific area and senior management desires to determine the actual
progress or status of that area. The result of a special audit is a specifically focused report on
the progress or status and, perhaps, recommendations for improvement of conditions.

Audit Teams
• Audit teams are formed to conduct the various audits and to report the results of audits. The
composition of the team is often dependent upon the type of audit and any special purpose.
The success of the audit team is dependent upon the skills, knowledge, and ability of the
individuals and the needs of the project. It is not necessary for a person auditing a project to
be technically qualified in project work. Following depicts the three types of audit teams
and the overlap between internal and external team composition.
Composite team

Internal audit team External audit team

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There are three basic types of audit teams: the internal team, the external team, and the
composite team of both internal and external team members.
The functions for each type may be similar, but the degree of independence in the audit is
the primary difference.

• Internal Project Audit Team

A select group of individuals from a project team that comprise an audit team. This team
conducts self-audits of the project functions and identifies compliance issues. The team has
credibility with the total project team and team members are familiar with the work. There
is a rapid start-up and completion of the audit. Using project team members, however,
detracts from the work that was to be performed and does not provide an objective
assessment of the audited area.
• External Audit Team
A select group of individuals with specific skills, knowledge and abilities that comprise an
audit team, but have no member from the project team. This audit team has a high degree
of independence and perceived objectivity in making the assessment. It does however,
require time and effort to form, become familiar with the project, and collect information. A
dedicated external audit team can minimally impact the project’s progress while reaching
objective findings.
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• Composite Audit Team
A select group of individuals with specific skills, knowledge, and abilities that comprise an
audit team, and are a mix of both internal and external resources. This composite
arrangement obtains critical resources from the project and from other sources to build an
audit team that can balance objectivity of assessment with the knowledge of the project
work. A composite team has the strengths of being knowledgeable in the project work and
the audit function while having minimal impact on the objectivity of the outcome.
There are many variations of the audit team and the source of people to form the team.
Constraints on availability of technically qualified people and the urgency of need for the
audit may drive a unique solution. One must recognize the strengths and weaknesses of the
different variations and how the variations may negatively impact the desired results for the
audit.
Post-project Reviews:
Post-project reviews can serve to identify and pass on to other project teams the efficiency
and effectiveness with which a particular project has been managed. Such reviews provide
insight into the degree of ‘‘success’’ or ‘‘failure’’ of a project, as well as a composite of
lessons learned from a review of all the projects in the organization’s portfolio of projects.
The results of such reviews can provide insight into such matters as:
• Accuracy of estimating project costs
• Better means of anticipating and minimizing risk
• Evaluation of project contractors
• Improve future project management