Information Technology Project Management: Providing Measurable Organizational Value, Fourth Edition

CHAPTER 9

Project Communication, Tracking, and Reporting

CHAPTER OVERVIEW

In this chapter, you will learn about developing an effective communications plan to better track, monitor, and report the project's progress. After studying this chapter, you should understand and be able to:

• Identify and describe the processes associated with the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK®) area called project communications management, which includes identify stakeholders, plan communications, distribute information, manage stakeholder expectations, and performance reporting.
• Describe several types of reporting tools that support the communications plan.
• Apply the concept of earned value and discuss how earned value provides a means of tracking and monitoring a project's scope, schedule, and budget.
• Describe how information may be distributed to the project stakeholders and the role information technology plays to support project communication.

INTRODUCTION

Information technology projects historically have demonstrated a poor track record for a variety of reasons. Often unrealistic project plans are created from inaccurate estimates, and, as a result, projects have little chance of achieving their objectives. As you saw earlier, various tools and techniques for estimating IT projects exist; but consistently developing accurate and realistic estimates remains a challenge. Much of an ...