Project Management For Dummies®

Chapter 12. Tracking Progress and Maintaining Control

In This Chapter

• Keeping on course: The project plan versus actual performance

• Utilizing systems to track scheduling, labor hours, and expenditures

• Formulating and taking corrective actions

• Managing changes

A sad reality of projects is that they're often born amid high hopes and expectations and die in frustration and disappointment. Your project plans represent visions that you believe will work; however, those plans don't implement themselves automatically, and they can't predict the future with certainty.

Successful projects require continued care and management to ensure that the project follows the plans correctly and, as a result, leads to the desired results. When unexpected situations occur, you must react promptly to adjust your efforts and keep your project on track.

This chapter discusses the steps in the project control process and focuses on the systems and techniques for collecting, analyzing, and reporting on schedule performance, labor hours, and expenditures, and taking corrective actions when needed.

Controlling Your Project

Project control entails the following activities you perform throughout your project to ensure that your project proceeds according to plan and produces the desired results (see Appendix B for a float chart illustrating the cyclical nature of project control):

• Reconfirming the plan: At the beginning of each performance period (the time interval at which you regularly review and assess project performance), ...