Software Project Monitoring And Control

Monitoring and Control

• Monitoring – collecting, recording, and reporting information
concerning project performance that project manger and others wish
to know

• Controlling – uses data from monitor activity to bring actual

performance to planned performance
Project Monitoring and Control
• Why do we monitor?
• What do we monitor?
• When to we monitor?
• How do we monitor?
Why do we Monitor?
• The things don’t always go according to plan (no
matter how much we prepare)
• To discover and respond accordingly to revisit
project plan
 What do we monitor?

• Space
Men (human resources)
• Time
Machines
• Tasks
Materials
• Quality/Technical
Money Performance

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What do we monitor?
Inputs Outputs
• Time  Progress
• Money Costs
• Resources
Job starts
• Material Usage
• Tasks Job completion
Also
• Quality/Technical - Monitor Changes (design
Performance spec)
- Quality performance

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When do we monitor?
 End of the project
 Continuously
 Regularly
 Logically
 While there is still time to react
 As soon as possible
 At task completion
 At pre-planned decision points (milestones)
Where do we monitor?
• At head office?
• At the site office?
• On the spot?
• Depends on situation and the ‘whats’
How do we monitor?
• Through meetings with clients, parties involved in project
• For schedule – PERT Charts, Update Gantt Charts
• Using Earned Value Analysis
• Calculate Critical Ratios
• Milestones
• Reports
• Tests and inspections
• Delivery or staggered delivery
• PMIS (Project Management Info Sys) Updating
Project Control
• Control – process and activities needed to correct deviations from
plan

• Control the triple constraints

• time (schedule)
• cost (budget, expenses, etc)
• performance (specifications, testing results, etc.)
Why we need to control?
• Because when we plan, we use “estimations” of:
• Software size.
• Necessary tasks.
• Necessary resources for each task.
• Expected Productivity.
• Usually plan differs from realty.
• Software projects substantially differ from one to the next.
Monitoring and Control Processes
• Monitor and control project work
• Perform integrated change control
• Validate Scope
• Control Scope
• Control schedule
• Control costs
• Control Quality
Monitoring and Control Processes
• Control communications
• Control risk
• Control procurements
• Control stakeholder engagement
Techniques for Software Project
Monitoring and Control
• Timesheets
• Milestones & Time Charts
What is timesheet?

• A timesheet is a chart that allows the project manager to see

the workload of each team member, their assigned hours
and hours remaining on each project activity. Once a team
member has validated ‘time worked’, the project manager
can integrate this into the project’s schedule, which then
results in the time left to complete an activity being
automatically recalculated.
Timesheets in detail
• Time tracking systems generally include the following data:
• The name of the user: This is the person who is completing the
timesheet.
• Date: Timesheets typically show a week to view. The date field lets
you navigate through the calendar and enter your working time for a
particular week.
• Project: Timesheets can group tasks by project to make it easier for
the user to see what they are recording at a glance.
• Task: The list of tasks that the user has been allocated to work on
that are not yet marked as complete.
Timesheets in detail
• Days of the Week: The rest of the timesheet columns display the
days of the week. Mark the hours worked on each task against the
correct days.
• Auto-totals: Columns and rows will automatically total so that you
can see at a glance how many hours you have worked in a day or on
a particular task.
• Notes: Add comments and upload files to timesheet entries to
remind yourself of what the task was about or to note why it took
longer (or less time) than expected.
 Benefits of timesheet for project manager
• Identify the availability of the members of the project team
With a timesheet, you can easily distribute the workload amongst members of the team
with most availability. The tasks assigned to each employee are clearly identified and
quantified in terms of time. Project management is simplified while remaining effective.
• Monitor the progress made by users to anticipate delays on deliverables
The timesheet records valuable information regarding any delays incurred during the
completion of a project e.g. unexpected difficulties when performing a task, absence of an
employee due to an urgent meeting or non-attendance. It makes it easier to redistribute the
workload to compensate for these delays and thus meet the original deadline.
• Estimate the cost of the project from the time spent on it
The timesheet is an excellent tool for estimating the cost of a project. Each element is
evaluated in terms of time spent; the management of a project is thus facilitated by being
able to compare prediction to reality at any time during its execution.
Benefits of timesheet for employees
• Determine one’s workload over a period of time
For the employee, the timesheet is an effective means of self-regulation in
terms of time spent on each task. It also makes it easier to plan in advance by
knowing the workload coming up over a period of time.
• Keep up to date with time spent on each phase of the project
Regularly updating the timesheet allows employees to accurately track the
progress of their work against deadlines. It can indicate the time spent on the
major project activities and / or for each particular task.
• Anticipate delays in tasks and refer them to the project manager
With the timesheet the employee can inform the project manager of the
progress being made in real time. In the case of delays, the manager can then
change the schedule or re-assign urgent tasks to available employees.
Milestones for Software project
monitoring and control
• Milestones is a framework for the software project management. It’s a
key determinant for project scheduling.
• Logical marker before end of a phase inside the project for a certain
task/activities so that corrective actions could be taken in case of
problems and deliverables can be completed within time.
• Milestones are and internal project result used by manager to check
project progress. It helps to frequently monitor project progress.
• It is not a deliverable to customer.
• Milestone signifies important decisions that affects the future Of the
project. It is a key for defining Program Evaluation and Review Technique
(PERT) or the Critical Path Method(CPM).
Why it is required ?
• Scheduling:
milestones can help keep project on schedule. After reaching a
milestone it is a chance to re-visit your project plan and identify any problems
in your project schedule.
Celebrating success:
Especially when working on a long-term project, reaching a
milestone can be a chance for you to congratulate yourself on a job well done.
Project Evaluation:
Re-visiting your project plan from time to time is essential and
reaching a milestone is a good time to step back from the project and take a
critical look.
 Time Charts
A Time Chart is a way of planning your project. As part of your project
you need to show how much time you intend to spend on each section
of the project. Included is a key which shows the amount of time that
each unit represents.