What is the need of project monitoring?

What is Monitoring & Controlling?

In general, monitoring means watching the course, and controlling means taking action to either stay the course or change the wrong course. You monitor the project by generating, collecting, and distributing information about project performance against the baselines. Performance reports are used to monitor and control the project work. Deviations of performance results from the plan might indicate that some changes to the original project plan are required. Other change requests might come from stakeholders, such as expanding the project scope by adding new requirements. You control all these changes by influencing the factors that generate them, processing them through a system called the integrated change control system that contains a process called the Perform Integrated Change Control process, evaluating their impact across the project, and ensuring the implementation of the approved change requests.

In addition to the schedule activities that need to be executed, the project management plan also contains a list of risks and the risk management plan. You monitor the risks by looking out for the risk triggers (the alerts that tell you a risk has occurred or is about to occur) for the already identified risks and by identifying new risks as the project progresses. You control the risks by executing the risk response plan and taking corrective and preventive actions. Quality is an integrated part of any project. Therefore, monitoring and controlling the project work includes controlling the quality. All these aspects of the project are monitored and controlled by using two high-level processes that belong to integration management: the Monitor and Control Project Work process and the Perform Integrated Change Control process. This also includes administering the procurement part of the project, which is another high-level process by its virtue.