How you can monitor and control project schedule and budget?

Answer 1

Schedule control has a two-pronged goal; to ensure that the project is progressing on time as planned and to monitor any changes to this progress. As a project manager, you should be out in front of the project, performing the following tasks on a regular basis:

• Determining the current status of the project schedule

• Influencing the factors that generate schedule changes

• Determining whether the project schedule has changed. For ex: if some activities are running late

• Managing changes as they occur

You detect a schedule change by comparing the execution time to the time in the schedule baseline, which is a major input item into the schedule control process. This is formally called Control Schedule.

Controlling the project scope includes influencing factors that create changes to the scope, as well as managing change requests and controlling their impact when the change actually occurs.

While controlling the scope, you focus on the following tasks:

• Watch out for scope creep - Determine whether it has happened and correct the situation. Scope creep refers to scope changes applied without processing them though the change control process.

• Process the scope change requests through the integrated change control process for approval.

• Manage the implementation of scope changes after approval, as well as their impact across the project.

Controlling cost means monitoring and controlling updates and changes to costs, budget, and the cost baseline of the project. Monitoring and controlling costs has two dimensions to it: expenditure of project funds and the work performed as a result of those expenditures. One major aspect of cost monitoring and controlling is to determine the relationship between the expenditures and the accomplishments. The cost performance depends on this relationship. The other main aspect is to control the changes to the approved cost performance baseline.

To be more specific, monitoring and controlling the project cost includes the following tasks:

• Influence the factors that can create changes to the approved cost baseline.

• Monitor the following:

o Work performed against the funds expended

o Variance of cost performance from the approved baseline • Prevent unapproved changes from creeping into cost reports and expenditures.

• Act to keep cost overruns within the planned acceptable limits.

• Ensure the following:

o Change requests are dealt with in a timely fashion and managed as they occur.

o Expenditures do not exceed the approved budget by period or by total amount. Any change to the budget must be approved before implementation. • Communicate with the appropriate stakeholders about the cost associated with the approved changes.

Cost is monitored and controlled by using the Control Cost process