Monitoring of Project and Control Phase

The project monitoring and control face is one of the most important part of project management. It is the center of concentration of all the activities that link all the first stages. The control and monitoring process helps in managing an already initiated project, and makes some operations active at this stage. The basic aim of the period is to check and confirm the deliverables against the requirements of the project plan. The step helps in determine whether the project is meeting the required standards or not. Monitoring and Control Project Work The process involves the tracking of the performance of the real project while comparing it with the planned management activities. The process occurs in all the stages of a project and it easier in small projects since there are fewer activities involved. Some of the deliverables in this phase include the change requests, the updates made on the project management plan and the updates made on the project documents.

Integrated Change Control

The process involves the review of all the change requests made in the previous method of monitoring and control project work. In this category, the changes are approved by the relevant authorities including the stakeholders and modifications made to the deliverables are managed. The process assesses all the change requests and the project plan to effect the necessary changes. The primary aim of this step is to allow for proper documentation of the changes and reduce the project risks significantly.

Validate Scope

The process of validating the project scope involves the formalization of acceptance of the finalized project deliverables. The primary aim of the step is to enhance objectivity to the process of approval while increasing the chance for the final product and service. The inputs for the process include the verified deliverables and the work performance data. The tools comprise of group decision-making techniques while the outputs for the process are not limited to change requests and accepted deliverables.

Control Scope

The process ensures that the scope baseline is maintained all through until the project is complete. It is one of the critical steps which provide that the project does not deviate from the initial plan. The inputs for the process include the project management plan and the organizational process assets while the tools and techniques include the variance analysis. The outputs for the scope control are not limited to work performance information, the project management plan updates and the change requests.

Control Schedule

The process involves monitoring the project status while updating the management about the progress of the project. It also consists of the management of the changes made to the schedule baseline which help in achieving the set goals. The importance of the schedule control is that it offers the ways to detect deviations thus allowing for the development of the corrective mechanism (Kerzner, 2017). For example, when the project is operating behind time, the variation is corrected by limiting the time for those stages whose time may not have a significant impact on the quality of the project.

Control Costs

Costs are critical to any project success. Cost control is, therefore, one of the most crucial processes which allow the project managers to assess and give an update of the project costs and alert the management of values that might deviate from the initial estimates. The primary aim of the process is to identify the steps which might cause bursts in costs and evaluate them for better corrective action to reduce risks. Some of the examples include the rising cost of raw materials as a result of inflation.

Control Quality

The quality control process seeks to record the outcome from the execution of quality activities to evaluate the performance and which helps in making necessary changes. The impact of the process is to ascertain the causes of poor quality of products and recommend the action to rectify the problem (Acebes et al., 2014). The process is also crucial validating the project deliverables thus increasing the chances of final acceptance. A good example is the assessment of the quality of the first products produced by a firm.

Control Communication

Communication is critical, and the project team needs to give regular updates about the project. Monitoring and controlling connection in the entire cycle help in enhancing transparency. The process aims at strengthening optimal information flow among the participants which ensures that the whole team remains updated of all the steps, decisions and actions taken. A good example is when a project manager calls for a meeting to update the stakeholders on their progress.

Control Risks

Every project come with a significant amount of chances. The risk control process involves the development of response plans to manage any shortcomings while identifying the risks and evaluating the effectiveness of risk management programs. The importance of the process is to increase the efficiency of the approaches to risks and optimize on risk response plans. The inputs include risk register while the tools and techniques are a risk assessment, risk audits, and reserve analysis. An excellent example of risk delays in deliveries.

References

Kerzner, H. (2017). Project management metrics, KPIs, and dashboards: a guide to measuring and monitoring project performance. John Wiley & Sons.

Acebes, F., Pajares, J., Galán, J. M., & López-Paredes, A. (2014). A new approach for project control under uncertainty. Going back to the basics. International Journal of Project Management, 32(3), 423-434.