Course Title:

BIT401: Software Project Management

 Unit 8: Monitoring and Control
Unit 8: Monitoring and Control

Introduction; Creating the Framework; Collecting the Data; Visualizing Progress;

Earned Value Analysis ; Change Control; Software Configuration Management
 Unit 8: Monitoring and Control
OBJECTIVES:

When you have completed this chapter you will be able to:
 monitor the progress of projects;
 assess the risk of slippage;
 visualize and assess the state of a project;
 revise targets to correct or counteract drift;
 control changes to a project’s requirements.
 Unit 8: Monitoring and Control
Unit 8: Monitoring and Control

Introduction;
Creating the Framework;
Collecting the Data;
Visualizing Progress;
Earned Value Analysis ;
Change Control;
Software Configuration Management
 Unit 8: Monitoring and Control
Introduction:

After publishing work schedules and initiating a project, it is crucial to shift attention
towards monitoring progress. This involves comparing actual achievements with the
established schedule and, if necessary, adjusting plans to realign the project with its
targets. Emphasizing the importance of creating monitorable plans with clearly
defined completion points, this chapter explores the gathering of information on
project progress and outlines actions necessary to ensure goal attainment.
Additionally, it addresses strategies for managing external changes, specifically
alterations in project requirements.
 Unit 8: Monitoring and Control
Creating the Framework:
Exercising control over a project involves regular monitoring to
compare actual progress with planned targets. Deviations may
occur, such as delays, quality shortfalls, inadequate
functionality, or exceeding costs.
The project control cycle, illustrated in Figure, emphasizes
continuous monitoring and, if necessary, re-planning to realign
the project with its goals.
After project completion, it's crucial to analyze the experience
gained, learning from mistakes to enhance future project
planning.
This chapter primarily focuses on delays in meeting target
dates and costs going over target in project management.
Few terminologies - we define following terms
 Responsibility
 Assessing progress
 Setting checkpoints
 Taking snapshots
 Unit 8: Monitoring and Control
Responsibility
The overall responsibility for project progress lies with the project steering committee, project
management board, or Project Board in PRINCE2. The project manager has day-to-day responsibility,
delegating tasks to team leaders in larger projects. Small projects involve direct reporting to the project
manager, while team leaders collate progress reports for incorporation into project-level reports for the
steering committee and client. Reporting methods vary in formality, frequency, and medium,
emphasizing the need for a balance between informal and formal communication in project progress
reporting.

Categories of reporting

Project reporting structures

 Unit 8: Monitoring and Control
Assessing progress
Project progress assessment involves routine collection of some information and event-triggered data.
Emphasis is placed on objective and tangible metrics, such as the delivery of reports. However, in
certain cases, assessments may rely on estimates regarding the completion proportion of ongoing
activities.
Setting checkpoints
It is essential to set a series of checkpoints in the initial activity plan. Checkpoints may be:
 regular (monthly, for example);
 tied to specific events such as the production of a report or other deliverable.
Taking snapshots
Progress reports frequency depends on project size and risk. Team leaders may assess daily, while
project managers may prefer weekly or monthly reports. Higher levels require less frequent and detailed
reporting. Individual developers benefit from weekly reports to capture fresh information and facilitate
reflection. Major progress reviews occur at project review points, such as PRINCE2's End Stage
Assessment at the end of each project stage, consideration of its future are undertaken.
 Unit 8: Monitoring and Control
Collecting the Data
Managers typically break down lengthy tasks into manageable one- to two-week activities. Gathering
information on partially completed tasks and forecasting remaining work is challenging. Estimating
progress is easier with a series of products, where counting specifications or screen layouts provides a
measure of advancement. In some cases, intermediate products can be used as in-activity milestones.
The first “successful compilation of a program”, for example, might be considered a milestone even
though it is not a final product.
1. Partial completion reporting
2. Red/Amber/Green (RAG) reporting

A traffic-light assessment A weekly timesheet and progress review form

 Unit 8: Monitoring and Control
Collecting the Data - Partial completion reporting
Organizations commonly utilize standard accounting systems with weekly timesheets to allocate staff
time to specific projects. While such systems track work hours and associated charges, they may lack
details about project progress and task scheduling. To address this, organizations often modify existing
accounting systems, such as weekly timesheets, by breaking down jobs to the activity level. This
adaptation includes gathering information about the work done, in addition to tracking time. For
enhanced project control, reporting forms like the one in Figure 9.3 may be employed, seeking details on
completion date slippage and estimates of task completeness. Various reporting templates exist, and
some managers may prefer obtaining information on hours worked and estimates for task completion
instead of percentage completion.

A weekly timesheet and progress review form

 Unit 8: Monitoring and Control
Collecting the Data - Red/Amber/Green (RAG) reporting
The traffic-light method addresses objections to partial completion reporting by replacing estimated
completion dates with team members' estimates of meeting the planned target date. It involves using a
traffic-light system to indicate the likelihood of meeting the deadline.
One way of doing this is the traffic-light method. This consists of the following steps:
 identify the key (first level) elements for assessment in a piece of work;
 break these key elements into constituent elements (second level);
 assess each of the second-level elements on the scale green(G) for ‘on target’, amber(A) for ‘not
on target but recoverable’, and red(R) for ‘not on target and recoverable only with difficulty’;
 review all the second-level assessments to arrive at first-level assessments;
 review first- and second-level assessments to produce an overall assessment.
The traffic-light assessment focuses on identifying the risk of non-
achievement in project activities, without estimating progress or
quantifying delays. After assessing all activities, the project
manager evaluates the overall project status. Critical activities
marked as amber or red prompt further consideration and may lead
to schedule revisions. Non-critical activities become concerning if
classified as red, particularly if their entire float is at risk of being
consumed. A traffic-light assessment
 Unit 8: Monitoring and Control
Review:
From a managerial standpoint, reviewing work products is crucial for monitoring
project progress and ensuring quality. Projects involve numerous iterations of work
products like requirements, design, and code, each prone to defects. While testing is
effective for executable code, non-executable work products need defect removal too.
Reviews are highly effective, more cost-efficient than testing, and have evolved from
focusing on code to encompassing various work products.
1. Utility of review
2. Candidate work products for review
3. Review roles
4. Review process
5. Reviewers data collection
 Unit 8: Monitoring and Control
Project Termination Review:
A manager decides when to terminate a project, and after making the decision, a
project review meeting is recommended. These reviews, applicable to successful,
failed, or prematurely abandoned projects, mark the official closure. They offer
valuable learning opportunities from mistakes and successes, enabling teams to
improve methods. The project termination review summary report benefits not only
the terminated project but also other teams, making dissemination within the
organization crucial. Project termination doesn't necessarily imply failure; it can
occur for various reasons, including successful completion. Recognizing when project
objectives can't be met prompts negotiated closure, showing wisdom in project
management. Even failed projects shouldn't be viewed entirely negatively, as they
offer insights and lessons. Statistics indicate that around 31% of projects are canceled
during the development phase. Deciding when to terminate a project requires wisdom
to prevent it from becoming a resource drain without substantial achievements.
1. Reasons for project termination
2. Project termination process
 Unit 8: Monitoring and Control
Visualizing Progress
This section explores effective ways for a manager to present project progress data. It
covers methods like Gantt charts, offering a static snapshot, and timeline charts,
which dynamically illustrate the project's evolution over time.
The Gantt chart
The slip chart
The timeline
Cost Monitoring
 Unit 8: Monitoring and Control
Earned Value Analysis
Earned Value Analysis (EVA) is a project management technique originating from
the USA's Department of Defence. It assigns a 'value' to each task based on original
expenditure forecasts, akin to the price a contractor might agree to complete the work.
This assigned value is the planned value (PV) or budgeted cost of work scheduled
(BCWS). Tasks not started have an earned value of zero, and upon completion, they
are credited with the original planned value. The total credited value at any point is
the earned value (EV) or budgeted cost of work performed (BCWP). EV serves as
an analogous representation of the agreed price for completed work, and it can be
expressed in monetary terms, staff time, or as a percentage of the PV. EVA is
considered a refinement of cost monitoring in project management.
There are different methods for assigning earned value. Of these, we prefer the 0/100
technique for software development. The 50/50 technique can give a false sense of
security by over-valuing the reporting of activity starts. The milestone technique
might be appropriate for activities with a long duration estimate but, in such cases, it
is better to break that activity into a number of smaller ones.
 Unit 8: Monitoring and Control
Earned Value Analysis
When tasks are initiated but remain incomplete, it is essential to apply a consistent method for
assigning earned value. Typical approaches in software projects include:
 the 0/100 technique: where a task is assigned a value of zero until such time that it is completed
when it is given a value of 100% of the budgeted value;
 the 50/50 technique: where a task is assigned a value of 50% of its value as soon as it is started and
then given a value of 100% once it is complete – this matches some contractual arrangements
where a contractor is given half the agreed price when starting the work, perhaps to help pay for
raw materials, and the remainder on successful completion;
 the 75/25 technique: where the task is assigned 75% on starting and 25% on completion – this is
often used when a large item of equipment is being bought: 75% is paid when the equipment is
actually delivered and the remainder when installation and testing has been satisfactorily
completed;
 the milestone technique: where a task is given a value based on the achievement of milestones that
have been assigned values as part of the original budget plan;
 percentage complete: in some cases there may be a way of objectively measuring the amount of
work completed – for example, as part of the implementation of an information system, a number
of data records have to be manually typed into a database and the actual number so far completed
can be objectively counted.
 Unit 8: Monitoring and Control
Change Control

Change Control;
Software Configuration Management
 Unit 8: Monitoring and Control
Software Configuration Management

Software Configuration Management