Professorial Lecturer: Project Monitoring and

Dr. Domingo T. Balse, Jr, LPT Control Lecture Notes

Project Monitoring and Control

After the completion of this unit, students can:

•Prepare for the phenomena that can cause projects to detour from their plans.
•Design and manage a monitoring and control system and identify project-specific key performance indicators (KPIs).
•Design and manage a project change control system.

Introduction
Projects are divided into phases to make them more manageable. All are important, especially project monitoring. Project
monitoring and control is how a project manager ensures the plan they’re implementing with the project team goes off without a
hitch.
Project controlling involves a lot of steps to thoroughly monitor the project schedule, resources and costs. There are
project monitoring tools, of course, but like everything in project management, there’s a process.

What Is Project Monitoring and Control?

Before we get to the steps to monitor your project, let’s put the concept into context. There
are five phases in the project management process: initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and
controlling and closing. Project monitoring and controlling occur in tandem with the execution phase
in the project life cycle.
Project monitoring and control is a project management phase that’s dedicated to measuring
project performance and making sure that it adheres to what’s been set in the project plan. Project
managers will closely track the progress and performance of the project, review project status,
identify potential problems and implement corrective actions when required to keep the project on
schedule and within budget.

Why Is Project Monitoring and Controlling Important?

Project monitoring and controlling are so important to project management that it’s one of the
five project management processes. As noted, project monitoring goes hand-in-hand with project
execution to ensure that as tasks are being completed they’re staying on schedule and keeping to the
project’s budget.
Besides keeping a project on schedule and avoiding overspending, project monitoring is also a
great way to manage risk and avoid scope creep. By tracking various metrics, a project manager can
identify risk earlier when it shows up in the project as an issue. Earlier detection means earlier
mitigation. The same is true with scope creep. When changes are applied to the project, control
procedures like change requests can help keep them from negatively impacting the schedule.
To neglect project monitoring and control is to leave your project in the hands of fate. Maybe
it’ll all come together, maybe not. But that’s not what a project manager is supposed to do. They not
only plan the project and assign the team, but they’re also responsible for making sure the team
executes its tasks in accordance with the project schedule without adding unnecessary costs.
To find problems in the project, you need project management software that can monitor
progress and performance as it unfolds.

Project Monitoring Steps

Once the project manager has scheduled tasks and created a project plan that the project
sponsors approve, it’s time to move on to the project execution phase. As defined above, project
monitoring is done together with the project’s execution in order to make sure the project is executed
as per the schedule and budget. Below are the eight steps to take to ensure that you’re properly
monitoring the project.

1. Create a Project Scope Baseline

A project scope defines the expectations and requirements of the project stakeholders. It’s
used throughout the project to monitor progress. A project scope baseline captures those
expectations and requirements and can be used to measure the planned effort against the actual
effort to ensure that the project execution aligns with the project plan. The scope baseline can be
reviewed and revised during the project, but only through a formal change control process to avoid
scope creep.

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 Professorial Lecturer: Project Monitoring and
Dr. Domingo T. Balse, Jr, LPT Control Lecture Notes

2. Make a Project Schedule Baseline

When your schedule has been approved by key stakeholders, save it. That’s called a project
schedule baseline. That can then be used throughout the project like a scope baseline, but in this
case, it’s used to compare your actual progress against your planned process. This allows project
managers to track project variance and take corrective action to get the project back on track. It also
helps with stakeholder communication, as they’re always interested in if the project is on schedule. A
project schedule baseline is another necessary project control.
3. Estimate Project Costs and Define a Project Budget
The more accurate your project costs, the more accurate your project budget. Once you’ve
submitted a budget and it’s been approved by stakeholders, the last thing you want to do is request
more funds to deliver the project. There are various techniques you can use to accurately estimate
costs and plan your budget accordingly. Now, you’ll want to monitor all project expenses and
use change control systems to track the project costs and respond to any discrepancies. You can also
make a baseline of the budget to use that to compare actual against planned costs as a way to
monitor spending.

4. Use a Risk Log

One of the most important things to look for when monitoring a project is risk. During the planning
phase, you can create a risk log that collects the risks you think might show up in the project. Then
you can note the risk’s potential impact on the project and who’s responsible for identifying and
mitigating it. You can also set priorities to help determine which risks must be dealt with immediately
or if they can wait. While you’re monitoring the project, the risk log will help you stay alert for issues
that are likely to impact the project, whether for good or bad. If an issue is identified, you can
respond quickly and effectively.

5. Use a Change Log

Project monitoring is all about detecting change. When you do, you’ll need a change log to
control it. A change log is a document that chronologically lists the changes that have been made to
the project. This acts as a summary of the changes you’ve made and allows project managers to track
and communicate all the changes that have occurred. This also gives project managers another
communication tool to keep project stakeholders informed so they understand the changes that
occurred and that they were properly managed.

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 Professorial Lecturer: Project Monitoring and
Dr. Domingo T. Balse, Jr, LPT Control Lecture Notes

6. Establish Quality Control Procedures

The importance of delivering projects on time and within budget is often discussed, but don’t
neglect the importance of quality. If the product or service doesn’t meet quality expectations, it’s a
failure. Quality control procedures ensure that the product or service is tested and meets the
standard set in the project planning. It also works to reduce errors. Therefore, establishing quality
control procedures is a key part of any thorough project monitoring.

7. Use Project Monitoring Tools

Project monitoring tools are essential for project monitoring. Project management
software has many features that give project managers a window into the project, whether costs,
resources or time. There are dashboards that provide a high-level view of the project’s progress and
performance, detailed status reports and other types of reporting to get more information and even
resource management features to track your team’s performance. Be sure to look for a project
management software that has these features and is cloud-based so you get real-time data for more
insightful monitoring.

8. Create Project Reports

We just touched on project reports, but they deserve more detail. Project reports provide a
description of the current state of the project. Status reports capture data for a specific period of
time, while portfolio status reports do the same but for multiple projects. However, there are more
reports on project variance, workload and more. All reports are important to monitor the project and
should be shared with stakeholders to update them on the project.

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 Professorial Lecturer: Project Monitoring and
Dr. Domingo T. Balse, Jr, LPT Control Lecture Notes

How to Calculate Earned Value in Project Management

Earned value management (EVM) is a method used in project management to assess

project performance. It provides valuable insights into the project’s health by measuring the
planned work against actual work completed as well as the associated costs.
By calculating the earned value of a project, project managers can monitor progress, identify
deviations from the plan, and make necessary adjustments to get the project back on track.

What is earned value?

Earned value (EV) is a way to measure and monitor the level of work completed on a project
against the plan. Simply put, it’s a quick way to tell if you’re behind schedule or over budget on your
project.
You can calculate the EV of a project by multiplying the percentage complete by the total
project budget. For example, let’s say you’re 60% done, and your project budget is $100,000 — your
earned value is then $60,000. However, to properly use earned value, a few additional calculations
must be considered. The largest benefits of earned value result from completing both cost and
schedule variance analyses.

Earned value calculations in project management

1. Schedule Variance (SV): Schedule variance is the difference between your planned progress and
your actual progress to date. The SV calculation is EV (earned value) - PV (planned value). Let’s
assume you have a four-month-long project, and you’re two months in, but the project is only 25%

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 Professorial Lecturer: Project Monitoring and
Dr. Domingo T. Balse, Jr, LPT Control Lecture Notes
complete. In this case, your EV = 1 months (25% of four months), and your PV = 2 months. Therefore
your SV is 1 - 2 = -1. Since the number is negative, it indicates you’re behind schedule.

2. Cost Variance (CV): Similar to SV, cost variance is the difference between how much you planned
on spending thus far and your actual costs to date. The CV calculation is: CV = EV - AC (actual cost).
Let’s use the earlier example. Your project budget is $100,000 and you’re 60% done, which means
your EV is $60,000. If you’ve spent $70,000 so far to get to this point in the project, your CV is -
$10,000. You can tell you’re over budget because the number is negative, which may indicate a
problem with the project or that the project could go over budget or run out of money.

3. Schedule Performance Index (SPI): This measure is similar to SV but is often preferred as it
translates the numbers into a value that is easily compared across tasks or projects. The SPI
calculation is: SPI = EV/PV. When SPI is above 1.00, you’re ahead of schedule. If it’s below 1.00,
you’re behind. To take the example from above, SPI would be 1/2 = 0.5. Using SPI is different than
simply comparing your progress against your baseline. Comparing your actual schedule against your
plan may indicate you’re behind on two tasks. So, you know where your immediate problem is, but not
necessarily how it impacts the overall project or your expected completion date. Using earned value,
you can calculate your SPI both by task and for the project as a whole. When you take the SPI for each
task and look at the bigger picture, you can see that your project is ahead of schedule, even with two
late tasks. This helps you better understand the overall impact of the late tasks on the project.

4. Cost Performance Index (CPI): As with SPI, CPI allows you to simplify the answer for better
analysis. The CPI calculation is: CPI = EV/AC. When CPI is over 1.00, you’re under budget, and when
it’s under 1.00, you’re overspending. In the scenario above, CPI = 60,000/ 70,000 = 0.86, indicating
an overspend. CPI can be used to forecast your project’s completion. For example, you can divide your
total project budget by your current CPI to get the expected total cost at completion. The formula is
Estimate at Completion (EAC) = Budget/ CPI. In the above example, this would be $100,000/ 0.86 =
$116,279.07. Meaning, that at this point in the project, based on current trends, you will likely end up
overspending your budget by $16,279.07. Knowing this early allows you the time to either find ways
to cut costs or secure more funding.

References

1. Brown, Karen. A and Hyer, Nancy Lea (2010); Managing projects: A team-based approach; International Edition, McGraw-Hill.
2. Kumar, V. S. (2009). Essential leadership skills for project managers. Paper presented at PMI® Global Congress 2009—North America, Orlando, FL.
Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute.
3. Lester, Albert (2007); Project Management, Planning and Control; 5th Edition, Elsevier.
4. Project Management Institute (PMI) (2013); A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK®), 5th edition.

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