Project Monitoring and Control: A Project Management Process Area at Maturity Level 2
Purpose
The purpose of Project Monitoring and Control (PMC) is to provide an understanding of the project’s progress so that appropriate corrective actions can be taken when the project’s performance deviates significantly from the plan.
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PP provides the overall plan and PMC tracks activities against the plan.
Introductory Notes
A project’s documented plan is the basis for monitoring activities, communicating status, and taking corrective action. Progress is primarily determined by comparing actual work product and task attributes, effort, cost, and schedule to the plan at prescribed milestones or control levels in the project schedule or WBS. Appropriate visibility of progress enables timely corrective action to be taken when performance deviates significantly from the plan. A deviation is significant if, when left unresolved, it precludes the project from meeting its objectives.
Tip
Initially, as processes based on PMC are introduced, project managers and staff members are reactive. However, as monitoring and control of activities become routine, project managers and staff members begin to anticipate problems and success in advance.
The term “project plan” is used throughout this process area to refer to the overall plan for controlling the project.
Monitoring and control functions are established early in the project as the project’s planning is performed and the acquisition strategy is defined. As the acquisition of technology solutions unfolds, monitoring and control activities are essential to ensure that appropriate resources are being applied and that acquirer activities are progressing according to plan.
When actual status deviates significantly from expected values, corrective actions are taken as appropriate. These actions can require replanning, which can include revising the original plan, establishing new agreements, or including additional mitigation activities in the current plan.
If corrective action is required to resolve variances from project plans, these actions should be defined and tracked to closure.
After one or more suppliers are selected and agreements are established, the role of monitoring and control becomes twofold: (1) the acquirer continues to monitor and control its activities and work products while also (2) monitoring and controlling supplier project progress and performance for impacts to the overall project plan.
Hint
Normally, variation will occur. Perform corrective action only when a significant deviation occurs.
The supplier project progress and performance reporting requirements are established in the supplier agreement consistent with the needs of the project.
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Some corrective actions may require changes to agreements. These maintenance activities are covered in SSAD SP 3.2.
Related Process Areas
Refer to the Agreement Management process area for more information about ensuring that the supplier and the acquirer perform according to the terms of the supplier agreement.
Refer to the Solicitation and Supplier Agreement Development process area for more information about establishing supplier agreements.
Refer to the Measurement and Analysis process area for more information about providing measurement results.
Refer to the Project Planning process area for more information about establishing and maintaining plans that define project activities.
Specific Practices by Goal
SG 1 Monitor the Project Against the Plan
Actual project progress and performance are monitored against the project plan.
Monitoring acquirer project progress and performance begins as soon as a plan is established. The acquirer is responsible for monitoring the progress and output of the project. After a supplier is selected and a supplier agreement put in place, the acquirer’s monitoring and control activities extend to the supplier and its activities. The acquirer monitors supplier progress, including achievement of requirements established in the supplier agreement and using specified process, product, and service level measures.
SP 1.1 Monitor Project Planning Parameters
Monitor actual values of project planning parameters against the project plan.
Project planning parameters constitute typical indicators of project progress and performance and include attributes of work products and tasks, costs, effort, and schedule. Attributes of the work products and tasks include size, complexity, service level, availability, weight, form, fit, and function. The frequency of monitoring parameters should be considered.
Monitoring typically involves measuring actual values of project planning parameters, comparing actual values to estimates in the plan, and identifying significant deviations. Recording actual values of project planning parameters includes recording associated contextual information to help understand measures. An analysis of the impact that significant deviations have on determining the corrective actions to take is handled in specific goal 2 and its specific practices in this process area.
Example Work Products
1. Records of project performance
2. Records of significant deviations
3. Cost performance reports
Example Supplier Deliverables
1. Supplier project progress and performance reports
2. Records of significant deviations
3. Cost performance reports
Subpractices
1. Monitor progress against the schedule.
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These subpractices mirror the specific practices in PP.
2. Monitor the project’s costs and expended effort.
3. Monitor the attributes of work products and tasks.
Refer to the Measurement and Analysis process area for more information about developing and sustaining a measurement capability used to support management information needs.
Refer to the Project Planning process area for more information about establishing estimates of work product and task attributes.
Monitoring attributes applies to both acquirer and supplier work products and tasks.
4. Monitor resources provided and used.
Refer to the Project Planning process area for more information about planning the project’s resources.
This resource monitoring includes monitoring the availability of resources provided by the supplier for the project.
5. Monitor the knowledge and skills of project staff.
Refer to the Project Planning process area for more information about planning needed knowledge and skills.
Staff monitoring includes monitoring the skills and knowledge of supplier staff provided for the project.
6. Document significant deviations in project planning parameters.
Document significant deviations that apply either to acquirer project execution or to supplier deviations from the project plan.
Refer to the Solicitation and Supplier Agreement Development process area for more information about establishing supplier agreements.
SP 1.2 Monitor Commitments
Monitor commitments against those identified in the project plan.
Resource commitments that result in expenditures (e.g., issued purchase orders and completed supplier deliverables that are accepted) are tracked when the expense is incurred, even prior to formal payment, to ensure that future financial and legal obligations are accounted for as soon as they are incurred. Commitments that do not result in expenditures (e.g., allocation of resources or skill sets) should also be monitored.
Tip
Things may happen that prevent appropriate follow through with commitments, especially in an immature organization. For this reason, it is necessary to monitor commitments and take corrective action when commitments change.
Supplier commitments for the project are also monitored by the acquirer through these practices.
Example Work Products
1. Records of commitment reviews
1. Regularly review commitments (both external and internal).
2. Identify commitments that have not been satisfied or are at significant risk of not being satisfied.
3. Document the results of commitment reviews.
SP 1.3 Monitor Project Risks
Monitor risks against those identified in the project plan.
Refer to the Project Planning process area for more information about identifying project risks.
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Specific practice 1.3 is the handshake with the risks that were identified in PP. This practice is reactive and involves minimal risk management activities. For more complete and proactive handling of project risks, refer to RSKM.
Refer to the Risk Management process area for more information about identifying potential problems before they occur so that risk handling activities can be planned and invoked as needed across the life of the product or project to mitigate adverse impacts on achieving objectives.
The acquirer monitors the overall project risk. Many risks are the sole responsibility of the acquirer and can include information that should not be shared with the supplier (e.g., source selection sensitive, re-competition, internal staffing).
There can also be risks that require careful coordination with suppliers and the establishment of appropriate mechanisms for the escalation of risks and risk status (e.g., feasibility of the technology to meet end-user functionality and quality attribute requirements). Shared risks can require jointly planned mitigations.
Example Work Products
1. Records of project risk monitoring
Example Supplier Deliverables
1. Records of supplier risk monitoring
Subpractices
1. Periodically review the documentation of risks in the context of the project’s current status and circumstances.
This review includes the risks defined in the solicitation package, risks identified by the supplier in their proposal, and risks raised as part of regular supplier status reporting.
2. Revise the documentation of risks as additional information becomes available.
As projects progress (especially projects of long duration or continuous operation), new risks arise. It is important to identify and analyze these new risks. For example, software, equipment, and tools in use can become obsolete; or key staff can gradually lose skills in areas of particular long-term importance to the project and organization.
3. Communicate the risk status to relevant stakeholders.
SP 1.4 Monitor Data Management
Monitor the management of project data against the project plan.
Refer to the Plan Data Management specific practice in the Project Planning process area for more information about identifying types of data to be managed and how to plan for their management.
Data management activities should be monitored to ensure that data management requirements are being satisfied. Depending on the results of monitoring and changes in project requirements, situation, or status, it may be necessary to re-plan the project’s data management activities.
Example Work Products
1. Records of data management
Example Supplier Deliverables
1. Records of supplier data management
Subpractices
1. Periodically review data management activities against their description in the project plan.
2. Identify and document significant issues and their impacts.
3. Document results of data management activity reviews.
SP 1.5 Monitor Stakeholder Involvement
Monitor stakeholder involvement against the project plan.
Refer to the Plan Stakeholder Involvement specific practice in the Project Planning process area for more information about identifying relevant stakeholders and planning appropriate involvement with them.
Stakeholder involvement should be monitored to ensure that appropriate interactions occur. Depending on the results of monitoring and changes in project requirements, situation, or status, it may be necessary to re-plan stakeholder involvement.
This monitoring is particularly important in a system of systems environment in which the involvement of owners, acquirers, and customers of other systems in the system of systems is crucial to the success of that system of systems.
This monitoring is also particularly important in an environment in which a supplier is using an Agile method, in which case the sustained involvement of end users or their proxies in the supplier’s product development activities can be crucial to developing and validating one or more elements of the overall capability to be provided.
Refer to the Plan Stakeholder Involvement specific practice in the Project Planning process area for more information about supporting the use of Agile methods.
Example Work Products
1. Records of stakeholder involvement
Example Supplier Deliverables
1. Records of supplier involvement
Subpractices
1. Periodically review the status of stakeholder involvement.
2. Identify and document significant issues and their impacts.
3. Document the results of stakeholder involvement status reviews.
SP 1.6 Conduct Progress Reviews
Periodically review the project’s progress, performance, and issues.
A “project’s progress” is the project’s status as viewed at a particular time when the project activities performed so far and their results and impacts are reviewed with relevant stakeholders (especially project representatives and project management) to determine whether there are significant issues or performance shortfalls to be addressed.
Progress reviews are project reviews to keep relevant stakeholders informed. These project reviews can be informal and may not be specified explicitly in project plans.
Tip
Progress reviews are held regularly (e.g., weekly, monthly, or quarterly).
Refer to the Agreement Management process area for more information about monitoring selected supplier processes.
Refer to the Solicitation and Supplier Agreement Development process area for more information about monitoring selected supplier processes.
Example Work Products
1. Documented project review results
Example Supplier Deliverables
1. Supplier project progress and performance reports
2. Supplier review materials and reports
3. Documentation of product and document deliveries
Subpractices
1. Regularly communicate status on assigned activities and work products to relevant stakeholders.
Managers, staff, customers, end users, suppliers, and other relevant stakeholders are included in reviews as appropriate.
2. Review the results of collecting and analyzing measures for controlling the project.
Refer to the Measurement and Analysis process area for more information about aligning measurement and analysis activities and providing measurement results.
3. Identify and document significant issues and deviations from the plan.
This activity includes identifying and documenting both acquirer and supplier issues and deviations.
4. Document change requests and problems identified in work products and processes.
Refer to the Configuration Management process area for more information about tracking and controlling changes.
5. Document the results of reviews.
6. Track change requests and problem reports to closure.
SP 1.7 Conduct Milestone Reviews
Review the project’s accomplishments and results at selected project milestones.
Tip
Milestones are major events in a project. If you are using a project lifecycle model, milestones may be predetermined. Many professional organizations recommend iterative planning and managing at the “inchstone” level for near-term tasks to avoid surprises at the official milestone event.
Refer to the Establish the Budget and Schedule specific practice in the Project Planning process area for more information about identifying major milestones.
Milestones are pre-planned events or points in time at which a thorough review of status is conducted to understand how well stakeholder requirements are being met. (If the project includes a developmental milestone, then the review is conducted to ensure that the assumptions and requirements associated with that milestone are being met.) Milestones can be associated with the overall project or a particular service type or instance. Milestones can thus be event based or calendar based.
Milestone reviews are planned during project planning and are typically formal reviews.
Progress reviews and milestone reviews need not be held separately. A single review can address the intent of both. For example, a single pre-planned review can evaluate progress, issues, and performance up through a planned time period (or milestone) against the plan’s expectations.
Depending on the project, “project startup” and “project closeout” could be phases covered by milestone reviews.
Example Work Products
1. Documented milestone review results
Example Supplier Deliverables
1. Documented measurement results
2. Measurement analysis reports
1. Conduct milestone reviews with relevant stakeholders at meaningful points in the project’s schedule, such as the completion of selected phases.
Managers, staff, customers, end users, suppliers, and other relevant stakeholders are included in milestone reviews as appropriate. Conduct milestone reviews with the supplier as specified in the supplier agreement.
Refer to the Acquisition Technical Management process area for more information about conducting technical reviews.
Refer to the Establish the Supplier Agreement specific practice in the Solicitation and Supplier Agreement Development process area for more information about establishing review requirements in the supplier agreement.
2. Review commitments, the plan, status, and risks of the project.
3. Identify and document significant issues and their impacts.
4. Document results of the review, action items, and decisions.
5. Track action items to closure.
SP 1.8 Monitor Transition to Operations and Support
Monitor transition to operations and support.
The acquirer monitors and controls the transition of the accepted product or service against the plan for transition to operations and support.
Refer to the Plan Transition to Operations and Support specific practice in the Project Planning process area for more information about planning for the transition of the product or service to operations and support.
Tip
A successful transition involves executing an effective plan for the appropriate facilities, training, use, maintenance, and support of the acquired capability.
Typically, the supplier has a role in integrating and packaging products and prepares for the transition to operations and support, including support for business user acceptance; the acquirer monitors these supplier activities. These expectations of the supplier and the acceptance criteria for transition to operations and support are included in the solicitation package and then the supplier agreement.
Tip
Sometimes the acquisition organization may be expected to perform specific transition activities itself. In still other cases, it may need to acquire a service supplier to support the capability provided to the customer.
Example Work Products
1. Transition readiness report
2. Records of transition to support reviews
3. Transition analysis report
1. Training materials and supporting artifacts
2. Site readiness report
3. Verification reports
4. Training records
5. Operational readiness reports
6. Test results
7. Pilot results
Subpractices
1. Monitor the operations and support organization’s capability and facilities designated to receive, store, use, and maintain acquired products.
The acquirer makes adequate provisions through the supplier agreement or in-house operations and support organizations to operate the acquired product. Typically, the acquirer uses verification practices to confirm that the organization, physical environment, and operations and support resources are equipped to execute operations and support activities.
The acquirer also reviews operations and support organizations designated to take responsibility for the operation of the product and to ensure that resources identified and budgeted are available when needed. The designated operations and support organizations demonstrate their readiness (i.e., capability, capacity) to accept responsibility for the product and to ensure uninterrupted support. Typically, a demonstration involves execution of all the activities of operations (e.g., a pilot).
2. Monitor the delivery of training for those who are involved in receiving, storing, using, and maintaining acquired products.
Typically, the supplier develops training resources for the product. Training materials and resources are specified in the supplier agreement to meet the needs of various audiences (e.g., operations and support staff, end users). The acquirer verifies that training is provided at the appropriate time to the appropriate audience and determines whether the training capability provided is adequate.
3. Review pilot results, if any, and operational readiness reports for the acquired product.
Determine readiness of the product and involved stakeholders, such as the operations and support organizations, for the transition of responsibility. The acquirer typically uses transition readiness criteria and verification and validation practices to determine if the supplier delivered products meet specified requirements. The criteria also address the readiness of the product for maintenance over the intended product lifecycle.
4. Review and analyze the results of transition activities.
The acquirer reviews and analyzes the results of transition activities and determines whether corrective actions must be completed before responsibility is transferred to the operational and support organizations.
SG 2 Manage Corrective Action to Closure
Corrective actions are managed to closure when the project’s performance or results deviate significantly from the plan.
When the acquirer determines (e.g., through its monitoring of measurement data) that supplier progress does not appear to be sufficient to meet a service level defined in the supplier agreement, then the acquirer initiates and manages corrective action with the supplier.
If the supplier does not comply appropriately with the acquirer’s initiation of corrective action, the acquirer escalates and resolves this issue as a supplier agreement issue.
SP 2.1 Analyze Issues
Collect and analyze issues and determine corrective actions to address them.
Corrective action is taken for both acquirer deviations and when supplier execution does not align with project planning (e.g., milestones and work product date slippages).
Many issues and corrective actions are the sole responsibility of the acquirer and can include information that should not be shared with the supplier (e.g., source selection sensitive, re-competition, internal staffing).
1. List of issues requiring corrective actions
Example Supplier Deliverables
1. List of supplier issues needing corrective action by the acquirer
Subpractices
1. Gather issues for analysis.
Issues are collected from reviews and the execution of other processes.
2. Analyze issues to determine the need for corrective action.
Refer to the Establish the Budget and Schedule specific practice in the Project Planning process area for more information about corrective action criteria.
Corrective action is required when the issue, if left unresolved, may prevent the project from meeting its objectives.
SP 2.2 Take Corrective Action
Take corrective action on identified issues.
Tip
In some cases, the corrective action can be to monitor the situation. A corrective action does not always result in a complete solution to the problem.
Some corrective actions can be assigned to a supplier. The acquirer oversees corrective actions assigned to the supplier as appropriate.
Example Work Products
1. Corrective action plans
Example Supplier Deliverables
1. Corrective action plans for supplier issues
1. Determine and document the appropriate actions needed to address identified issues.
Refer to the Project Planning process area for more information about developing a project plan.
2. Review and get agreement with relevant stakeholders on the actions to be taken.
3. Negotiate changes to internal and external commitments.
Tip
When managing multiple suppliers, the acquirer may need to adjudicate the assignment of actions between the suppliers and itself. Consider including contractual language to set the expectations for suppliers when participating in issue allocation and resolution of issues. Such preparation becomes particularly important near the end of the project when funding is low and suppliers are eager to close out the contract.
SP 2.3 Manage Corrective Actions
Manage corrective actions to closure.
Example Work Products
1. Corrective action results
Example Supplier Deliverables
1. Corrective action results for supplier issues
Subpractices
1. Monitor corrective actions for their completion.
2. Analyze results of corrective actions to determine the effectiveness of the corrective actions.
3. Determine and document appropriate actions to correct deviations from planned results from performing corrective actions.
Lessons learned as a result of taking corrective action can be inputs to planning and risk management processes.