(Project Performance Management Baseline reporting)
Randy Tangco, PMP and CSM
Abstract
I was shocked when I presented my first project status report. I proudly declared that my project was all green. ?The project sponsor replied, “All green?” Are you selling Christmas trees? “What does “all green” mean?” She was right. What does it mean to say that a project is green, yellow, or red?
This is a difficult situation because the purpose of project status reports is to submit accurate photos of the project. It is difficult for project managers working in a plan-driven environment to provide a status report indicating whether a project is green or red. It is essential to be able to accurately report the factors that made the project yellow or not based on its performance. There are many factors that can affect the project’s status. These include the scope, budget, schedule, and skills of the project delivery staff. We will explore different techniques to get a better picture of a project, as most plan-driven projects use MS project as a tool. This article will primarily use MS Project as a reference tool, but it does not limit the use of other tools like Primavera, HP PPM and @Task.
The Challenge
What is the real challenge in tracking the project’s performance? It all starts when you begin to develop your project plan (the “whats”) of your project. Using the MS Project Tool, you will most likely attempt to translate the content of the work breakdown structure and deliverables of the software project development life cycle (SDLC). ?The succeeding steps would be to sequence the activities/tasks to establish dependencies (predecessors/successors).? You must ensure that dependencies are established at task level and not at summary level. All tasks must have both predecessors and successors (no orphan tasks).
Then, enter the names of project team members into your plan and assign resources names for the project activities/tasks. It is recommended that you always consider the availability of resources when building the project plan. This will also affect the duration of your project. It is also a good idea to calculate the cost of each project resource. This helps to set the stage for cost tracking.
After you have completed the basic setup, you can now move on to activity sequencing. ?Work closely with your team to ensure that the activities are properly arranged and that dependencies are established for each task/activity in the project plan. Ensure that you have completed your task and that there is no orphan activity. An orphan activity is one without an input or output from a previous task. It is a good idea to have contingency to cover the expected risk for the project. You will eventually have a planned and a negotiated date. The planned date is the date that your team aims to complete the project without contingency, while the negotiated date includes the approved contingent. To set the right expectations, you should inform your stakeholders about the negotiated date. If you ever need to disclose both the planned and negotiated dates, start the conversation with the negotiated date first before discussing the planned date. Most people will remember the first piece of information you give more than the second.
Once you have created the plan and a picture of the cost and schedule, you will need to submit it to the project stakeholders for their approval and baselining. Now you can start to execute your project activities.
Tracking Projects
Your project team is now moving forward and working on the tasks/activities. ?Every
