The components of project progress control
20.1 The components of project progress control
Project progress control (CMM uses the term “software project tracking”) has one immediate objective: early detection of irregular events. Detection promotes the timely initiation of problem-solving responses. The accumulat-
ed information on progress control as well as successes and extreme failures also serve a long-term objective: initiation of corrective actions. The main components of project progress control are:
Control of risk management activities
Project schedule control
Project resource control
Project budget control. Control of risk management activities
This refers to the software development risk items identified in the pre- project stage, those listed in contract review and project plan documents, together with other risk items identified throughout the project’s progress (see Appendix 6A). The software development team copes with software risk items by applying systematic risk management activities. Control of the progress of risk management begins with the preparation of periodic assess- This refers to the software development risk items identified in the pre- project stage, those listed in contract review and project plan documents, together with other risk items identified throughout the project’s progress (see Appendix 6A). The software development team copes with software risk items by applying systematic risk management activities. Control of the progress of risk management begins with the preparation of periodic assess-
reports, project managers are expected to intervene and help arrive at a solu-
tion in the more extreme cases. Several standards and many books and articles deal with software project risks, e.g., IEEE (2001) and Jones (1994),
The c
to mention just two.
omponents Project schedule control
This deals with the project’s compliance with its approved and contracted timetables. Follow-up is based mainly on milestones, which are set (in part) to facilitate identification of delays in completion of planned activities. Milestones set in contracts, especially dates for delivery of specified software
p roject
products to the customer or completion of a development activity, generally
receive special emphasis. Although some delay can be anticipated, manage- ment will focus its control activities on critical delays, those that may substantially affect final completion of the project. Much of the information
progres
needed for management project progress control is transmitted by means of milestone reports and other periodic reports. In response to this information, management may intervene by allocating additional resources or even rene-
contro Project resource control
gotiating the schedule with the customer.
This focuses on professional human resources but it can deal with other assets as well. For real-time software systems and firmware, software devel- opment and testing facilities resources typically demand the most exacting control. Here as well, management’s control is based on periodic reports of resource use that compare actual to scheduled utilization because, it should
be stressed, the true extent of deviations in resource use can be assessed only from the viewpoint of the project’s progress. In other words, a project dis- playing what appears to be only slight deviations in resource utilization when considering the resources scheduled used up to a specific point of time (e.g., 5%) may actually experience severe cumulative deviations (e.g., 25%) if severe delays in its progress are suffered.
Another aspect of resource control is internal composition or allocation. For example, management may find that no deviations have taken place in total man-months allocated to system analysts. However, review of itemized expenditures may disclose that instead of the 25% of man-months original- ly allocated to senior system analysts, 50% was actually spent, a step that may eventually undermine the planned budget. Although project budget con- trols also reveal deviations of this type, they do so at a much later stage of the project, a fact that impedes introduction of remedial actions. If the devi- ations are justified, management can intervene by increasing the resources allocated; alternatively, management can shift resources by reorganizing the project teams, revising the project’s plan, and so forth.
404 Project budget control
20 This is based on the comparison of actual with scheduled expenditures. As
in resource control, a more accurate picture of budget deviations requires
Project
that the associated delays in completion of activities be taken into consider- ation. The main budget items demanding control are:
progres ■ Human resources
Development and testing facilities
Purchase of COTS software
s Purchase of hardware
contro Payments to subcontractors.
Again, like resource control, budget control is based on milestones and the
periodic reports that facilitate early identification of budget overruns. In cases of deviations by internal bodies, the menu of optional interventions is similar to that applied in project resource control. In deviations by external participants, legal and other measures may also be applied.
Budget control is obviously of the highest priority to management because of its direct effect on project profitability. Managers therefore tend to neglect other components of project progress control, especially if they are under serious constraints imposed by monitoring staff. Neglect of other com- ponents of project progress control naturally reduces the effect of control in general. This is regrettable because if applied correctly and in a timely man- ner, these other progress control tools can reveal unresolved software risk items, delays in completion of activities and excessive use of resources at a much earlier stage in the project life cycle. This means that reliance solely on budget control activities may be more costly in the long run than application of the full spate of project progress control activities because implementation of effective solutions to problems may be delayed.