1-1 Project Communication, Tracking, and Reporting.

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Project Communication, Project Communication, Tracking, and ReportingTracking, and Reporting

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Importance of Good Importance of Good CommunicationsCommunications

• The greatest threat to many projects is a failure to communicate

• Our culture does not portray IT professionals as being good communicators

• Research shows that IT professionals must be able to communicate effectively to succeed in their positions

• Strong verbal skills are a key factor in career advancement for IT professionals

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PMBOK – Project PMBOK – Project Communications Communications

Management ProcessesManagement Processes• Communications Planning — attempts to

answer: – How will information be stored? – How will knowledge be stored? – What information goes to whom, when, and how? – Who can access what information? – Who will update the information and knowledge? – What media of communication is best?

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PMBOK – Project PMBOK – Project Communications Communications

Management – ContinuedManagement – Continued• Information Distribution—getting the right

information to the right people in the right format

• Performance Reporting—collection and dissemination of project information to the various project stakeholders.

• Administrative Closure—verifying and documenting the project’s progress.

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Project Communications Project Communications PlanPlan

• can be formal or informal, depending on the needs of the project stakeholders and the size of the project

• communications plan should determine:– Who has specific information needs? – What are those information needs? – How will a particular stakeholder’s information

needs be met? – When can a stakeholder expect to receive this

information? – How will this information be received?

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Stakeholders Doc. Name Doc. Format Contact Person Due

Customer Management

Monthly Stat. Report

Hard copy Gail Feldman,Tony Silva

1st month

Customer Business Staff


Hard copy Julie Grant, Jeff Martin

1st month

Customer Tech. Staff


E-mail Evan Dodge,Nancy Michaels

1st month

Internal Management


Hard copy Bob Thomson 1st month

Internal Busi. & Tech. Staff


Intranet Angie Liu 1st month

Training Subcontractor

Training Plan Hard copy Jonathan Kraus 11/1/1999

Software Subcontractor

Software Imp. Plan

E-mail Barbara Gates 6/162000

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Media Choice TableMedia Choice Table

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Project MetricsProject Metrics

• Project Metric - qualitative measurement of some attribute of the project.

• Project metrics should focus on the following key areas:– Scope – Schedule – Budget – Resources – Quality – Risk

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Project MetricsProject MetricsMetric Description

Scope Change Requests The number of scope changes requested by the client or sponsor.

Scope Change Approvals The number of scope changes that were approved.

Overdue tasks The number of tasks that were started but not finished by the expected date or time.

Tasks that should have started

The number of task that should have started but have been delayed.

Over budgeted tasks The number of tasks (and dollar amount) of tasks that have cost more to complete than expected

Earned Value Budgeted Cost of Work Performed (BCWP)

Over allocated Resources The number of resources assigned to more than one task.

Turnover The number of project team members who quit or terminated.

Training Hours The number of training hours per project team member.

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A good project metric A good project metric should be:should be:

Edberg, 1997Edberg, 1997• Understandable• Quantifiable• Cost Effective• Proven• High Impact

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Project Measurement Project Measurement PrinciplesPrinciples Meyer, 1994Meyer, 1994

• A measurement system should allow the team to gauge its progress.

• The team should design its own measurement system.

• Adopt only a handful of measures.• Measures should track results and progress.

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Dashboard MetricDashboard Metric

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Monitor And Control Monitor And Control ProgressProgress

• Purpose of Control– To track progress– To detect variance from plan– To take corrective action

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• Tracking Techniques– Conducting periodic project status meetings in which

each team member reports progress and problems

– Evaluating the results of all reviews conducted throughout the software engineering process

– Determining whether formal project milestones have been accomplished by the scheduled date.

– Comparing actual start date to planned start date for each project task listed in the project table

– Meeting informally with practitioners to obtain their subjective assessment of progress to date and problems.

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• Graphical Reporting Tools– Gantt Charts– Milestone Charts

• Metrics– Cost Schedule Control (Earned Value)

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Gantt Chart Project Status Gantt Chart Project Status ReportReport

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Earned ValueEarned Value

• Suppose you just signed a contract with a consulting firm called Dewey, Cheatem, and Howe for developing an IS.

• Project Budget, Schedule, Tasks– $40,000– 4 months– 20 Tasks (evenly divided over 4 months)

• $2,000 per task• 5 tasks per month

– Therefore , you plan to pay $10,000/month. This is called budgeted cost of work scheduled (BCWS).

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Planned Budget-Budgeted Planned Budget-Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled Cost of Work Scheduled

(BCWS)(BCWS)

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InvoiceInvoice

End of Month 1

Dewey, Cheatem, & Howe

Amount Due: $8,000

Payment due immediately!

page 1 of 2

Actual Cost of Work Performances (ACWP)

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BCWS Versus ACWPBCWS Versus ACWP

Is your project ahead of budget $2,000 ?

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InvoiceInvoice

Dewey, Cheatem, & Howe

Work Completed for Month 1

Task A - $2,000

Task B - $3,000

Task C - $3,000

page 2 of 2

Complete only 3 from 5 tasks

Spent $8,000 to achieve only

$6,000 of actual work

6,000 is Earned Value

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Comparison of BCWS, ACWP, Comparison of BCWS, ACWP, and Budgeted Cost of Work and Budgeted Cost of Work

Performed (BCWP)Performed (BCWP)

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DefinitionsDefinitions• Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled (BCWS)

– Planned expenditure cash flows based on the completion of tasks in accordance with the project’s budget and schedule

• Actual Cost of Work Performed (ACWP)– Actual Project Expense based on completed tasks

• Earned Value or Budgeted Cost of Work Performed (BCWP)– The amount of the budget that we should have spent

for a given amount of work completed

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Cost/Performance IndicatorsCost/Performance Indicators

1 month

$1000

Scheduled/Budgetedto do $1000 work over

5 tasks in a monthwindow

BCWS = $1000

BCWS1 month

$6000 $4000

BCWP

Schedule slippagepermits only

3 tasks/$6000work to beperformed

BCWP = $6000Schedule variance = $4000

1 month

$8000 $2000

ACWP

Actual cost ofwork performed = $8000

ACWP = $8000Actual cost

variance = $2000

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Cost MetricsCost Metrics• Cost Variance (CV)-The difference between a

task’s estimated cost and its actual cost: – CV = BCWP - ACWP– Negative Value = over budget and/or behind

schedule– Positive Value = under budget and/or ahead of

schedule

• Cost Performance Index (CPI)-percentage of work completed per dollar spent– CPI = BCWP ACWP– ratio > 1 = ahead of schedule and/or under budget– ratio < 1 = behind schedule and/or over budget

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Cost VarianceCost VarianceP

rog

ress

Time

Baseline

Cost Variance

Update Date

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Schedule MetricsSchedule Metrics

• Schedule Variance (SV) – the difference in terms of cost between the current progress and our originally scheduled progress– SV = BCWP – BCWS

• Schedule Performance Index (SPI) – a ratio of the work performed to the work scheduled.– SPI = BCWP BCWS

– ratio > 1 = ahead of schedule and/or under budget

– ratio < 1 = behind schedule and/or over budget

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Schedule VarianceSchedule VarianceP

rog

ress

Time

Baseline

Cost Variance

Update Date

Schedule Variance

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Earned Value MetricsEarned Value Metrics

• Minimum Funds Needed if things do not get worse– Minimum funds = Original total budget CPI

• Funds Needed if things continue to get worse at the same level of slippage– Funds Needed = Original total budget (CPI x SPI)

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Reporting Performance and Reporting Performance and ProgressProgress

Reporting Categories Reporting Categories • Reviews

– Formal & informal meetings with stakeholders– May focus on specific deliverables or

milestones– Used to get acceptance, surface problems or

issues, or make key decisions

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Reporting Categories Reporting Categories • Status Reporting

– Describes present state of the project– Compares actual progress to baseline

plan• Scope, schedule, and budget

– Like a snap shot of the project at a specific time

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A run up or down of four or A run up or down of four or more successive data pointsmore successive data points

onSchedule

1

2

3

1

2

1 2

3

3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Early

Late

PROJECTMONTH

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A Change of More Than A Change of More Than Three Standard DeviationThree Standard Deviation

onSchedule

1

2

3

1

2

1 2

3

3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Early

Late

PROJECTMONTH

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Reporting Categories Reporting Categories • Progress Reporting

– What activities or tasks has the team accomplished?

– Actual versus planned

• Forecast Reporting– Predicting the project’s future status or

progress – Example: trend analysis

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Information DistributionInformation Distribution

• Face-to-Face Meetings (F2F)• Telephone, email, other wireless technology• Collaboration technology

– NetMeeting, Groove, Notes, Exchange

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Running Effective Running Effective MeetingsMeetings

• Determine if a meeting can be avoided• Define the purpose and intended outcome of the

meeting• Determine who should attend the meeting• Provide an agenda to participants before the meeting• Prepare handouts, visual aids, and make logistical

arrangements ahead of time• Run the meeting professionally• Build relationships

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Using E-Mail EffectivelyUsing E-Mail Effectively• Make sure that e-mail is an appropriate medium for

what you want to communicate• Be sure to send the e-mail to the right people• Use meaningful subjects• Limit the content to one main subject, and be as clear

and concise as possible• Limit the number and size of attachments• Delete e-mail you don’t need, and don’t open it if you

question the source• Make sure your virus software is up to date• Respond to and file e-mails quickly• Learn how to use important features

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Using Templates for Project Using Templates for Project CommunicationsCommunications

• Many technical people are afraid to ask for help• Providing examples and templates for project

communications saves time and money• Organizations can develop their own templates, use

some provided by outside organizations, or use samples from textbooks

• Recall that research shows that companies that excel in project management make effective use of templates

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Sample Template for a Monthly Sample Template for a Monthly Progress ReportProgress Report

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Sample Template for a Letter of Sample Template for a Letter of Agreement for a Class ProjectAgreement for a Class Project

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Outline for a Final Project Outline for a Final Project ReportReport

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Communication and Communication and Collaboration MatrixCollaboration Matrix

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The BITTC KMS ExtranetThe BITTC KMS Extranet

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BITTC Project Team’s Learning BITTC Project Team’s Learning CycleCycle

1-1 Project Communication, Tracking, and Reporting.

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