Once a project actually starts, it's necessary to monitor the progress to ensure that everything is going according to schedule. This involves measuring actual progress and comparing it to the schedule. If any time during the project it is determined that the project is behind schedule, corrective action must be taken to get back on schedule. The key to effective project control is to measure actual progress and compare it to play and progress on a timely and regular basis and to take necessary corrective action immediately. Based on actual progress and on consideration of other changes that may occur, it's possible to calculate an updated project schedule regularly and forecast whether the project will finish ahead of or behind its required completion time.
A regular reporting. Should be establishe for comparing actual progress of play in progress. Reporting may be daily, weekly, biweekly, or monthly, depending on the complexity or overall duration of the project. During each reporting period, two kinds of data or information you need to be collected; data on actual performance and information on any changes to the project scope, schedule, or budget.
The project control process continues throughout the project. In general, the shorter the reporting period, the better the chances of identifying problems early in taking effective corrective actions. But I project gets too far out of control, it may be difficult to achieve the project objectives without sacrificing skill, budget, schedule, or quality.
Throughout a project, some activities will be completed on time, some will be finished ahead of schedule, and others will be finished later than scheduled. Actual progress -- whether faster or slower than play -- will have an effect on the schedule of the remaining, on completed activities of the project. Specifically, the actual finish times (AF's) of completed activities will determine the earliest start in earliest finish times for the remaining activities in the network diagram, as well as the total slack.
Throughout a project, changes may occur that have an impact on the schedule. These changes might be initiated by the customer or the project team, or they might be the result of an unanticipated occurrence. Any type of change -- whether initiated by the customer, the contractor, the project manager, a team member, or an unanticipated event -- will require a modification to the plant in terms of skill, budget, and/or schedule. When such changes are agreed upon, a near baseline plan is established and used as the benchmark against which actual project performance will be compared.
Once data have been collected on the actual finish times of completed activities and the effects of any project changes, an updated project schedule can be calculated.
Schedule control involves four steps:
- analyzing the schedule to determine which areas may need corrective action
- deciding what specific corrective actions should be taken
- revising the plan to incorporate the chosen corrective actions
- recalculate the schedule to evaluate the effects of the planned crack of actions
Corrective actions that will imitate the negative slack from the project schedule must be identified. These corrective actions must reduce the duration estimates for activities on the negative slack paths. When analyzing a path of activities as negative slack, you should focus on two kinds of activities: activities that are near term and activities that have long duration estimates.
There are various approaches to reducing the duration estimates of activities. These include applying more resources to speed up connectivity, citing individuals with greater experience or more experience to work on the activity, reducing the scope or requirements for the activity, and increasing productivity through improved methods or technology.
