What is the monitoring and controlling phase?
In the project life cycle, the project monitoring and control phase happens in tandem with the execution phase. Project management monitoring and controlling involves actively reviewing the status of your project as it proceeds, evaluating potential obstacles, and implementing necessary changes.
During this phase, organizations need to juggle several responsibilities, including keeping to the schedule, staying within budget, avoiding scope creep, and managing risk. Here’s a review of the parallel processes you’ll need to prioritize while monitoring and controlling in project management.
Report key performance indicators (KPIs)
During your planning phase, you may have established a series of checkpoints or milestones for your project. Alternatively, you might have set goals of completing a specific number of deliverables per day, week, or month. Quantifiable measures like these, which are used to evaluate the success of your project, are called Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
During the project monitoring and controlling phase, keeping tabs on KPIs is essential to ensure your team is on the right track. If you start falling behind on production, you may not make your deadline for your deliverables. One way to keep your entire team up to date is to set up automated status reports that go out to all interested parties. Instead of relying on someone to send out daily updates, you can systematize the entire process using work management software.
Monitor change requests
Even the best planning can’t eliminate all challenges. During the monitoring and controlling phase, you’ll need to review and address change requests from team members, clients, and other stakeholders. In some cases, you may have to overhaul entire processes.
Using a centralized request hub can make monitoring change requests a breeze. In many cases, work management software enables your team to create intuitive request queues that organize input from internal and external sources.
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Keep track of scope
In some cases, your client may decide to change their mind about the project’s scope after you’ve begun work. During the project management monitoring and controlling phase, you may need to rethink your strategy to evaluate whether you can accommodate increased scope within the original timeline or budget. If not, you need to circle back to your planning phase to clarify expectations, update your project charter, clarify new roles and responsibilities, and then continue on with your project execution.
Control costs, quality, and risk
Controlling costs is an essential part of successful project management. However, change orders, expanded scope, and unforeseen circumstances can put your budget at risk. During the project management monitoring and controlling phase, make sure to clearly and consistently track and report updates to your projected budget.
Quality control ensures your deliverables will meet your client’s expectations. Periodically review quality-related KPIs and processes to ensure you’re on track to meet stated objectives.
During the planning phase, it’s common to identify project risks that could potentially hinder your progress. As part of your project management monitoring and controlling efforts, take time to regularly review your list of potential risks, evaluate their likelihood of occurring, and enact mitigation measures as needed.
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Facilitate stakeholder communication
Effective project management monitoring and controlling requires keeping everyone in the loop. Regular meetings with stakeholders, clients, and team members can help prevent misunderstandings and missed deadlines. But for constant and consistent transparency that will keep even dispersed and remote teams on the same page and save hours of time spent in status meetings, look to a centralized work management platform, which empowers teams to take advantage of dynamic reporting and enables asynchronous work.
Monitor your project’s performance like a pro
Managing parallel workflows can be challenging, especially when clients request scope changes. However, with an enterprise work management solution, keeping an eye on variables, and encouraging open communication, you can successfully monitor and control even the most complex projects.
