About this short course

Monitoring and controlling a project involves tracking the actual project performance against the project plan. While the project team are physically producing the deliverables, the project manager must be implementing a series of management processes to monitor and control the activities being undertaken. In this module we review these management processes in detail including methods that can be used to track progress and evaluate the quality of a project. One of these methods is calculating Earned Value by integrating time, or man-hours, and cost to give a true indication of project progress.

Another is the project triangle or triple constraint. This highlights how an effective project is one that balances Time, Cost, and Scope. Any changes in any one of the three elements will adversely affect the other two elements. A project manager needs to manage all three elements to complete their project successfully, within the allocated time and budget. Many of the difficulties in implementing a project are caused by poor time management. Time management is about managing time in the most expeditious manner to ensure success, which will have a direct effect on the costs of the project, as well as on the quality of what is achieved.

Further topics discussed in this module include planning the time intervals for when monitoring of the evaluation will happen, monitoring of team performance, monitoring the project budget and other important activities such as reporting on any problems encountered and providing a description of the corrective action taken.

Following the completion of all project deliverables and acceptance by the customer, a successful project will have met its objectives and be ready for formal closure. Project Closure is the last topic covered in this module and the last phase in the project. It must be conducted formally so that the business benefits delivered by the project are fully realised by the customer.

Project Closure involves handing over the deliverables to the customer, passing the documentation to the business, cancelling supplier contracts, releasing staff and equipment, and informing stakeholders of the closure of the project.

You will learn about:

• Project Evaluation
• Monitor and Control
• Managing Project Risk
• Project Closure/Termination