Project Control

Effective project management is critical to the success of any project. The project approach is supported by a well-defined set of project management activities, which include the following:

• Project Planning. The project plan outlines the activities required to produce the deliverables, and ensures these activities are clearly defined, accurately estimated, and managed at an appropriate level of detail. Each activity will be assigned to a person responsible for ensuring it is completed successfully. The project plan will be updated throughout the project, as new information becomes known. The Project Director will be responsible for ensuring all parties, have a complete and up to date understanding of the status of the project.
• Risk Management. The risk management approach includes identifying risk areas of the project and establishing both preventive and contingency actions. These actions are continually built back into the project plan, making risk management a daily activity.

Probability and Impact Matrix

Impact (ratio scale) on an objective (e.g. cost, time, scope or quality)

• Progress Reporting. To ensure consistent understanding of the status of the project, regular progress reports will be prepared and distributed to the Project Sponsors and Project Teams. As later described, the progress reports will include descriptions of activities completed during the previous period, activities anticipated for the following period, and issues and problems requiring resolution. Where changes are required to the schedule or plan, revised reports will be attached to the progress report.
• Project Control. In addition to progress reporting, meetings will be conducted with the Project Team on a regular basis. During these meetings, each team member will provide an update of progress made on their activities as well as the estimated completion dates. Any issues and concerns identified during these meetings will be documented in the progress reports. To ensure timely and effective delivery of the project, scope will be tightly managed. Project change control procedures will be reviewed with the team at the beginning of the project, to ensure they are clearly understood. This review will help establish a common understanding of the need for project change control and the mechanics for implementing a change to the scope of the project, should that be required. All deliverables will be assessed by a reviewer. This practice ensures all items delivered by the team are clear, concise, and of the highest possible quality.
• Change Control. A change refers to any modification and/or new development deviating from the baseline established in the project agreement and project plan. All potential changes are compared against the project baseline in terms of functionality, schedule, cost, and resources. Change requests can be raised by any member of the project. Appropriate team members will discuss potential changes and will advance the request if the change is needed.

• Issue Management. An issue refers to any matter that may impede project progress, and about which no agreement has been reached. All Team members are expected to rise and work to resolve project issues. The Project Director will create and own the central issue log and will assign responsibility for the resolution of project issues and report progress to PPC. Most project issues are expected to be resolved within the overall Project Teams. Issues that require resolution external to the project will need to be assigned to the appropriate external resource after obtaining PPC approval and monitored by the Project Director.