There are four stages involved in measuring the performance of the project:
- Monitor
- Assess
- Resolve
- Communicate
Monitoring the Project
Monitoring the project means that the project manager should always and continuously have control over the performance of the project, project monitoring is important to keep the project under control. It is important that the project monitoring should take place at least once a month in order to determine that whether the project is functioning smoothly or not, if yes, then the activities should be continued, if not, then corrective actions should be taken to avoid deviations.
Assessing the project
Assessing the project determines that what effects the changes have on the project schedule, particularly on the completion date of the project. The duration changes replace the original times on the planning diagram with revised durations in place.
Resolving Problems
The following questions should be answered when resolving problems relevant to the project, these questions which are of important nature are listed below:
- Which specific activates are behind schedule? How much will they delay the project date if not corrected?
- What are the reasons of the delays that have caused the project to fail behind the schedule?
- What steps have been or are being taken to get back on schedule and what results have been achieved or are expected?
- Will any other specific recommendations for further action restore the schedule and prevent further concerns?
Communicate
It is important to communicate the project status to management, suppliers, vendors, contractors and project team members. While a written report is possibly one of the most valuable communication devices other effective means includes phone calls, memos, personal contacts, and meeting formally. A written periodic project status report should be distributed to all those who want to see the project reach a successful conclusion.
A status report presents a view of what is happening in the project, offering readers an opportunity to suggest improvements early enough to make an impact on the project progress. The status report isn’t voluminous, it is essentially a summary. In a relatively short format, the report should be readable and structured in such a way the tit will likely be read.