Page 257 - DCAP304_DCAP515_SOFTWARE_PROJECT_MANAGEMENT

Unit 12: Monitoring & Control

 The planned number Notes
 The actual number
Typical variance reports are snapshots in time (the current period) of the status of an entity
being tracked. Most variance reports do not include data points that report how the project
reached that status.

Task Project variance reports can be used to report project as well as activity variances.
Explain in group of four.

12.7.2 How and What Information to Update

As input to each of these report types, activity managers and the project manager must report
the progress made on all of those activities that were open for work during the period of time
covered by the status report. Recall that your planning estimates of activity duration and cost
were based on little or no information. Now that you have completed some work on the
activity, you should be able to provide a better estimate of the duration and cost exposure. This
reflects itself in a re-estimate of the work remaining to complete the activity. That update
information should also be provided.
The following is a list of what should actually be reported:

1. Determine a set period of time and day of week by which by which all updated information
is to be submitted.

2. Report actual work accomplished during this period.
3. Record historical and re-estimate remaining (in-progress work only).
4. Actual start and finish dates of activities started or completed during the report period.

5. Record days of duration accomplished of so far working re-estimated duration as reflected
in the time-to-completion number.

6. Report resource effort (hours/day) spent and remaining (in-progress work only).

Did u know? What is Frequency of Gathering and Reporting Project Progress?

A logical frequency for reporting project progress is once a week, usually on Friday
afternoon. There are some projects, such as refurbishing a large jet airliner, where progress
is recorded after each shift, three times a day.

12.7.3 Variances

Variances are deviations from plan. Think of a variance as the difference between what was
planned and what actually occurred. There are two types of variances:

Positive Variances

Positive variances are deviations from plan that indicate that an ahead-of-schedule situation has
occurred or that an actual cost was less than a planned cost. This type of variance is good news to
the project manager.

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