A17 – Measure and report performance

We measure the progress of the project in this activity, using the Schedule Model and Progress Register. This information will be used to manage deviations in the next activity.

These are the steps for measuring progress:

• The progress of project activities is captured, and stored in the Schedule Model. Using stepped progresses is always preferred to gradual percent complete values; e.g. Only three values of 0%, 60%, and 100%; the activity has 0% progress until it’s submitted for approval; it becomes 60% after it’s submitted, and 100% when it’s approved.
• The Earned Value of the whole project is read from the Schedule Model and stored in the Progress Register.
• The Actual Cost of the whole project is entered in the Progress Register.
• The Earned Schedule related parameters are calculated automatically in the Progress Register.
• The cost and time forecast of the project is calculated automatically in the Progress Register, and presented in the Dashboard sheet.
• All stakeholders will have access to the Dashboard.
• The PM Support checks to make sure all relevant stakeholders have seen the Dashboard.

Using the online dashboard is preferred, but if some stakeholders are not comfortable with it, save a PDF and email it to them.

Avoid too much detail in progress measurement, as it distracts everyone, and doesn’t provide real additional value. The Project Manager may need extra details for finding solutions to recover from deviations and prevent similar problems in the future, which will be provided by the PM Support, but they are not part of the standard measurements and dashboards.