Capturing Project Issues

During the course of managing the project, various problems, queries and changes will occur. They will arrive in a haphazard manner, and will need to be captured in a consistent and reliable way, so that they can be assessed and managed properly.

It is also important that Project Issues are not forgotten, especially if there is no immediate solution.

Context

The process of capturing Project Issues is by its nature ad hoc, since it takes in details of problems, queries and changes as they occur. These details can come from a wide range of sources both internal to the project and external.

This process is the window for all external stimuli, such as changes of scope.

Process Description

The objective is to capture, log and categorise all Project Issues. While most will be directly related to the project, the process must allow for Project Issues that have an impact outside the project, e.g. a programme.

A Project Issue is anything that could have an effect on the project (either detrimental or beneficial). Project Issues include:

	A change in requirements, however minor (even apparently very minor changes can have major long-term implications)
	A change in the environment applicable to the project, e.g.: A legislative change A corporate change of direction A new Customer A new Supplier An unexpected change to a member of the Project Management Team Actions by a competitor A programme management directive A corporate reorganisation
	A problem occurring or being identified, which was not anticipated during risk analysis
	An anticipated, but unavoidable, risk occurring
	A problem or error occurring in work completed or currently under way.

The process of recording Project Issues can be used to note any external developments that affect the project.

Project Issues can arise from a very wide range of sources can come in many forms and show themselves in many ways. The first requirement of this process is, therefore, to provide a consistent and reliable method of capturing all Project Issues. Once a Project Issue has been identified, it must be logged for future reference and to enable progress on its resolution to be tracked.

Apart from general problems and questions, two specific types of outcome can result:

	A Request For Change, which, for whatever reason, will cause a change to the specification or Acceptance Criteria of the project; any additional cost to carry out the change will normally have to be funded by the Customer
	A None-Compliance, covering errors or omissions found in work already conducted or planned for the future; additional costs to carry out this work will normally fall on any Suppliers involved.

A final requirement of this process is to provide a consistent output to the following process, Examining Project Issues.

All Project Issues should be entered into the Issue Log as soon as they are identified. Actions to deal with each Issue should also be raised as soon as is practicable, and referenced to each Issue.

Responsibilities

The Project Manager is responsible, although a project support role may be nominated to act as the central focus for receiving and documenting Project Issues.

Information Needs

Management information	Usage	Explanation
New Project Issues	Input	Any Issues being raised against the project from whatever source, to be logged in the Issue Log and the type of Project Issue to be decided
Issue Log	Update	Repository of all Project Issues and their status
Action Log	Update	Repository of all Project Actions and their status

Key Criteria

	Are all significant Issues being documented?
	Is this a new Issue or a previous one differently worded?
	Is the source of the Issue identified?
	Does the Issue affect the Project Plan as well as the Stage Plan?
	Is the Project Issue an enquiry that can be answered without changing the Stage Plan?