Reviewing Stage Status

A Project Manager's job can easily become dominated by day-to-day problem solving. This can mean that overall progress is not checked regularly. If the project is not checked on a timely basis, there is a danger that it will get out of control. There needs to be a balance between planning ahead and reacting to events.

There will often be a need to incorporate unplanned activities.

A regular check must be kept on external events that could affect the project.

Context

This process provides the means for a regular assessment of the stage status. The process decides if:

	Further work is necessary
	Any plan modifications are required.

If the stage and project are within tolerance, the next actions are Reporting Highlights to the Project Board for the next tranche of work.

If corrective actions are needed, and the stage and project are predicted to stay within tolerance, the next process will be Taking Corrective Action.

The Project Manager may seek guidance from the Project Board about any Project Issue (Escalating Project Issues) and should always do so if the stage or project is predicted to go outside tolerance. Another reason for reference to the Project Board would be that a Project Issue affects policy external to the project.

Where Configuration Management is in operation a status account would be provided for the Project Manager, showing the planned products and their status. If it were the last stage of the project, the Project Manager would ask for a status account for all products to confirm that they are all approved.

Process Description

The first objective of this process is to check periodically that the current stage is kept within the tolerances set down by the Project Board by:

	Reviewing progress against the Stage Plan
	Reviewing resource utilisation and future availability
	Reviewing the effect of Project Issues on change budget and Stage and Project Plans
	Establishing whether the stage will go outside the tolerances or not
	Passing Project Issues likely to cause tolerance to be exceeded to the Project Board - via Escalating Project Issues - for consideration.

If corrective action is needed, but the Stage is forecast to stay within tolerance, the action can be taken by the Project Manager, as described in Taking Corrective Action.

The second objective of the process is to review the project status, specifically:

	Checking that the Business Case is still valid
	Reviewing the Risk Log for possible changes
	Establishing whether or not the project will go outside the tolerances.

In order to achieve these objectives, various steps have to be undertaken:

	Identify any variation between plan and actual progress
	Check for any variation in the expected future resource availability
	Assess any current risk to the Stage Plan for any change to the exposure
	Check the updated Stage Plan for any new risks
	Review external developments for any impact on the project
	Check to see if anything has happened within the project or externally which will impact the Business Case
	Assess whether the stage will stay within tolerances

Responsibilities

The Project Manager is responsible, supported by any support roles and those with assurance responsibilities. It may be necessary on occasions to consult Project Board members for guidance, especially with regard to Project Issues or resource shortfalls or external events that may impact the Business Case or Risk Log.

Information Needs

Management information	Usage	Explanation
Issue Log	Input	This will show the current situation regarding all Project Issues. These may be needed for reference when deciding on appropriate action to deal with them
Actions Log	Input	This will show the current situation regarding all Project Actions.
Risk Log	Input	This product shows the current understanding of the problems and threats to the project
Project Plan	Input	Data to check if any stage problem (or potential change) would have an impact on the Project Plan
Stage Plan	Update	The latest information regarding progress on the work currently in hand, or completed since the process was last conducted or since the Stage Plan was last reviewed. The Stage Plan provides the baseline against which progress is measured, and against which the meeting of the stage tolerances is measured. The product will be updated with any minor amendments
Plan deviation	Output	The information to be passed to Taking Corrective Action
Stage Status information	Output	This information goes forward to Reporting Highlights
Stage End Notification	Output	Trigger for Reporting Stage End
Notification of Project end	Output	Trigger for Closing a Project
Proposed plan revision	Output	Trigger, plus information for Escalating Project Issues

Key Criteria

	Have all the aspects of progress, Project Issues, Actions and risk been considered? Have they been balanced to create a complete picture of the current status of the project?
	Have all reasonable courses of action been considered when deciding on the best way forward?
	Has the project been honest with itself concerning the likelihood of staying within tolerance?
	Do the estimates to complete seem reasonable in the light of all the information available?