Saving money and time is highly significant during project planning and execution. Project managers must master the art of project management to achieve success. It is here that project controls play a vital role in the project status dashboard. Project controls are often defined as activities to gather data to understand, plan, and predict project costs and time. This article at Project Controls Online discusses why project controls are crucial in the project management lifecycle.
What Are Project Controls in a Project Status Dashboard?
Project controls are often defined as tools or processes to help you save time and stay on schedule during project planning and execution. Each project control focuses on a distinct part of the plan, such as the schedule, resources, or potential risks. Often, professionals interchangeably use project management and project controls. However, both processes are different. Project management keeps the entire project on track, including deliverables, people, and procedures. On the contrary, project controls are not as broad in their purpose as project management. They focus specifically on quality control to save time and money.
Importance of Project Controls
The absence of project controls in the development lifecycle can lead to disorganization and chaos. “Developing a suitable project control system is an important part of the project management effort. Furthermore, it is widely recognized that planning and monitoring play a major role in the cause of project failures,” says the author. Project controls offer insightful information, allowing project managers to make informed and timely decisions to prevent project risks. Look at why a project might get off track without project controls in the status dashboard:
- People: Without project controls, questions about the availability of team members, roles and responsibilities, and the ownership of specific tasks during the project development may arise.
- Quality: The project control process ensures that tasks in every project phase are complete and simultaneously meet the quality expectations of the end users.
- Cost: When managers fail to control project costs, unforeseen fees may occur due to miscalculations during the project planning stage.
- Time: Project controls help leaders prevent issues like schedule delays, resource clashes, and shifting priorities. These issues can lead to unsatisfactory project results.
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