DESIGNING THE CONTROL SYSTEM
How is the work actually controlled now?
• Do you have budgets for hours and costs?
• Do you have data comparing actual hours/cost with planned hours/
cost?
• How is the quantity of completed work measured and compiled?
• Is completed work related specifically to hours used or based on
forecasts?
• Are you kept informed of potential delays to milestones?
• How long does reported information take to get to you after the close-
off?
• How much time/cost is spent between close-off and receipt of reports?
• What action do you take after reading the report?
• Can you take action based upon information in the report?
• Is reported information reasonably accurate? If not, why not?
• Who receives copies of the report? Why them? Can they take action?
Do they?
Executing the project work l 195
• Can you list who receives the reports for information only?
• Who could take action to reduce costs, but does not receive reports?
• Has someone been assigned responsibility for each piece of work in
the plan?
• Does the system provide a way to reduce key variables such as hours,
costs, etc?
• Does the system focus on profit, time, quality, completion or more than
one of these?
• Do the system reports and rewards motivate the desired behaviour?
• Does the system allow time–cost–quality trade-off decisions to be
made quickly?
• Does the system include an early warning system to identify risks and
issues
