Controlling a stage

The purpose of the controlling a stage process is for the project manager to assign the work to be done, monitor this work, deal with issues, report progress to the project board and take corrective action to ensure that the stage remains within tolerance set by the project board.

Objective

The purpose of the controlling a stage process is to ensure:

• Focus is kept on delivering the agreed products for the stage, with any changes being carefully monitored to prevent uncontrolled adjustments: stage plan and product breakdown structure.
• Risks and issues are actively managed: risk management strategy, risk register, and issue register.
• The business case is regularly reviewed to ensure the project remains on track: business case.
• The stage’s products meet quality expectations and are formally accepted: quality management approach, quality register, and product descriptions.
• The project management team stays within the agreed tolerances for time, cost, and quality: stage plan.

The project manager should engage in discussions with the project board to clarify their tolerances, reducing the need for escalations and enabling more flexibility in decision-making and learning. This approach allows the project manager to act as a facilitator rather than a controller.

When assigning work to team managers, the project manager should delegate within defined tolerances. This empowers team managers to make decisions independently, reducing unnecessary escalations and promoting efficient project execution.

Context

The controlling a stage process defines the project manager’s role in day-to-day management, ensuring the stage stays on track by monitoring progress, addressing issues, and managing risks. The project manager works with team managers to ensure products are progressing, while managing time, cost, quality, and scope within agreed tolerances. This process ensures the project achieves its objectives and keeps the project board informed.

During a stage, the project manager will repeat the following activities:

• Authorize the work to be done (give out work in work packages to the team manager).
• Monitor progress information for this work using checkpoint report and quality register.
• Review the current situation in relation to the stage plan, sign off completed work, and issue new work packages.
• Regularly report to the project board using the highlight report.
• Watch for issues, assess issues and deal with issues and risks.
• Take any necessary corrective action.

As mentioned above, the project manager will keep repeating these tasks until all the planned products for the stage have been completed and then start to prepare for the manage a stage boundary process. This whole sequence of activities is again repeated for each stage in the project.

At the end of the last stage, the closing a project process will be invoked and therefore, the project manager will start to prepare the project for closure.

Activities

The following are the controlling a stage activities related to work packages:

1. Authorize a work package: The project manager authorizes work packages to ensure work is completed on time and according to the plan, coordinating with team managers for each work package’s details. This includes reviewing the project initiation documentation, stage plan, and ensuring that the work package is accepted and ready to be executed.
2. Evaluate work package status: The project manager regularly evaluates the status of each work package by reviewing progress reports and having informal discussions with the team manager. Any issues, risks, or adjustments are addressed, and the project log and stage plan are updated as needed.
3. Receive completed work package: The project manager confirms that the team manager has completed the work package, ensuring that all products meet quality standards and receive necessary approvals. The project manager then updates the product register and the stage plan to reflect the completion of the work package.

The following are the rest of the controlling a stage process activities:

4. Evaluate stage status: The project manager evaluates stage progress by comparing actual performance with expectations and identifying any issues or risks. They update the project log, revise the stage plan as needed, and ensure proper product handover, while preparing for the next stage or project closure as necessary.
5. Capture issues and risks: The project manager ensures that all issues and risks are captured in the project log, assessed for impact, and managed according to the risk and issue management approaches. If corrective action is needed, they consult the project board or escalate the issue, then review the overall stage status.
6. Take corrective action: The project manager takes corrective action to address any deviations from the plan by identifying and implementing solutions within the project’s tolerances. This involves updating relevant records, issue reports, and the stage plan to reflect the corrective actions taken.
7. Escalate issues and risks: The project manager escalates issues and risks when corrective actions cannot keep the project within the agreed tolerances. Early notification to the project board allows time for decisions and corrective actions, with the project manager implementing the chosen solution.
8. Report highlights: The project manager provides the project board with a summary of the stage and project status, including key information and corrective actions taken. They prepare and distribute a highlight report to stakeholders based on checkpoint reports and updates from the project log.

Inputs

The following are the inputs to the process:

• The main inputs are the stage plan
• Information in the project initiation documentation.

Outputs

The following are the outputs of this process:

• Highlight report: The highlight report is used to keep the project board up to date on the stage progress.
• Project log: The project manager constantly reviews issues, risk and quality and therefore updates the issue register, risk register and quality register.
• Issue report: The issue report, which includes change requests, is used to escalate issues to the project board.
• Exception report: The exception report is used to report if the stage is out of tolerance or is forecast to be.

Roles and responsibilities

• Project board
  • Monitor project progress: The project board reviews the progress reports from the project manager to ensure the project stays within the agreed tolerances.
  • Provide guidance and approve exception plans: The project board gives advice to the project manager on how to address issues and approves exception plans if the project is forecast to exceed its tolerances.
• Project assurance
  • Project assurance can be consulted for the majority of the controlling a stage activities.
  • The project manager consults with project assurance that the identified and selected quality reviewers are acceptable.
• Project manager
  • Tracks the progress of the stage, ensuring it stays on track with the stage plan and within tolerances.
  • Identifies and manages issues and risks, taking corrective action or escalating as necessary.
  • Provides regular progress reports, such as highlight reports, to the project board to keep them informed.
  • If the project deviates from the plan, the project manager takes corrective action to bring the project back on track or escalates issues to the project board when needed.
• Team manager
  • Send checkpoint reports (from the managing product delivery process).
  • Ensures that the products assigned in the work package are delivered (from the managing product delivery process).

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Written by Frank Turley.

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