Projects are assorted pieces of work that are integrated within a fixed timescale. They usually contain a great deal of risk, uncertainty and complexity that needs to be managed. There are a series of project management approaches and tools to help companies and individuals reduce this risk, and create an effective platform to deliver the project objectives. These are designed to improve the project’s overall success, and to capture the knowledge that’s gained every time a project is completed.
Project management comprises of a number of features:
1) Laying out the framework 2) Scheduling 3) Scope management 4) Building support for the project 5) Project reporting 6) Change management 7) Review
Once the project is executed, an accurate reporting of each progress is needed, so that the progress could be monitored effectively. It is the responsibility of the team members to report to their manager. This builds a communication network between all the project management team, which makes the spotting of a delay or error in the progress of the plan.
Nowadays, a large number of organisations and firms around the globe are utilising different web-based project management software and tools to achieve the set objectives of their projects. All the members of a project team can easily access these tools via internet or other computer networks in an organisation.
Reporting with project management tools comes in handy especially when a team is assigned more than one task. As they work simultaneously on different projects, they will be able to concentrate equally without getting confused, because the reporting software knows exactly how to keep track of their respective performances. The reporting job is complex, since it involves the coordination of many different people and the completion of many tasks in a precise sequence. It has to be accurate because a great deal of time and money is spent in the planning and execution of projects, which should not go waste due to a minor error or negligence in reporting.
The objective of a project is to achieve a specific goal. However, in this process there are a number of ‘milestones’ to be achieved within a project. These are actually the critical points on which the whole strategy is based. Timely checking and correcting any anomaly is done through project milestone reporting. Let’s take an example of a case where the team members inform the manager that their work is 90% done. Surprisingly, the remaining 10% of the project takes longer than planned. However, without accurate reporting, this would never have happened.
This milestone works just like an indicator which keeps telling you about the difference between your assigned duties and project objectives. It becomes quite easy for you to assess your current position and speed up your work accordingly. This kind of reporting also gives the details of achievements as well as requirements for the successful completion of the project.
In some cases, project reports have to be shown to the sponsors of the project to assure them that it’s going smooth and according to the schedule. Preparing such reports in a conventional manner is cumbersome, but with the web-based project management tools, it’s much easier to generate up to date and stylish reports, with bar-charts, graphs and pie-charts. It’s also useful in generating project status reports, progress reports and resource reports. These reports are simpler to print, email and save for future references. Project reporting is fun with the web-based project management tools.
John Nash is a project management consultant. There are many alternatives and project management solutions available for those businesses using project management to achieve organizational efficiency, more information at http://www.concertosupport.co.uk