The Ultimate Guide to Project Tracking

There are four key benefits that effective project tracking should deliver.

1. Real Time Information

Firstly, stay up to date and get the most accurate information available. Everyone involved in the project needs to see the status and progress of the project in an instant. This is crucial for senior management to make decisions at the top level of the project along with team leaders on behalf of the team. Using cloud-based simple project management software, reporting to senior management should be painless. By tracking projects, teams can be aligned, along with project objectives and activities. Stay in touch and watch goals become reality.

2. Problem Identifiers

With project tracking, there is no place for problems or issues to hide. Any budding issues are recognizable in an instant. This allows leaders to act and take back control of the situation. Team members can offer assistance and keep each other motivated to get jobs done. Problem-solving maintains the structure of the project and allows resources to spend time on the things that matter. Once the issues are gone, the project is back on track and success is on the horizon.

3. Team Motivation

Collaboration is a key factor of every project. If every member has clarity on their role, they can work toward the group objectives. As projects progress and the task list diminishes with every day, team motivation to carry on and complete the project intensifies. By working together and creating an empowered team, project tracking keeps everyone in the loop and on the same page.

4. Easy and Accurate Reporting

Reporting is often a painful task that project managers are required to do. Senior management want an overall view of each of the projects in an instant. Using one system in order to manage and track projects makes reporting quick and simple. Time is valuable so having all information in one place with more detail available if needed, perfect for reporting to senior executives.

A Typical Scenario: Gathering Status Data from the Team

Each week project managers gather status information to give project management tracking updates to the senior executives. Some project managers conduct status meetings with the aim to report that nothing bad happened during the week. If a team member expresses confusion on their assignment or says that finishing by the due date is impossible, the project manager becomes frustrated. They blame the team member for not asking the right questions, for slacking off or letting down the team. Isn’t it funny how the project manager does not hear any bad news after that? Well, at least not until the finish date draws near.

Everyone working in the dark

In this environment, the team members have to guess what is expected or run to the project manager daily to ask what they should do. Most people do both. However, because the project manager does not know exactly what the project should produce, their answers are vague. Soon no one admits any problems and everyone says they are on schedule. That is because they quickly learned that to report anything else brings down the wrath of the gods.

The project manager’s experience when reporting to the senior executives is similar. Everything besides good news triggers a snarl. The project manager soon resorts to saying, “Everything is going according to plan,” or “Every task is in ‘green light’ status.” No one is solving problems early. As the due date draws closer, the team members make a wild guess at what they should produce and they frantically slap some junk together.

This is a bad, but common, example of project management tracking. Everyone on the project is wearing blindfolds. No one actually knows what the project is supposed to deliver. The project team members are trying to guess what is expected of them. When they ask questions, they just hear the project due date repeated at a louder and louder volume. Moreover, the project manager does not know how the project is really doing.

Empowered teamwork

Project work often consists of individual work that combines to create group work. Often causing work to be sloppy, unorganized, and not cohesive. This can potentially cause tension within the team. However, when a team leader diligently engages in project tracking, these problems become issues of the past. By staying on top of each of the activities involved in the project the team is united, collaborates effectively and works well together.

Poor communication and confusion are key elements in which Team leaders and their teams break down. The foundation of any group work is the alignment of goals and absolute clarity. This creates an enjoyable and fast-paced working environment. Project tracking keeps everyone on the same page and allows teams to do what they do best, completing successful projects.

Project tracking can aid to create a team culture of empowerment. Having a group of people working toward a goal creates an environment whereby people want to succeed with the end goal in sight. By following the best practices of project tracking any organization can be the team that meets their goals and succeeds.

1. Plan your project before it starts

The tendency to start the project by jumping in right away without doing the proper preparation is a key reason why project tracking becomes difficult. By having plans and goals you can then know how the project is progressing. Things you need to have before you start a project; Objectives, task lists, team members, duration, and possible issues. By having these things laid out from the very beginning, you can track any changes that you have to make. These can change throughout the project but having initial information creates a baseline for the project.

If, you and the executives define the deliverables with clear outcomes that are measurable, then you have a high-level framework of deliverables that lead to that result.

2. Look for warning signs & resolve issues

The warning signs are the things that could make or break a project. If you do not witness any warning signs, your project is doomed to fail. Warning signs are presented in Project Central for thing like the one tasks highlighted in red for due dates that approaching. If there are many tasks that are not completed it may be an idea to get others involved. By checking these warning signs and resolving the issues quickly rather than letting them fester and grow, you can get your project back on track!

3. Monitor work schedule

Once the project is planned, execution of the work can begin. High-level deliverables can be broken down into smaller tasks providing clarity and direction as to what is required from them. Therefore, knowing what a good job is before they even start work. Reviewing the plan and tasks can determine how the project is going. Being proactive with the work involved in the projects ensures nothing slips through the cracks that could prevent the project from being completed. Constant monitoring is of vital importance if you want to have a successful project. Having a strict work schedule gives the team deadlines and goals to reach.

4. Only count tasks as complete when complete

When progress is slow it can seem like a good idea to start ticking off tasks as being complete when in fact, they are only partially complete. These false reports then make it difficult to see actual progress for the project. Some tasks may then be marked as complete which when it comes to the end of the project are not actually done. It is best to be honest when progress is slow and to main a level of realistic reporting.

5. Be Realistic – Actuals and Estimates

Creating a culture where people can be open and honest allows project estimates and reporting to be accurate so you can measure progress against at regular checkpoints. Deadlines and budgets are often over ambitious and this causes project stress and ultimately failure. Projects should be ran with a base of accurate, fact-based facts, rather than misleading optimism that can arise from the fear of reporting bad news. Projects can only be ran effectively by knowing what is done and what is not.

6. Look to the Future

Always look toward the future when tracking projects. Know that all the current activity is all for the end goal in the future. After the project is completed, reflect on what worked and what did not. This information is key to aid the tracking of future projects. Each project provides a key set of learnings to benefit future endeavours.

These steps allow the project management tracking to show things like this:

Achievement: “The customer history screen lets our service reps answer 90 percent of customer inquiries in less than 120 seconds without referring a question to another department.”

Status: “As of last Friday, this task was 25% complete and not the planned 33% complete. That is due to an outage on our network, which caused a loss of productivity among user personnel. Without corrective action, we will finish this task 5 days late. That will cause three tasks to start late, postpone the project completion by four days, and exceed the budget by $10,000. I propose the following corrective action…”

4 features of a good status report

This project management tracking status report has several good features. First, the project manager is reporting status on an objectively measurable business achievement. They are not going to need a meeting or long debate to decide whether they have reached the goal. Second, it quantitatively compares “where we are as of last Friday” to “where we should be as of last Friday.” Third, our progress assessment is based on the work completed as of last Friday and it estimates the work remaining. Fourth, the executive is receiving data on three quantified dimensions of status tracking (the level of achievement, the duration and the budget), not just the due date.

Options

These project management-tracking elements set up the second half of the status report. In it, the project manager presents data about alternatives for solving the problem. Having three quantified dimensions for each assignment lets the project manager develop quantified options for executive decision-making. These alternatives might continue the status report as follows:
“We have three options for recovery. First, we can hire temporary agents to work on the backlog of tickets. This option would allow us to recapture the lost days of duration but will increase the budget by $5,000. Second,…”

Alternatives

The project manager proposes alternatives that involve trade-offs between the level of achievement, duration and budget. The executive can make a decision from the options because the project manager has seen this problem coming and has plotted corrective action. The most important feature is that all this is happening before the task is actually late.

Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, has famously said:

“Any team that needs more than two pizzas is excessive.”

Easy to learn, with no training required

Project Central provides a simple solution for people who find themselves leading or managing a team of people and multiple projects. All of these things are complicated and difficult if you do not monitor each factor. Project Central offers a solution with everything in one place, the visuals are beautiful, and it is simple to use with no training needed.

Microsoft Office 365 integration

Project Central is a simple project management solution that integrates with Office 365. The visual dashboards highlight if your project is on the path to success in real time, tasks are simple to manage and you are able to see if every team member is on course to meet their goals. Files to upload all your project files from Office 365 file libraries like SharePoint Online ensure you are working from one version of the truth, ensuring there are no data silo’s created around the organization. Other tools like BrightWork 365 leverage the Microsoft 365 apps you’re already using and wraps them up in easy-to-use project portfolio management templates.

Online project tracking in real time, anywhere

Data is safe and secure, as Project Central uses Microsoft’s cloud platform, Azure to manage, store and update your project data at lightning speed, meaning you can relax and never worry about your information being lost if your battery dies or computer crashes. All automatically updated with everything is stored in one place. What’s more using the cloud means your project is accessible anywhere. Whether you are in the office, on a flight for a business trip or sitting on a beach on holidays you can check in and see how your projects are doing.