Project Management for IT-Related Projects

3.2 The project control life cycle

The project control life cycle involves the following sequence of steps:

1. Producing a plan for the project to follow;

2. Monitoring progress against the plan;

3. Comparing actual progress with the planned progress;

4. Identifying variations from the plan;

5. Applying corrective action if necessary.

Steps (b) to (e) are repeated to continue the control cycle.

Imagine a ship’s voyage across the Channel from Dover to Calais as your project. The plan would probably involve following a certain route aiming to arrive in Calais at a certain time. As the voyage progressed, the navigator would check the ship’s progress against the planned course. If there was a difference, he or she could then decide that a change of speed or an alteration ...