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What do you do when your project goes over budget? We suggest working smart by reading these 7 tips on... How to get your project back under budget If you have a set budget for your project and you’re currently exceeding it, then it’s unlikely that you’ll get it back under budget unless you do something about it. So here are 7 tips to help you do just that: Take a helicopter view First summarize all of the expenditure on your project to date vs. the expenditure you planned at the start. Then quantify the amount you have exceeded your budget by. If you’re more than 10% over budget in total, then you need to take action. Review spend Next, review your actual spend vs. planned spend per week. Have you always been spending more money than you had budgeted, or is it only in the last few weeks? Then narrow down the cause of the problem. Was it that your budget was flawed, or have you experienced problems that were unexpected? Lower resources Now take the first step towards saving costs by de...

How do I complete a Project Status Report for my project? Do I need to do it even when the project is on track? To complete a Project Status report you can simply use the template provided within MPMM. A report will include a description of the status of the project including the determination of whether or not the project is on schedule and has an acceptable level of risk. A detailed Project Status Report will further more list all of the deliverables that have been completed by the project in the last reporting period and it will identify all outstanding deliverables for the following reporting period, and whether those deliverables are on track to be completed.

Under which situation would a Communications Process be suitable for my project? All projects should implement a Communications Process for ensuring that the stake holders in the project team are kept adequately informed. A communications process involves all of the communication events that take place throughout the communications life cycle and the methods for communicating the status of the project to stake holders. Examples include team meetings, project presentation and weekly project status reports. A communications process will also identify when each of those communication events should take place and the approval process needed for each event before it is undertaken.

Almost every Project Manager encounters a project delay in their career. It’s often unavoidable, as you may have been given an impossible delivery date from the outset. Regardless of the reason, these 5 tips will help you to know... What to do when your project slips At some point during your project, you may develop a gut feel that your project is going to be late. If this happens, immediately compare your planned vs. actual progress at a summary level and determine whether your gut feel is likely to be correct. If it is, then take these 5 steps: Just how late exactly? The first step is to identify how late it is that you’re likely to be. If your plan doesn’t tell you this, then meet with all of your team leaders or members individually to assess the amount they have delivered to date vs. what was planned for delivery at this point. Of the work remaining, how complex or risky is it? In many cases, people do the easy tasks at the start, so often the last 20% of the project takes 80% o...

When would I use an Acceptance Register and how would I use it? The Acceptance Register is used by the project team to gain final approval from the customer. The register records every deliverable that is produced by the project, and it lists all of the acceptance tests that have been completed and whether the deliverables meets the requirements of the customer as specified in the initiation phase. Finally the Acceptance register lists all the acceptance tests and whether the deliverables were signed off by the customer as being 100% complete. Further information on Life Cycle

How do I complete an Acceptance Form and in which situation should I do it? You can complete an acceptance form quickly and easily using MPMM Professional, which includes an Acceptance form template . This template allows you to gain the customers final acceptance that a deliverable that has been produced meets their needs satisfactorily. The form specifics the criteria upon which the customer will review the deliverable, standards which have been meet and the results of the acceptance review. And finally the form will include the customers’ final approval.

To succeed as a Project Manager, you need to “watch your projects like a hawk”. This means tracking every aspect of your project to ensure you deliver on time. To help you do this, read these 5 tips on: How to Track Your Projects It’s a tough challenge; juggling people, equipment, time, money and materials to complete your project on time. To do it successfully, you need to keep an eye on 5 key areas of your project... 1. Time and Cost Put an hour aside every week to determine if you are likely to complete the project on time. To do this, identify any tasks that are running late and determine whether they are likely to delay the overall project. Then look for ways that you can save time by; finishing tasks earlier, delaying non-critical tasks to after the project has been completed, or gaining approval from your Sponsor to remove tasks altogether. In this weekly meeting, you also need to review the total spend of the project to date against the original budget set. Identify ways to red...

What are the individual procedures within an acceptance process? Within the Acceptance Process the procedures are as follows:- First of all the project team has to identify when each of the project deliverables has been completed. Next the customer and the project team review the deliverable to determine whether or not it meets the specification for that deliverable as defined by the project plan. Then if the deliverable meets the test and all of the criteria as specified at the start of the project, an Acceptance form is completed and signed off by the customer and the project team to say that the deliverable is finished and will be formally handed over to the customer to take possession.

If I am on a brand new project do I have to worry about the Acceptance Management Process, and if so what should I do? Yes for every project, regardless if it is an existing or new project you do need proper Acceptance Management processes in place. So what is Acceptance Management, it is basically the process within which a project will gain acceptance or conformation from a customer to say that what has been delivered is acceptable. The process involves allowing the customer to review the outcome of the project to determine whether that outcome meets their needs. Helpful hints on project management life cycle

Every Project Manager needs a crystal-clear plan for their project. How should you create this plan? Should it be created in the same way every time? At what stage will dependencies, baselines and actuals be recorded? To find out the answers to these commonly asked questions, read on… How to Plan Your Projects It doesn’t matter which industry you’re in or project you’re involved with, these 5 steps should be taken every time to properly plan your project: Step 1: Set the Direction Before you start out, set the direction for the project. Do this by clearly identifying the project vision, goals and deliverables. State the overall timeframes for delivery and clarify the amount of resource available. Determine what is “in scope” and “out of scope”. Identify the benefits and costs in delivering the project and any milestones and constraints. Only once this is agreed with your Project Sponsor will you know what it is that you have to achieve. Step 2: Task Selection You’re now ready to start ...

How do I use a Procurement Register and in what situation? A Procurement Register is simply a place where project teams record all of the items that have been procured or purchased from an external supplier to the project. The Register basically lists all of the items that have been purchased from suppliers. Other details which are included are the quantities of the items, price paid, suppliers from which item obtained, the order details and finally the payment details. You should always use a procurement register to record the items which have been obtained from suppliers because it enables you to be able to monitor and control every item purchased externally to the project.

If I am obtaining stuff from an external supplier what should I use in the way of a purchase order form and when should I use it? A Purchase order form is always used by projects when obtaining services and goods from external vendors and suppliers. In short, if you are purchasing stuff from an external entity you should always issue a formal purchase order form in order to document your requirement. You will be able to use this at a later date to determine whether or not that requirement has been meet. A purchase order form includes a specification of all of the items you wish to procure from the supplier, the quantities, the unit prices and the total price as well as payment details expected. Terms and conditions should also be attached.

So why should you use a Project Management Template If you are a project manager, project leader, business owner or a team member, then you will know that it’s a tough challenge, delivering projects on time. The single most important thing that project sponsors look for is delivering within the assigned schedule. So time is your friend, and your foe. Therefore, anything you can do to deliver your projects faster than before will become extremely valuable to you. That’s where project management templates kick in. They save your time. So why is that, you ask? Well it’s simple. On every project, you will need to complete standard documents such as a project plan, records risks and document issues. These all require the creation of project documents, which take you time. After years of research, we have found that most project managers have to complete the same types of documents across all of their projects. So to help managers complete these documents faster than before, we created a se...

Can you please tell me how I can manage our supplier contracts within our project team, and the steps which should be taken? In-order to manage supplier contracts the trick is to have a well documented contract with each supplier which lists all of the mile stones to be reached by the supplier in meeting the needs of the project team. The steps undertaken to manage that suppliers performance include reviewing the ability of the supplier to deliver those milestones which involve providing goods and services to the project team which meets their needs. Then after the overall performance of the supplier is determined. An assessment of their performance against the contract is made and any issues with their performance are identified. Those performance issues are then discussed with the supplier and an outcome is made which may involve an improvement of the performance of the supplier or the review and or termination of the supplier contract. Latest data on project management life cycl...