Emulating the key roles of a project manager for your project management
Tools for Measuring Current Schedule and Project Status for Monthly Reporting
Since one of the key roles of a project manager is to ensure that a project is completed on time and within budget, management requires the project's financial status and expenditures to be reported in relation to the project schedule. Implementing Earned Value Management (EVM), financial reporting, and cost reporting allows the project manager to compare the current schedule with the project's recent status during the monthly reporting period (Stanford University Linear Accelerator Center, 2008).
If the total cost of a project exceeds the established cost baseline during a given period, cost-control techniques should be implemented to monitor expenditures and ensure that the work is completed on time and according to the project plan. This project management response should include ensuring that only work within the approved scope is performed and that project status and potential challenges are communicated to stakeholders.
The project manager should act professionally and ethically by reporting potential challenges and determining which techniques should be implemented to mitigate or eliminate those problems in a timely manner.
To learn more about Earned Value Management (EVM), financial reporting, cost reporting, tools for reporting the current status of a project, and other project management practices, visit the Project Management Institute (PMI) or other reputable project management training resources.
