Project Controls: Understanding Scope, Cost, Time, Quality Controls

Project Controls
Slide 1
By Ashok KumarAugust 2019 Slide 1
By Ashok Kumar
© RASS Touch Limited
by
Ashok Kumar
(Consultant and Director
at RASS Touch Ltd, UK)

Project Controls
Slide 2
By Ashok Kumar
About the presentation
This presentation provides a comprehensive
coverage of various aspects of Project Controls.
Beginners as well as experienced professionals
may benefit from this presentation.

Project Controls
Slide 3
By Ashok Kumar
Target Audience
This presentation targets PMO, Program / Project
Management professionals and all others who
have stake in successfully managing projects.
Viewers are welcome to contact the author of
this presentation. Kindly send your feedback
to the email address mentioned at the end of
this presentation.

Project Controls
Slide 4
By Ashok Kumar
Why more text on slides?
This presentation is designed to be viewed i.e. It’s not
designed to be presented by a person who verbally
explains the slide content.
Therefore, slides have more than normal text content.
Attempt has been made to explain briefly using simple
language and the diagrams.
However, the brief explanations through written text
may not be enough to understand certain concepts
and therefore, the effectiveness of this presentation
would be limited.

Project Controls
Slide 5
By Ashok Kumar
What this Presentation will cover?
This presentation covers the following :
● Understanding Project Controls
● Project Control Process
● Project Scope Controls
● Project Cost Controls
● Project Time Controls
● Project Quality Controls
● Other Project Controls (Risks, Regulations etc)
The presentation has over 50 slides.

Project Controls
Slide 6
By Ashok Kumar
Understanding
Project
Controls

Project Controls
Slide 7
By Ashok Kumar
Project Controls?
Projects are created to deliver certain outcomes or results within certain constraints such as -
√ Budget allocated to the project i.e Cost
√ Time within which project should complete
√ Quality level of products and services delivered
√ Resources available i.e. human skills, material etc
√ Technology to be used in the project
√ Regulations of local bodies, governments and international agencies
√ Risks associated with assumptions
As project execution is fraught with uncertainties, outcomes may often deviated from
expectations. Whenever deviation happens, corrective measures need to applied. The
corrective measures are applied through Project Controls.
Therefore, Project Controls are all about ensuring that projects
successfully deliver its objectives within the constraints.

Project Controls
Slide 8
By Ashok Kumar
Project Control Process
The diagram on the right hand side shows the primary blocks
of Project Control Process. It has four stages:
1. Identify control items and describe which variables to control
such as contracted labour effort. Define logic for analysing the
deviations of actual values with the baseline values. Also define
the acceptable amount of deviation. For example the baseline
value proportionate to the work completed be compared with the
actual value captured.
2. Create the baseline by assigning the budget for the control items
such as contracted labour effort
3. Analyse deviation of actual with the baseline by following the
defined logic.
4. If deviation is beyond limits, take the corrective action. Also
decide weather to change the baseline for future comparisons.
Identify and
describe
controls
Baseline
Control
Variables
Analyse
deviations
Take
Corrective
actions
Actual
status

Project Controls
Slide 9
By Ashok Kumar
Primary Project Controls?
Project Controls that deals with Scope, Cost, Time and
Quality constraints are primary project controls and
must be applied.
All others are secondary controls that should be applied
wherever required such as Controls that deals with
Resources (skills, material etc), Technology, Regulations
and Risks.
The diagram on the right side represents Cost, Time
and Quality as three dimensions controlling the project
destination for an agreed Scope.
A successful project with a given Scope must complete
within the boundaries set by Cost, Time and Quality.
Scope
X
Cost
Time
Current
position of the
Project Status
at a given point
of time

Project Controls
Slide 10
By Ashok Kumar
1) Increase in Scope may increase the Cost and Time
2) Decrease in Time may also decrease the quality
3) Decrease in quality may result into increase in
rejections of deliverables and thereby increase in
Cost as well as Time.
4) Cost overruns may be acceptable to deliver within
Time and with quality
The table on the right hand side shows how increase or
decrease in one Constraint may affect the other
constraints.
Scope Cost Time Quality
Scope+ + + -
Scope- - - +
Cost + + - +
Cost - - + -
Time + + + +
Time - - - -
Quality+ - + +
Quality- + - -
Inter-dependencies between Controls
Action taken in one control may affect the other controls.
For example:
+ means increase
- means decrease

Project Controls
Slide 11
By Ashok Kumar
Project Control types
Aggregate v/s Composite v/s Discrete?
Aggregate Project Controls are the controls whose corrective
actions are based on the deviations between aggregate actual values and
aggregate baseline values such as project level aggregation of budget and
actual costs associated with the elements of WBS (Work Breakdown
Structure).
Composite Project Controls are the controls whose corrective
actions are based on the Indexes calculated by methods that use two or
more control variables. CPI (Cost performance Index) and SPI (Schedule
performance Index) are examples of Composite Project Controls. EVA
(Earned Value Analysis) method is used to calculated CPI and SPI.
Discrete Project Controls are the controls whose corrective actions are
based on the status of a variable such as state or a flag that are set either
manually or automatically by EPM system.

Project Controls
Slide 12
By Ashok Kumar
Control Item Name Aggregate or
Composite
Variables to
measure
Logic to calculate and compare
baseline with actual value
Deviation limit Action taken
details
Cost performance
Index (CPI)
Composite Labour and
Material cost
Index is calculated using EVA that
uses Baseline and actual cost values
+/- 5% Review expanse
approval limits
Documenting Project Controls
The information that needs to be documented for Project Controls should include at least the
following:
1) Control Item name
2) Aggregate or Composite control
3) The name and description of variable to measure
4) Details of logic to compare the baseline value with the actual measured value
5) Deviation limits beyond that action needs to be taken
6) The details of action taken
The following table shows an example of the info documented for a Project Control .

Project Controls
Slide 13
By Ashok Kumar
Automating Controls?
Most ePMOs depend heavily on EPM Tools and the processes available from
these tools. A number of Controls would have already been embedded into the
software applications. For embedding the remaining Controls will require
changes to the software applications and it may always not be possible. Also the
cost of change may not be attractive from Cost/Benefits point of view.
In any case not all Controls can be automated. Also the embedded Controls may
differ in functionality and ePMO has to live with those difference. The first
casualty is that ePMO can’t implement its strategic plan without compromises.
Now reality sets in and ePMO has to rely on manual processes for enforcing
Controls.
Problems of integration of tools is another reason for partly automating the
Controls. My suggestion would be to perform a detailed requirements analysis
by a Business Analyst to understand what can be achieved and what can’t be.

Project Controls
Slide 14
By Ashok Kumar
Automated Control Action Cycle
The diagram bellow shows an Automated Control Action Cycle
A Process
runs
(approving an
expenditure)
A decision event
occurs
(A doc submitted
for Approval )
Approver compares actual
status with desired status
(Expenditure is within
approval limit )
Comparison results
in a decision
(approve or reject))
The effectiveness of the control will depend upon the approval limits at different management
levels of the approver. Setting of this limit is called setting Control parameters.
The Control cycle shown above is an instant action cycle. In other cases control cycle may
take several days or even more. Take the example of controls activated based on periodic
status reports such as project execution delays acted upon when weekly project status report
is available to project manager.

Project Controls
Slide 15
By Ashok Kumar
How to enforce Controls?
As most Project Controls are embedded with in processes, the most effective ways to assure
that controls remain effective and functioning are as follows:
● Central authority like PMO are critical to successfully enforcing project controls
● Local PMOs may also play important role in enforcing project controls
● Periodic compliance audit are done and corrective actions taken
● Use Enterprise Project Management tools for uniformity of project controls
● Checklists also help to ensure that controls are obeyed
● PM Process Automation also help Control’s enforcement
● Changes to processes should include review of project controls
● Periodic status reports should provide status of working of controls
● Have metrics that measures the performance of controls
● Periodic review of Project Control parameters is very much desired
● Policies may also be used to set values for Control parameters

Project Controls
Slide 16
By Ashok Kumar
When to start Controlling?
In Industrial Dynamics open ended system
model, a Control can be defined having two
variables 1) The level, 2) The rate.
In terms of cost control, the level variable will
measure the to-date expenses and the rate
variable will measure how fast the expenses are
increasing.
For effective control both level and
rate variables must be considered for
raising triggers.
For example Cost controls get enabled when
50% of Budget is used.
What to Control?
The following are some of the decision
events that may trigger a Control:
● Approvals
● Change in Status flags
● Compliance
● Deviations
● Conflicts
● Allocation
● Obligations not met
● High Risks events
● etc.

Project Controls
Slide 17
By Ashok Kumar
Monitoring v/s Controlling
Project Monitoring is Controlling minus corrective actions i.e.
project monitoring is not responsible to taking corrective
actions for cost over runs, schedule delays and quality issues.
Not every stakeholder is responsible for taking corrective
actions but all of them require regular project status reports for
their own use such as start or stop a task.
Examples:
1) While driving on the road you observe somebody is filling the pot
hole on the road and you slow down. Here the filling of pothole is
corrective action while observing the road condition and slowing
down is monitoring.
2) Project status report mentioning schedule delays due to
understaffing or skills issues as an input to HR manager to
expedite hiring and reviewing the skills assessment methods
used.

Project Controls
Slide 18
By Ashok Kumar
Embedded v/s standalone
Project Controls
When Project Controls are associated with
project management processes, the corrective
actions to be taken are directly generated by the
process and a lot of manual analysis is avoided.
Standalone controls are not associated with
project management processes. These require
complex analysis before arriving at the corrective
actions with some inputs coming from out of the
project boundary.
If you drive car, you
know controls display
process status that
you use to apply
correction to your
actions

Project Controls
Slide 19
By Ashok Kumar
Some of the
process areas that
embed the Controls
• Risk Management process
• Documents Management process
• Scope Management process
• Estimation Process
• Tasks Status Tracking process
• Engineering Designs
• Resources Allocation process
• Contracts Management Process
• Quality Assurance Process
• Stakeholders Management Process
• Communication Management
• Change Management Process
• Project Planning Process
Project
Controls
areas
Estimatio
n
Process
Project
Schedule
Status
Tracking
Engineer
ing
Designs
Contracts
Manage
mnent
Risks
Manage
ment
Quality
Assurance Change
Manage
ment
Project
Planning
Communi
cation
Documnt
Control Scope
Manage
ment
Time
sheet
Stakehol
ders
Mgnt
Resource
Allocation

Project Controls
Slide 20
By Ashok Kumar
Project
Scope
Control

Project Controls
Slide 21
By Ashok Kumar
Project Scope Control
A successful project must deliver neither less not more than the
agreed scope. Project’s scope controls ensure that complete scope
is delivered and scope changes are controlled. These are part of
Change Control Process that should include the following:
Scope
Require
ments
Deliver
ables
Change
Control
process
● Scope to Requirements to deliverables map
● WBS baseline review to ensure scope is covered
and out of scope work is identified and removed
● Setting cost limits for Scope change approval by
different levels of management.
● Accurate estimation for Scope Change
● Scope change impact (Cost, Effort, Schedule,
Technology, process, Skills, Regulations,
Dependencies, Risks, etc.)

Project Controls
Slide 22
By Ashok Kumar
What’s included in Project Scope?
Primary Project Scope:
● Products and Services deliverables to the client meeting requisite
engineering and quality testing plus regulatory requirements
● All contractual terms and conditions
● Mutually agreed Change Control Process
● Assumption made and the risks associated with those assumptions that are
not part of the contractual obligations
Secondary Project Scope:
● Products and Service deliverables that are required by the project to deliver
and Products and services required by the client.
● Deliverables required by the Project Management Methodology and
Processes used to manage the project.

Project Controls
Slide 23
By Ashok Kumar
The Basis of Project Scope Control
Project baseline is the primary basis of controlling project scope. Properly establishing
and then firmly controlling the changes to the project baseline is critical for Project
Scope Control.
Establishing Project Baseline: Project Baseline should include the documents
that form the project scope as described in the previous slide. The initial project
baseline may include the following:
● Contractual documents including all associated documents
● Documents created by the project such as WBS, Project Estimates, Project Plan, Project
Schedule, Procurement Schedule, Requirements, Design Specifications, Quality Testing
Strategy and plan etc.
Controlling Changes to Project Baseline: Project must have a robust
change control process to make changes to the baselined documents by applying-
● Document version or issue control through configuration management
● Implementing robust review and approval process

Project Controls
Slide 24
By Ashok Kumar
A Generic Change
Management
Process under
Configuration
control
Submit
Change
Request
do
Change
Impact &
Review
QC
Reqmnts
document
ed
Approve
Change
order
Config
Items
Checked
in
Changes
made,
QC done
Configur
ation
Audit
done
Config
Items
checked
out
Change
Request
rejected
Need
for a
change
Status
Report

Project Controls
Slide 25
By Ashok Kumar
Project
Cost
Controls

Project Controls
Slide 26
By Ashok Kumar
Project Cost Controls
The following are some of the controls that a project can enforce to ensure its completion
with in budget. Most of these controls are part of Project Planning and Control process.
However, few may need inputs from external sources.
● Cost Performance Index (CPI = (budgeted cost /Actual cost) of work performed)
● Effort Performance Index(= (budgeted Effort /Actual Effort) of work performed)
● Cost Composition (Labour : Material : Taxes : Others)
● Labour Cost Composition (Permanent : Contracted)
● Resources cost Performance Index (CPI calculated at resource level instead of task)
● Waste production Index (Quality of waste produced /Quantity of raw material used)
● Estimation accuracy Index (actual cost / Estimated Cost)
● Work Package wise actual cost (Labour, Material, Taxes, others)
● Management level wise Expense Transaction approval limits
● Market intelligence feedback on taxes, labour regulations, industry trends
● …

Project Controls
Slide 27
By Ashok Kumar
Material Cost
● Bought out (finished / semi finished) Items
● Raw Material items
● Leased and hired items
● Sub-contracted items
Labour Cost
● Direct labour estimated cost items
● Indirect labour estimated cost items
● Welfare items (Health, security)
● Skill Training Items
● Labour productivity
What’s included in Project Cost?
The following are the items whose cost the project must control-
Process Performance Cost
● Rejections and rework
● Poor Productivity
● Poor Efficiency
● Poor Compliance
Financing Cost
● Loan interest items
● Mortgage items
● Taxes
● Insurance – Risks mitigation
● Fees – Licensing, Consulting, Auditing
● Incidental provisions

Project Controls
Slide 28
By Ashok Kumar
Estimation and Planning
● Product Breakdown Structure
● Work Breakdown Structure
● Bill of Materials
● Labour Estimation Methods
Material Procurement
● Purchase Request Approval
● Purchase Order Approval
● Quality Acceptance
● Material Storage
Human Resources
● Resources Hiring Approval
● Labour Contracts Approval
● Labour policies
Processes that influence Project Cost?
The following processes influence the project cost.
Change Control
● Project Scope
● Baseline
Performance Monitoring
● Work Progress Delays
● Rejections and rework
● Productivity measurements
● Efficiency measurements
● Audit
Budgeting and Accounting
● Material and Labour Budgets
● Project Cost accounting
● Labour Cost accounting
● Expenses accounting

Project Controls
Slide 29
By Ashok Kumar
Reviewing Actions
● Every action that impact costs must be thoroughly reviewed
● Every review must follow Review Process
Approving Actions
● Approving must be at appropriate management Level
depending upon the amount and risks involved
Monitoring Actions
● Estimates cost vs Actual cost (all types of costs)
● Cost Performance Indexes such as EVA based CPI
Corrective Actions for cost over-runs
● Chose alternate option
● Change Approval Limits
● Change monitoring process and measurement methods
● Increase Follow up
Key decision actions for controlling Project Cost?

Project Controls
Slide 30
By Ashok Kumar
Project
Time
Controls

Project Controls
Slide 31
By Ashok Kumar
Project Time Controls
Projects rarely complete in time as delays are inevitable if not controlled.
Time Controls are part of Project Planning and Control process.
Enforce the following Controls to ensure timely completion of projects.
Material
Resour
ces +
Skills
Planning
and
Control
Process
and
Tools
● Schedule Performance Index (SPI = Budgeted Cost
or Effort of ( Work performed /Work scheduled))
● Resource Performance Index (Resource level SPI)
● Estimation performance Index (duration forecast /
baseline estimates)
● Review over-due tasks and due tasks
● Do resource levelling to optimize allocations
● Avoid Tasks having under allocations of resources
● Avoid Tasks having unskilled resources
● Shrink Schedule through network analysis
● Forecast Resource requirements to avoid under
allocations

Project Controls
Slide 32
By Ashok Kumar
Project Schedule as the basis Time Controls
Project Schedule
● Project Schedule is the primary tool for Time Controls.
● Project Schedule is created as part of Project Planning process
● A baselined Project Schedule is used for Time Controls
Tasks
● Task is the basic unit of Time Controls
● Tasks completion delays should be the first focus of Time Control
● Inaccurate Task duration estimates renders Time Controls ineffective
● Longer duration Tasks are difficult to monitor for partial completion
● Keeping tasks duration within one week is a good practice
Critical Path
● Critical path determines the project completion
● Tasks at the critical path must be given extra focus for delays
Schedule structure
● Re-structuring project schedule can change project completion time
● Shrinking project schedule is a re-structuring method used to shorten project completion time

Project Controls
Slide 33
By Ashok Kumar
Key factors for effective Time Controls
Proper development of Project Schedule
● Creating a proper Work Breakdown Structure
● Correctly estimating project Tasks for effort and completion duration time
● Selecting appropriate Project Schedule Structure
● Establishing dependencies between tasks
● Keeping adequate slack time for tasks start/completion
Baseline Project Schedule
● Maintaining Cost, Effort and Duration baseline
● Provision for multiple baselines
● Securing Changes to baseline
Tasks Status Collection
● Collection actual effort and the task completion in percentage such as 25%,50% or 100%
● Updating project schedule using Task completion status
Analysis and Project Status Reporting
● Generating Tasks status reports (Completed, over due and tasks to start one week in future
● Calculating Schedule Performance Index using Earned Value Analysis method
● Over loaded resources (resource levelling) and resources replacement plan

Project Controls
Slide 34
By Ashok Kumar
Earned
Value
Analysis

Project Controls
Slide 35
By Ashok Kumar
What is Earned Value (EV)?
Earned Value is the amount of accomplished work
calculated using a budgeted amount for the whole work.
For example if 250 hours are required to finish a work
consisting of 100 units and if 40 units are produced,
Earned value will be 100 hours.
What is Earn Value Analysis (EVA)?
We are well familiar with "Productivity" and "Efficiency" in
manufacturing industry. However, these concepts can’t be
directly applied for projects. Earned Value Analysis has
been precisely developed for this purpose.
Schedule Performance Index in EVA is what Productivity is
in manufacturing industry. Cost Performance Index in EVA
is what Efficiency is in manufacturing industry.
The table on the right side defines the terms used in EVA.
Earn Value Analysis (EVA) Term Term's Description
BCWS For a period Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled (Baselined Value)
BCWP For a period Budgeted Cost of Work Performed (Progress or
Earned Value)
ACWP For a period Actual Cost of Work Performed (Actual or Burnt
Value)
Cumm-
BCWS
Cummulative Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled (Baselined Value)
Cumm-
BCWP
Cummulative Budgeted Cost of Work Performed (Progress or
Earned Value)
Cumm-
ACWP
Cummulative Actual Cost of Work Performed (Actual or Burnt
Value)
CV Cost Variance = BCWP - ACWP
SV Schedule Variance = BCWP - BCWS
CPI Cost Performance Index = BCWP/ACWP
SPI Schedule Performance Index = BCWP/BCWS
BAC Budget at completion (Cumm-BCWS at completion)
EAC Estimate cost at completion = ACWP +[(BAC-BCWP)/CPI
ETC Estimate cost to complete = (BAC - BCWP)/CPI

Project Controls
Slide 36
By Ashok Kumar
Earn Value Analysis (EVA)
The diagram on the right side shows 3 graphs-
BCWS = Budget cost of work scheduled i.e.
This is the cost of work planned up to
a given point of time
BCWP = Budget cost of work performed i.e.
This is also called Earned Value
ACWP = Actual cost of work performed i.e.
This is the cost of work performed
up to a given point of time
This diagram shows ACWP above BCWS
which is above BCWP. However, in real life
situations these three curves can be in any
sequence.
Cost

Project Controls
Slide 37
By Ashok Kumar
Earned Value Analysis Example
Let us assume that a company hires a person for designing and typing work. The estimates for this work were
15 pages per day, 5 pages per hour. Considering these estimates, company hires a person to work part time for
3 hours per day. Person will be paid a fix salary of $750 per week.
This means that the estimated cost of one page designing and typing is $10.
Now look at the actual pages typed. BCWP BCWS ACWP
Day Hours Pages Salary
Paid
Pages
Typed
Earned
Value
Pages
Planed
Estimated
Cost
Actual
Cost
SPI CPI
1 3 10 15
2 3 12 15
3 3 15 15
4 3 12 15
5 3 10 15
1wk total 15 59 750 59 590 75 750 750 78.67% 78.67%
1 4 16 15
2 4 14 15
3 4 15 15
4 4 15 15
5 4 18 15
2nd wk total 20 78 900 78 780 75 750 900 104.00% 86.67%
Total 35 137 1650 137 1370 150 1500 1650 91.33% 83.03%

Project Controls
Slide 38
By Ashok Kumar
Difficulties in applying Earned Value Analysis
EVA depends upon the measurements of three cost variables –
1) BCWS is generally estimated at work package level. A work package has
material and labour cost. Labour cost can be further divided into tasks but
material cost can’t be easily divided further and associated with tasks.
2) BCWP requires assessing the percentage of work completed. It’s a difficult
task and assumptions are made. Some companies use 25% cost at the start of
the task, 50% when about half of the tasks is complete, 75% when ¾ of the task
is completed and 100% when the whole task is completed. Arriving at how much
work is completed is very much like guesstimating.
3) ACWP is the actual cost that has material and labour parts. Material
part comes from financial accounting and labour cost comes from
timesheets. When a person works on two or more different tasks in one
or more projects, again how much is spent on a task is not easy to
account. Here also a lot of guesstimating works. Also when to charge the
material cost i.e. at the start or at the completion of the work package
needs to be decided.
Excluding the
material cost
from the EVA
simplifies the
calculations i.e.
EVA for labour
effort only.
Effort can be
estimated and
baselined at
task level.

Project Controls
Slide 39
By Ashok Kumar
Project
Quality
Controls

Project Controls
Slide 40
By Ashok Kumar
Project Quality Controls
Delivering defects free Products and Services is the responsibility of
Project management. Project Quality Controls are enforced through
• Quality Assurance (QA)
• Quality Inspections (QI)
• Quality Testing (QT)
Quality Assurance is aimed at improving process performance. There
are several QA methods in use today such as ISO9000+, CMMI, Six
Sigma etc
Quality Reviews and Inspections: All defects must be captured,
analysed and corrective actions taken. Quality Inspections are used to
capture defects.
Quality Testing: Testing is part of every project management
methodology. Testing is done in two ways i.e. 1) Destructive and 2)
Non-destructive.

Project Controls
Slide 41
By Ashok Kumar
Project Quality Control through
Inspections
Project Quality Control through Inspections is all about
identifying, capturing, analysing defects and taking
corrective actions taken.
Defects are classified as minor, major and critical.
• Minor defects don’t affect the functionality and are of
cosmetic significance. Minor defects may often not be
recognisable
• Major defects seriously hamper the functionalities.
Major defects are fewer as compared to Minor defects.
• Critical defects render the product non-functional.
Critical defects are not very frequent. However, Major
and Critical defects should never be passed to
customers.
Minor defects
Major defects
Critical
defects

Project Controls
Slide 42
By Ashok Kumar
Defects Control
As shown in the diagram on right hand side, defects can be
introduced by
● Various process used by the project
● Material in various forms used by the project
● Various tools used process used by the project
● Inadequate skills may be lead to defects
Project must have processes and tools to identify and capture
the defects through
● Process performance assessment
● Reviews can be very effective for minimizing process related defects
● Inspection and Testing are the formal defects capturing methods
● Audit is useful for capturing process and regulatory compliance
defects
Corrective actions to reduce the defects are
● Process Improvement reduces the no of defects
● Reviewing Supplier processes may help reduce defects
● Planned Maintenance and Servicing is a must to reduce the defects
● Ensuring worker have necessary skill levels will reduce the defects
Defects introduced by
• Process
• Material
• Tools
• Skills
Defects captured by
• Assessments
• Reviews
• Inspection & Testing
• Audits
Corrective actions leads to
• Process Improvement
• Supplier Review
• Maintenance and Servicing
• Skills Training

Project Controls
Slide 43
By Ashok Kumar
Project
Risks
Controls

Project Controls
Slide 44
By Ashok Kumar
Project Risks Controls
Projects Risks are known events that have not yet
occurred and have a probability of occurrence in
future.
Project Risks have several implications
● Financial
● Health / Injury
● Legal
● Cultural
● Damages
Risks Controls are embedded within the Risks
management method and are implemented through
Risks Response Implementation. Therefore, using
appropriate Risk Management method is crucial for
Risks Controls.

Project Controls
Slide 45
By Ashok Kumar
Project Risks Management
Risks management plays important role in Risks Controls.
A robust Risks management is the first step in Risks
Controls.
The diagram on the right side shows PRIONCE2 Risk
management method. It has 5 processes.
● Risks Identification
● Risks Assessment
● Risks Response Planning
● Risks Response Implementation
● Risks Communication
Risks Response Implementation is where Risks Controls
kicks in. The next slide gives more information on Risk
Responses.
Risks
Management
Communicate
Communicate
Communicate
Communicate

Project Controls
Slide 46
By Ashok Kumar
Risks Responses
There may be several types of Risk Responses.
• Enhance Safety and Security measures
• Place administrative Control
• Increase Risk awareness
• Implement Preventive measures
• Isolate Risk
• Substitute causes with lower Risk
• Transfer Risk
• Eliminate the Risk
Eliminating Risk is most effective but difficult response to implement. Responding with
preventive measures in most commonly used response.
LowtoHigheffectiveness
Risks Response Strategy
It’s important to describe Risk
Response Strategy to avoid
arbitrariness in selecting the Risk
Response.
Wherever relevant Cost/Benefit
analysis of Risk response must be
done. Risk response must be
approved by appropriate
management level.

Project Controls
Slide 47
By Ashok Kumar
Risks Occurrence Impact Control Strategy
Impact Type
Increase /
Decrease / NA
Weightage
Factor( 1 to 10)
Project Duration
Project Effort
Project Cost
Deliverables Quality
Regulatory Compliance
Resources Replacement
Process Compliance
Safety and Health
Contract Compliance
Cascading effect
Infrastructure
Image /Reputation / Relations
…
…
When a Risk occurs, it will cause several
type of impacts. Risks occurrence Impact
control strategy is aimed at minimizing the
overall Impact i.e. Risks Controls should
have a Impact Control Response for each
type of Impact type.
As organizations have limited budget for
Impact control, it would be appropriate to
optimize the impact by assigning a
weightage factor to each Impact type. It may
be somewhat similar to the table on the right
hand side.
This strategy is very similar to disaster
response planning.

Project Controls
Slide 48
By Ashok Kumar
Project
Estimation
Methods

Project Controls
Slide 49
By Ashok Kumar
Project Estimation Methods
Correctly estimating the effort, cost and duration of projects is critical to effective results
from most project controls. There are several bottom up as well as top down project
estimation methods suitable various project types and for specific situations .
 Similar Projects comparison based bottom
up estimation methods
 3-Points bottom up estimation methods
 CoCuSi (Cost Curve Simulation) bottom up
estimation methods
 Labour Productivity based Top down
estimation method
 Outsourced estimation method
 COCOMO-II based Top down estimation
method for software projects
For software projects
software sizing is also
important for estimating
effort, cost and duration,
Following are the main
software sizing methods
● Use Case Points
● Function Points (IFPUG, MKII,
COSMIC)
● Custom Points
Please refer internet for further details of various estimation methods

Project Controls
Slide 50
By Ashok Kumar
Estimation models & uses across project life cycle
CoCuSi
based
models
Size
Estimation
based
models
Size Counting
based
models
3 Point and Similar Project models
ROM
Bids
Budget
Outsource
Budget
Planning
Project stages
Models
Uses
Metrics
Change
management

Project Controls
Slide 51
By Ashok Kumar
Capability beyond estimating Effort, Cost and Duration.
Is Estimation Tool capable of -
● Generating MS Project Schedule based on predefined templates
● Estimating Ballpark or Rough Order of Magnitude Cost and Price with less
information available
● Providing Price Estimates for Bids / Proposals
● Generating CTC or Budget Estimates
● Generating high level project planning linked to estimates
● Providing role based generic resource planning
● Aiding Outsourcing Negotiations
● Helping to make In-house v/s Outsourcing Decisions
● Estimating software size for metrics and reporting

Project Controls
Slide 52
By Ashok Kumar

Project Controls
Slide 53
By Ashok Kumar

Project Controls
Slide 54
By Ashok Kumar
Project
Regulatory
Controls

Project Controls
Slide 55
By Ashok Kumar
Project Regulatory Controls
Projects have to satisfy the regulations imposed by local and federal
governments. The list of these regulations may be long and legal
specialists are needed to meet regulatory requirements
• Safety and Security regulations
• Pollution Control regulations
• Health Regulations
• Commercial, banking and financial regulations
• Cultural, social and religious regulations
• Animals protect regulations
• Conservation of Scares resources regulations
• Media, advertising and Communications
regulations
• …
Regular planned audits are necessary to assess if project
satisfy the regulations.

Project Controls
Slide 56
By Ashok Kumar
Need help to improve performance of project
management processes through effective use
of Project Controls
Looking for most cost effective ways to setup
PMO and or improve governance of PMO
Please contact at:
Email: rasstouch@gmail.com
Mobile: +44 7482 697 396

Project Controls
Slide 57
By Ashok Kumar
*** The end ****

Project Controls: Understanding Scope, Cost, Time, Quality Controls

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