prin(z) - analysing trends theory

8/12/2019 Prin(z) - Analysing Trends Theory

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Analyzing Trends - Theory

Milestone trends and cost trendsin project management

There are complex methods in project management, rangingfrom simple scheduling to multi-project planning withresources. The actual integration of project planning intobusiness process is the difficult part. Lack of acceptance andinconsistent execution are two hurdles which many projectmanagement systems fail to overcome. Controlling andreporting mechanisms regulate ongoing planning and plans.The project information center "Prin(z)" covers twosubstantial inspection procedures, the milestone and the costtrend analyses. With its extensive report possibilities andvarious interfaces, Prin(z) offers badly needed projectcontrolling to your business.

Evolution of project management tools

More and more projects are planned and logged incooperation. The current development of tools mirrors thethis trend: Three important developments have arisen: First,increasing quantities of project data are stored in efficient,relational databases (e.g. Project Central / Microsoft Project). Second, managing projects in networked, browser basedsystems (e.g. Actano RPLAN ). And third, project planninghas embedded itself in process management (e.g.ProcessContinuum / Project Planner ).

Focusing on project processes

Due to overlaps and parallelisms, projects can no longer beconsidered as serial process chains, rather they are aprocess network. Process steps are milestones in a

development cycle which give feedback information aboutreaching a desired status or a given target. Milestonesrepresent the turning points of one process part to furtherfollow-up processes and all linked tasks.Therefor, the effects of a milestone shift are more globalthan in a serial process chain; parallel and overlappingprocess shifts have effects on the entire network. If or whena milestone shifts it has direct effects on the processsuccess.In addition, due to hard competition development times havebecome shorter. Floats are usually omitted completely andmore and more process steps run parallel. The shift of onlyone milestone can involve the missing of delivery dates orthe delay of follow-up orders, which might have directconsequences to cash flow. To react to negativedevelopments quickly, it is necessary to analyze milestonesregularly.

Project control & project reports

During the course of a project, date deviations occur. Theplan is updated and differences in the comparison of plannedand actual values show up. These differences, however don'ttell the whole picture. When projects last many years, asingle delay is unlikely to endanger the finishing date,however if the dates of a work package shift very often,further delays become very likely. Thus, extensions ofdeadlines become interesting only in chronologicalcomparison, overviewing all modifications at one point oftime, because they enable forecasts based on the existingtrend.Milestones are the perfect point of reference for chronologiccomparisons as they are project-crucial processes. A'Milestone Trend Analysis' (MTA) takes the modifications of
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costsin projects.

The planned cost line(base line) is comparedto theactual costs(actual). If deviations occur, a cost divergenceshows up between these lines in the course of the project.Additionally a forecast (preview) can be generated for aneffort estimation orcost estimation.

Comparing planned to actual costs is an essentialproject control methodBurghardt, M. (2001). Introduction to projectmanagement.Publicis MCD, ISBN 3895781630.

Execution in practice

Many enterprises still do trend analyses on 'black boards' or

Word processors due to missing software support. Anuncontrolled growth of most diverse graphs is developed,which are only isolated solutions. These procedures areunsuitable for establishing an enterprise-wide standard forproject controlling.

Prin(z) - the project information center

Prin(z) closes the gap and helps to integrate recognizedstandard analysis methods in project management into yourbusiness. In addition to the main features MTA (milestonetrend analysis) and CTA (cost trend analysis), Prin(z) offersa logging function, flexible and global reporting, multiplicityof organizational possibilities and import/export filters. As anAdd-On product for PM systems Prin(z) can be usedstandalone or with interfaces to Microsoft Project orActano RPlan .

Advantages of the Prin(z)-MTA

planned/actual comparisonof milestone datesproject-to-project comparison of milestonesvisualizationin an MT A charttraffic light for milestone s' statusdocumentationof the most important planmodificationslogging functionfor risk/problems and planned internalactions/solutionsexportas text file or diagramclear and uniform reportingenables an easy interpretation and thus a fast reactionto date delays


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Advantages of the Prin(z)-CTA

planned/actual comparisonfo r efforts/costsstatus is plotted (planned costs, actual costs, trend,budget ...)exportas text file or diagramdocumentationof the most important costmodificationslogging functionfor risk/problems and planned internal

actions/solutionsclear and uniform reportingenables an easy interpretation and a fast reaction tocost changes

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prin(z) - analysing trends theory

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