Successful transport decision-making - Osmose

FS 34: Tracking progress
Vol 2 - Table of Contents
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T10
What is tracking progress?
Once a preliminary work plan has been completed, with clearly
stated aims and objectives, it is important to decide how
progress will be monitored and how this will fit in with quality
management strategy and with the final evaluation of the
strategy or scheme. Tracking progress is crucial in order to give
appropriate and timely notice to project managers,
stakeholders, decision-makers or the general public about how
the project is developing.
Tracking progress is sometimes defined as 'process
evaluation', which includes the monitoring and control of the
daily workload, as well as a more strategic comparison of
objectives against outputs. This would include an assessment
of the various project activities (e.g. what was intended to be
done to benefit whom and was it really done?).
Benefits through transparency
The detailed documentation of progress can help to mobilise
further resources and attract other partners to support the
goals and the implementation of the strategy or scheme. Those
who can assist in project delivery in some way need to be sure
that their interests and concerns are being taken into account
during the process, and that any resources they have provided
are being used in an efficient manner. Other agencies and
private companies are more likely to co-operate with
municipalities or other commissioning bodies that show an
interest in improving their management and decision-making
processes.
Tracking of progress should show transparency, accountability,
and efficiency, and should be carried out as a participatory
task. This means collaboration and partnership across
professional and sector boundaries, and with potential users of
the new services.
Asking the right questions
The effective tracking of progress involves asking the right
questions about the transport decision-making and
implementation process, including:
What (especially) do we want to accomplish?
Whose opinions and goals have to be considered?
What work has to be performed?
When does the work have to be done?
What specific responsibilities will different people have?
Have all the people the required expertise?
What additional resources may be needed to support the
work?
What might go wrong, and how will it affect the project if it
does?
Developing a ‘tracking progress’ plan
There must be agreement on techniques or procedures for
tracking progress from the start. This should be in the form of
a written statement, to help focus attention on what the project
is intended to achieve and how. Such a statement of work
normally includes:
Purpose
Why and by whom the project was established, the scope of
work to be performed, and the general strategy for
accomplishing this work , including:
Objective: particular results to be achieved;
Constraints: restrictions on how the project can be
designed and delivered; and
Assumptions: information that is not at present known with
certainty.
Identifying the people involved
Begin to develop a list of all the people or groups interested in,
affected by, or needed to support the project, at the earliest
opportunity. People will have different interests and roles, such
as:
Drivers: people who will define, to some extent, what results
your project is to produce;
Supporters: people who will enable or perform your project
work; and
Observers: people who are interested in your project, but
are neither drivers nor supporters.
Assigning roles and responsibilities
Clarify the roles and responsibilities that each person will have
in the project team, to encourage well coordinated,
collaborative working. Prepare a responsibility chart to identify,
for each activity in the project, who will work on it and what that
person's particular responsibilities will be.
Developing a realistic schedule
Prepare a realistic schedule for performing all the project
activities. Developing such a schedule requires taking into
account:
The time it will take to perform each activity individually; and
The order in which the activities must be performed.
It may help to create a flow chart of the work to be performed
and the amount of time each task will take.
Estimating resource requirements
Identify all resources (input indicators) needed to enable the project
tasks to be carried out, in the time frames specified. For each type
of resource, develop a resources matrix (i.e. what quantity of each
resource will be needed for each activity and when).
Dealing with risk and uncertainty
Risk covers both the possibilities that things will not go as well
as expected, and that things will go better - but perhaps
differently - than expected.
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