Category "Project Management"

Variance analysis is a key statistical tool used in operational and financial data for project management. Integral to ensuring short-term as well as long-term success of projects, variance analysis allows an organization to pinpoint risks, opportunities, patterns, issues and areas of improvement in the way a project is functioning.

So what is variance analysis anyway? Simply put, it is the difference between the planned and actual finances. Efficient project cost tracking often employ variance analysis to help managers in their project budgeting efforts. The quantitative financial data are evaluated using variance analysis at regular intervals to determine where the project is headed in terms of costing and profitability.

SolutionCorp closely integrates variance analysis into its project budgeting and project cost tracking software, giving managers the power to track the difference between their planned and actual expenditures at every step.

In fact, the project performance module of the software employs variance analysis to deliver key metrics about the status of various projects. The manager can find a summarized performance reporting for each of their projects in this module. This reporting will cover financial summaries of project as well as that of labor working on the project, since labor costs are an essential part of the overall project budgeting.

The project summary will showcase project name, customer name, current project status, planned and actual billing, expenses, labor, overhead costs, total costs, revenue, profit and profit percentage, and variance between these planned and actual parameters.

On the other hand, the labor summary will consist of departments working, activities performed, planned hours and costs, actually spent hours and costs, and finally the variance calculation between the planned and actual hours and costs.

Such a comprehensive overview of the project performance with variance analysis will empower managers with concrete financial data analysis results for making informed decisions for the future.

 

As a project manager, you may be hard-wired by now to always chase success. But have you ever stopped to wonder what project success actually means? There are several factors at play that determine whether a project can be successful or not. Knowing about these obvious as well as subtle factors can help you evaluate your project in progress and predict whether it is routed towards success or failure. Let’s look over what these crucial factors are that can decide your project’s fate:

 

1. Clearly Defined Goals– Whether it’s your client or your team members, every one associated with the project should be on same page when it comes to what needs to be achieved. You should use a project management system (PMS) to keep track of the project goals.

 

2. Balance Between Promise and Capacity– It’s good to be confident in your abilities, but unwise to promise your client way more than you can actually deliver. Estimate work time and costs bearing limitations in your mind and then use a good PMS for project budgeting, project time tracking and project cost tracking.

 

3. Channels for Open Communication – If a team member is facing a problem in achieving results, they should be able to get help without any fuss. Creating an open, dynamic work environment is essential in getting work done. This is how problems are identified and fixed.

 

4. Track Daily Work Done – You have to dive into the nitty-gritty and track the tasks that are being done by your teammates on a daily basis. Implement a timesheet system to make this easier on yourself. Ask your team members to log in their daily tasks and hours in an online timesheet software so that you know what’s getting done every day.

You don’t need the best project management software of the world, you only the software that’s best for your own business. So, how do you cut through all the noise and find the right project management system for your business? Well, here are a few tips to get you started with the selection process:

• Analyze Your Project Requirements

Your first step should be to chalk out your functional requirements and expectations from the project management system. Map out the areas of project management in which you need help. Do you need help with project cost tracking, project budgeting, project time tracking, project performance management, project reporting, or some other aspects? Once you have an outline ready for your project management needs, you can streamline your choices to the ones that meet these needs.

• Check the System’s Scalability

Think about years from now, when your organization has probably multiplied many times in size and is handling more projects than ever. Would your prospective project management system still be able to serve you with the same efficiency as now? This should give you a good idea about the scalability potential of the software.

• Ensure the Software is Easy to Use

You don’t want to burden your employees with a software that they find too difficult to use on a day-to-day basis. To avoid such a scenario, give your team members a chance to use the system on a trial basis first. See what feedback they have to offer about the software’s usability.

• Assess Deployment and Integration Convenience

Ideally, a cloud-based system would be the best way to go, since you wouldn’t have to worry about any software installation or maintenance related work in this case. You can start using this web-based system in no time. Also, you should make sure that the project management system that you’re choosing can be easily integrated with your current organizational systems, like your ERP. This will help in keeping your IT operations coherently inter-connected.