Project Controls and the Relationship with Project Management
As a project controls professional, you may have noticed that some people confuse your role with that of a project manager. While this mistake may be understandable for a family member at a summer barbecue, it is a common occurrence in the industry, where the two terms are frequently used interchangeably.
In this article, to help iron out any misconceptions, we asked our team to reflect on both definitions and outline why project controls are the secret ingredient to a successful project, a happy client and a motivated team.
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At its core, project controls plays a fundamental role in helping to manage and control the project’s cost and schedule position. Who looks after this side of the project will vary on a case-by-case basis but, as a general rule, project controls are the processes, tools and expertise used throughout a project to analyse cost, schedule, risk and other performance data, helping to ensure that projects are delivered on time and on budget.
Project controls are used by experienced project managers to overcome common obstacles to success. These obstacles can include delivery risks, challenges of robust forecasting, errors in data input or storage, improper allocation of resources, overly optimistic budget or timeline expectations, and lack of data to make informed decisions.
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All of the above means a project controller approaches a project with a very different mindset to a project manager. For example, the project manager owns the project and it is their priority to delegate the work across the project team, consume the information generated and have the final call on decisions. The project manager relies on the project controls team to plan, monitor and control projects.
For a project controller, their responsibility is to make sure processes head towards success by managing the project’s cost and schedule, as well as advising the project manager of possible risks and advising on recovery plans. This process involves providing project KPIs and delivery reports throughout the project cycle.
A useful way to illustrate the difference between the two is to look at the different questions project managers and project controllers ask themselves throughout a project lifecycle. On the one hand, project controllers are charged with answering (and controlling areas around) key project questions such as:
How much is the project costing?
Will it be completed on budget?
How long is the project taking and how does this compare to the plan?
Will the project be completed on time?
What are the future threats and opportunities that may impact the project objectives?
How can we mitigate these risks and optimise the opportunities?
On the other hand, a project manager will ask the project controls team, the wider project team and the client questions, such as:
What are the business goals/benefits the project is aiming to achieve?
Is the project on track?
What parts of the plan and estimates are we confident and not confident about?
What are the worst-case scenarios for which we might have to anticipate and prepare?
What support or additional resources do we need?
How did the project contribute to our client’s goals?
In this way, the major difference between project management and project controls is that a project manager takes a holistic approach, while project controllers will have a natural curiosity for the detail, asking the difficult questions and analysing budgets and timelines as the primary factors in project success.
Where the project manager will be heavily focussed on delivery, the project controller will be sitting on the PM’s shoulder, acting as their ‘conscience’ and helping them to make the right decisions at the right time, using the data to support. A useful analogy can be to think of the Project Manager as the pilot of a plane (responsible for getting the crew and passengers to the end destination) and the Project Controller acting as the Radar, advising the PM of what is around them, where the potential threats are and how to navigate around them.
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While it may seem that project controls fall within the execution phase of project management at a first glance, it’s crucial for project controls to be involved in all aspects of project management. Ideally, these controls will be implemented as early as the initiation stage of a project as this will ensure that project controls are considered up front, saving time and effort in the execution phase. Then the Project Controls team can assist with the planning of the cost and schedule portion of the project, feeding in throughout the project cycle and advising if there are any deviations.
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It is a project controller's responsibility to utilise data received from multiple project team members to develop project plans for management. This can include:
Consistent Data Structures such as WBS/CBS
Project Cost Estimate
Project Schedule
Resource Plans
Risk & Assumptions Registers
Risk Analysis and Contingency outputs
Project Controls Plan
Once the project’s integrated baseline is developed, the Project Controls team obtains regular input from the project team and are able to generate different kind of analytical reports, such as:
Project Cost and Schedule status and performance
Project Cost and Schedule forecasts
Risk Analysis and helping to predict future outcomes
Scenario & Recovery Plans
All of this information is reported back to the Project Manager and the project team members, so they can make informed decisions across the project, which ultimately leads to successful delivery.
We hope the above provides a clearer understanding of where project controls exist within the wider project management framework. Not only do project controls allow greater insights about a project’s performance,, but project controls are a crucial tool used by smart project managers to help ensure on-time delivery, better forecasting, staying within budget, increased visibility and greater job satisfaction.
To understand how we can support your project team with our project controls’ services, get in touch. We’d love to chat.
