Project monitoring

Omsk State University named after F.M. Dostoevsky, Omsk

Project monitoring is an important element of the controlling system. This mechanism of continuous monitoring of major current results of the project with the purpose of timely detection of deviations from schedule and budget. This topic is interesting to me because I am a future specialist in project management. I learned about project monitoring in the company "Omskvinprom", where I am an intern in the office of chief engineer. That is where I got the first assignment to conduct project monitoring. From that moment on I began to delve into this process.

Monitoring allows to compare specified and actual data related to project planning and implementation by assessing a comparison between set targets and actual performance of the project. The project team and organizations working outside the framework can monitor the course of a project. Monitoring serves the following objectives:

• –    timely detection of problems;

• –    display of the operations performed, costs and utilized resources;

• –    improvement of works under the project;

• –    recognition of any subsequent improvements of technology;

• –    assessment of quality of project management;

• –    cost savings;

Научный форум. Сибирь в ыпуск 1, 2015

• –    accelerating the desired results of the project;

• –    identifying errors and analyzing their causes;

• –    providing stakeholders with information.

Our company is a specialist in project management, it is responsible for projects monitoring as well. It updates project plans, considers risks, and makes reports which include: current status, significant accomplishments during the specified time period, scheduled operations, forecasts and problems. I was acquainted with all the stages, and I was able to practice monitoring project on my own. The company has multiple projects, which include: creating new products, redesigning old ones, changing recipes, etc. Projects monitoring is carried out carefully and regularly to identify deviations from the project management plan. Thus, continuous monitoring gives the opportunity to understand the overall status of the project and determine what areas you should pay extra attention. Such analysis should lead to the introduction of recommended and approved changes to the project. Recently while I was monitoring one of the projects, I sent a reminder to the responsible person on the completion of his tasks and received a reply that after checking he found a mistake and booked a group package with the wrong print. Due to the fact that we had been able to detect early the problem, we corrected it, and if it had been noticed later, the company would have incurred a large cost. Another example is that I reminded the person in charge that it was time to start working on a completely new project, and then he gratified me as he had forgotten about it because there were a lot of other production problems. As a result, we changed the term without additional risks and problems were eliminated. The final example is my own project, the part of which is to monitor the English language skills of 1st year students at the Department of Economics, Omsk State University n.a. F. M. Dostoevsky. After testing I received and analyzed the results. And I concluded that the school level of English does not correspond the university demands that are necessary for successful study at the University.

Thus, we can conclude that due to the process such as project monitoring, companies are constantly developing and becoming more competitive. Therefore, we can say that this process is necessary and appropriate, because more and more companies are opening new positions for specialists in project management.