40 Control

The purpose of the weekly controlling process is to answer all key project questions and make informed decisions to keep projects, delivery dates, invoicing and cashflow on track.

Goal

The weekly controlling process should enable the team to answer the following questions at any time:

Dev

How is the overall state of the project?
Are there any blockers requiring escalation?
Are the right priorities being worked on?

PM

Is the project on schedule?
Is the project within budget?
Is the current forecast realistic?

Accounting

Are invoice dates still valid?
- Will the expected cashflow change?

To prepare, PMs and devs need to take a thorough look at the project and make sure everything is on track and nothing is missed.

Process Overview

Phase	Responsible	Purpose
1. Data Consolidation	Project Manager	Consolidate project information and prepare meeting material.
2. Controlling Meeting	All relevant participants	Review project health, discuss risks and make decisions.
3. Follow-up & Updates	Responsible persons	Update all affected systems and communicate decisions.

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Responsibilities

Activity	Responsible
Maintain personal project list	Everyone
Keep Toggl time tracking up to date	Everyone
Update Requirements.xlsx	Project Manager / Developer
Update Planning and Timeline.xlsx (weekly sheet)	Project Manager
Update Planning and Timeline.xlsx (overview)	Project Manager
Update Zenkit Project Overview	Accounting
Update Cashflow	Accounting
Prepare controlling meeting	Project Manager
Facilitate meeting	Project Manager
Make management decisions	Management
Communicate decisions	Project Manager

1. Data Consolidation

Performed by the Project Manager before the controlling meeting

Collect project updates from the team
- upcoming meetings
- upcoming vacations
Review and update Planning and Timeline.xlsx
- Create Weekly project sheet
  - copy Toggl time tracking for the previous week
  - Add newly identified tasks
  - Move unfinished tasks
  - Update project timeline
    
    deadlines
    
    vacations
- Update Controlling Sheet
  - planned delivery dates for milestones
- update Project History
  - Document recent changes (changed requirements, estimates, etc)

2. Controlling Meeting

Performed with all relevant participants.

Review

The following metrics should be reviewed every week.

KPI / Metric	Reviewed during Controlling	Maintained by	Source	Purpose
Actual vs. Planned Hours (Last Week)	✓	Project Manager	Planned hours + Toggl	Compare planned effort with the actual hours booked during the previous week.
Timeline	✓	Project Manager	Planning and Timeline.xlsx	Determine whether upcoming milestones and delivery dates are still achievable.
Remaining Budget (d)	✓	Project Manager	Planned effort + Actual hours (Toggl)	Shows how much of the original budget is still available.
Remaining Effort (Plan) (d)	✓	Project Manager	Planned effort + Degree of Completion	Shows how much work should remain according to the original plan.
Remaining Effort (Forecast) (d)	✓	Project Manager	Actual hours + Degree of Completion	Predicts the expected remaining effort based on current performance.
Degree of Completion (%)	✓	Project Manager	Manual estimate	Estimated implementation progress of the project.
Planned Invoice Date	✓	Accounting / Management	Zenkit	Expected invoice date for the next milestone or work package.
Open Risks / Issues	✓	Project Manager	Project assessment	Current technical, organizational or customer-related risks requiring attention.
Open Action Items	✓	Project Manager	Meeting minutes / Project tracking	Outstanding decisions and follow-up actions from previous meetings.
Milestone Health	✓	Project Manager	Overall assessment	Green / Yellow / Red assessment of each milestone.
Zenkit Projects / Work Packages	✓	Project Manager	Zenkit	Verify that newly created projects or work packages are reflected in the planning.
Project Status	✓	Project Manager	Overall assessment	Overall project health (e.g. On Track, Delayed, At Risk). Derived from the KPIs above and used as the management summary.

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Key Questions

idea: order questions by roles

Project Health

Is the project on schedule?
Is the project within budget?
Is the current scope still realistic?
Are customer expectations aligned?

Finance

Has the planned invoice date changed?
Will the expected cashflow change?
Are additional offers required?
Are change requests required?

Risks & Blockers

What could delay the next milestone?
Are there open dependencies?
Are important decisions missing?
Is customer feedback missing?
Does management need to remove blockers?

Resources

Does someone need help?
Are enough developer days planned?
Is another project blocking progress?

Planning

Are project priorities still correct?
Have new requirements been estimated?
Does the timeline require updates?
Are all action items tracked?

Discuss

Risks
need of help (road blocks etc)
Dependencies
Resource conflicts
Escalations

Decide

Next actions
Responsibility
Priorities
Escalations
Customer communication if required
Take countermeasures accordingly (act – not react)

3. Follow-up

After the meeting, update all affected systems.

Update Zenkit
- Project Overview
- Planned invoice dates
Update Planning and Timeline.xlsx
- Weekly project sheet
- Overall project overview
Update Cashflow document
Communicate decisions
Create or update action items

Manage changes

Changes in requirements or timeline have to be discussed
- Do NOT accept changes silently
Changes have consequences
- amount of work
- budget
- timeline
Moving releases/milestones has big impact
- Potentially affects other projects (collision)
- Affects solvency

HAMPEL SOFTWARE ENGINEERING

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