Just like on a flight deck you need to have control; you need to know where you are heading and make course corrections as time goes on. During project execution phase you will need a range of controls to help you navigate to the desired end point.

In the past I have used a range of documents and spreadsheets including downloads from the financial system and tried to jam them altogether into some sort of order for the monthly report. 

Most large company Project Managers are using systems (Cloud based or in house) to get everything into one place.  These PMIS (project management information systems) have  world of features and tracking, was well as work flow management.  And all of of this certainly helps with reporting and getting the data into a format that can be customised for different audiences. But what if you are a smaller company without the fancy systems or access to the latest software? Well, the answer is an Excel Project Control Book. 

The “book” has several tabs: 

• risks
• issues, 
• change requests, 
• budget, 
• actions, 
• decisions,
• change, 
• document log, 
• dependencies, 
• schedule, 
• RASCI (responsible, accountable, support, consult, inform), 
• stakeholder list, 
• lessons learned, 
• and a handover log.

It also as the risk matrix and explanations about the consequences and likelihood so that the Project Manager can be consistent about which level of risk is being selected depending on the circumstances. RAG (Red, Amber, Green) also has a tab page so that the descriptions of the benefits, scope, schedule, resources, issues etc are again consistent. 

How handy is that – all the info in one place!  I know its slightly weird being excited about a spreadsheet!  You can even have the information ‘pulled through’ from the tabs to populate a monthly report. Once you have the report completed, add commentary and then save that page as PDF. Job done.

If you need help with your Project Control Book, or a free template email me carol@onedaytraining.co.nz