Leading projects to success with project controlling

1.This is project management

What does project management mean? This question is often answered differently, depending on the company or project management. Depending on team and project size, the tasks of project control and project management are sometimes congruent and are carried out by the same team or employee. This practice-oriented interpretation of project control sometimes has its raison d'être, but if we want to clearly assign the functional areas, the whole thing looks like this: 

• The project management forms the entirety of all planning and activities
             around the project, from Performance profile to completion, from. This
             also includes budgeting and project controlling (or project
             management).  
• The project management is responsible for the operational aspects of a
              project. 
• Finally, project management, freed from operational activities or
             personnel responsibility, takes care of the controlling of the project and
             ensures that it stays on track.  
  

2. How project management works

If you have already integrated a well-functioning project planning into your project management, you have a very good overview of the project progress and can see which work packages are currently being completed. You will also be able to see which milestones will be reached soon. In short: You know the current status of your project as well as its target status. It is now the task of project management to intervene at an early stage as soon as a deviation between target and actual is apparent. To this end, project management monitors the achievement of milestones, adherence to (interim) deadlines and the budget throughout the project. 

In order to keep your project on track, the project management includes a whole range of tools and measures with which you can effectively intervene in the project process. These include, for example: 

• Adaptation of the scope of services 
• Expansion or reduction of personnel resources and budget 
• Adaptation of the time frame 

• Change of the entire project order 
• Adaptation of the milestones 
• Convening of Troubleshooting Meetings 

 You can find further project management tasks at business-wissen.de. 

3.The role of project control in project management

Project management and controlling: That sounds like monitoring and reprimanding at first. In reality, however, project management means a greater degree of freedom for all those involved in the project! Because project management means that one member of the team is constantly keeping an eye on important issues such as budget, schedule or quality, sounds the alarm if necessary and orders suitable control measures, the team can concentrate better on completing its own work packages. And if project management and project management software is used for project management and project control, reporting is also done almost incidentally. 

Project control is not only about keeping to the planned schedule, but also about constantly optimizing project planning: Good project management keeps your project on track. Optimized project control also makes it possible for you to achieve the project goal faster than you thought. Thus, project control is a quality and success factor for your entire project. 

4. Project management costs time and money

So far, we have learned that project management has a positive effect on cost controlling and adherence to the project schedule. But what about the effort for project control itself? How much project time and budget should you plan for project control? 

Project management must include project control in the planning from the very beginning. You can save a lot of time and money with consistent project management - but the calculation will only work out if the (possible) savings are greater than the effort for project management. 


 It is therefore up to you, the project manager, to give project management as much weight as is necessary for the project in question. A large project that extends over months or years can not only afford to have its own full-time staff position (or several) for controlling, but should actually do so. At the other end of the scale are the rather small, everyday projects, where the project management can also take care of project steering. Whatever the scale, the following applies in any case: a project, large or small, needs a project manager or helmsman who knows the ropes in each of its development phases. And who not only puts the ship on course, but also the crew. 

5. How Can Do helps with project management

Without project management software, meaningful project control is hardly possible. Fortunately the market offers you a wide range of tools! Our software Can Do also supports you in managing your projects. Three functions show this particularly clearly:  

5.1 The "Analyses and Reports" function 

Key figures and current data are of central importance for a functioning project control: Because it is the task of project control not to make subjective decisions, but to justify every intervention in the project process with current project data. Can Do shows you - in real time! - all the important key figures for your projects and lets you make the right decisions.

Learn more about analyses and reports 

5.2 Artificial intelligence 

Be informed, be quick, be decisive: The AI of Can Do takes care of the speed in this project management triad. Using simulations based on a variety of possible scenarios, it helps you decide right at the start whether a project is feasible at all and is also at your side as the project progresses - for example, by giving you timely warnings before the budget gets out of hand. 

5.3 Die Schnittstellen 

Another advantage that speaks for the use of Can Do in project management is the possible integrations: For example, the interface to JIRA allows the combination of classic project planning and agile project management. Thanks to SAP integration, you have access to data from SAP applications that affect your project. Learn more about integrations at Can Do. 

6. Conclusion

At the beginning of a project you should determine how extensive the role of the controller in your project should be. We would be happy to show you how Can Do can be used for effective project management and how you can successfully realize your project goals.