CHAPTER 5

PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION, MONITORING AND EVALUATION SYSTEM

THE TRADITIONAL ORGANIZATION
We will refer here to the normal organization as line or functional. Staff departments are part of
the normal organization and can be viewed as functional or line. Although many have attacked
current hierarchical line organizations as bureaucratic and unable to accomplish goals efficiently,
the traditional structure has lasted a long time—for several reasons. First, the line or functional
organization represents stability for employees. It is a home. There are existing relationships and
controls within departments. A standard organization has an existing vertical communications
system already in place. Communications channels are established and tested. There is better
technical control in line organizations. People who have hard to- find skills can be used on many
different activities. Line organizations are set up to handle routine and recurring tasks. Mass
production is an example. For these reasons, many companies have attempted to undertake
projects within current organizations.
FAILURE OF LINE ORGANIZATIONS IN PROJECTS
Most of the times line organization fails to support the projects undertaken by the
company due to the following reasons
1. Lack of Focus and Attention
2. Inability to Cope with Different Project Characteristics
3. Feelings of Being Used and Exploited
4. Lack of Project Experience
Matrix organization is hence focused to be the most suitable structure for projects management
MATRIX MANAGEMENT
A matrix organization appears as a table of row and columns: line departments are rows; projects
are columns. People in the organization belong to a row or line organization. When they are
required on a project, they move to that column. We could create an artificial column called
unassigned for people who are waiting for an assignment or have just completed the assignment.
Companies that carry out government and private projects have sometimes organized themselves
into matrix organizations.
Advantages
1. Very good for project-oriented companies
2. Ensures that people on projects are utilized (as otherwise they are returned to the pool)
3. Project manager tends to be powerful in getting resources
4. Accountability and tracking of projects improved
5. Possibility that people who move between projects can build skills
6. Provides formal structure for projects of medium to large size
7. Ability to track what people are working on in projects
Disadvantages
1. Good people will be in heavy demand for projects; others, who are not so good, will sit
in the unassigned pool.
2. Difficult to assign control between project and line management.
3. Line managers tend to be weak.
4. Projects with long lives tend to be confused with line organizations.
5. Difficult to share resources between projects
6. More difficult to have lessons and skills cross projects—less chance for organization history
7. Project prospers and traditional organization suffers
8. More difficult to anticipate resource needs and to staff for requirements
9. More difficult to address small projects
Project Planning
Project planning and a project monitoring includes
 Project planning
o Definition of work requirements
o Definition of quantity and quality of work
o Definition of resources needed
 Project monitoring
o Tracking progress
o Comparing actual outcome to predicted outcome
o Analyzing impact
o Making adjustments
Some of the main benefits that are associated with a fully integrated project planning and control
system are:
o Estimating: the estimate forms the basis of the project plan. If you cannot estimate and
measure it, how can you manage it? The performance of the current project will form the
estimating data base for future projects.
o CPM: the Critical Path Method calculates the activities start and finish dates, together with
the critical activities which determine the duration of the project- delaying a critical activity
will delay the project
o Project Integration: Co-ordinates and integrates the contribution of all the project
participants
o Reporting Interfaces: The planning and control system’s data base can be structured around
the work breakdown structure (WBS) for project reporting and around the organization
breakdown structure (OBS) for corporate reporting. Without integrated system the two
reporting requirements would have to be processed separately.
o Response Time: Timely response on project performance is essential for effective project
control. The project planning and control system can adjust the content and frequency of the
feedback to address the needs of the project, while the corporate systems may be less
flexible.
o Trends: Projects are best controlled by monitoring the progress trends of time, cost and
performance. This information may not be available to the project manager if the trend
parameters are derived from a number of different functional sources
o Data Capture: If the project progress reporting is based on information supplied by the
functional departments, the project manager cannot control the accuracy of this information.
The problem here is that it may only become obvious towards the end of the project, that the
reporting is inaccurate, by which time it may be too late to bring the project back on course
in order to meet the project’s objectives.
o Single Point of responsibility: With the project manager responsible for the complete
project, this should limit scope overlap and scope under lap.
o Procedures: The planning and control system enables the project manager to develop
procedures and work instructions which are tailored to the specific needs of the project.
o Clients: the project manager is the project’s single point of responsibility and the company’s
representative to the client. During meetings with the client the planning and control system
will provide information about every aspect of the project

Project Planning Process

Most of the projects of low complexity will bias the ratio of planning: action heavily
towards the action. As complexity increases, so does the necessity for a formalized plan.
This is both a systematic analysis of the project.

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

The breaking down of large activities into comprehensible or manageable units is a

fundamental part of project management. WBS is also known as 'chunking' or 'unbundling'.
This is attractive as it gives people responsibility for a manageable part of the project. WBS
also facilitates financial control activities, as individual parts can have their consumption of
resources tracked. The sensitivity of such control is preferable to keeping track of a single
large activity. The role of WBS is to create a linked, hierarchical series of activities which
are independent units but at the same time still part of the whole. The hierarchical structure
can be represented using the input, output, constraints and mechanisms

Project Monitoring and control

The basis of project monitoring systems is to track actual progress against planned progress at
any given time. This covers financial progress (monitoring of actual expenditure against
budgeting expenditure) as well as the progress of project activities. Monitoring systems should
be considered alongside the implementation plan because it is the targets set out in this plan
which forms the targets for monitoring. The whole system is therefore often referred to as an
“integrated planning, implementation and monitoring system” (IPIMS).
Monitoring systems should:
 At all times be concerned with future progress.
 Be simple and cost effective.
 Be able to detect deviations quickly and accurately.
 Be verifiable.
When designing a monitoring system, the project formulation should keep the following points
in mind:
 Identify key personnel or informants for the monitoring information. These could include
line mangers, accountants, contractors and suppliers etc.
 Indicate frequency of data/information collection time. Remember that data is only
effective once it has been processed.
 Identify responsibilities for data processing. Assign also responsibilities to act on the
result of these data.
 Try to attain the right combination of speed and accuracy. Sometimes a trade-off has to
be made between the two, with information that is extremely accurate leading to delays in
taking effective remedial action.
 Make sure that the monitoring system only intends to processes that data which is
necessary. Monitoring information increases workload so it is important that only the
most essential data is requested for processing.
Monitoring systems in themselves are ineffective unless they are linked to an effective
control system which will allow the manger to take swift and effective action to remedy any
deviations from the implementation plan.
 Systems concerned with implementation measure the project’s effectiveness in converting
inputs to outputs; while monitoring systems concerned with operations measure the project’s
effectiveness in converting outputs into immediate and wider objectives.
Information acquired through monitoring systems can be divided into three categories:
 Monitoring of physical progress
 Monitoring of financial progress
 Monitoring the quality of project outputs.
MONITORING PHYSICAL PROGRESS:
The primary purpose of physical progress monitoring is to ensure whether project activities are
on schedule. This can be achieved through milestone (target) monitoring and time chart
monitoring.
Milestone monitoring involves the use of project milestones which were identified as part of the
project implementation plan. The actual date on which these milestones were reached can be
entered in table form or on the Gantt chart. Milestone monitoring provides a retrospective record
of project progress, but it is unable to provide us with information about activities which are still
in progress.
Time chart monitoring is a method which is used to anticipate whether or not milestones will be
reached on schedule.
When dealing with physical progress of an activity there are three possible scenarios:
 Activity outputs can be quantified as a single number. This is relatively simple to
monitor. for example, if the activity was to print a certain number of textbooks then both
the physical target and progress to date can be expressed in terms of this single number
(for example, 250 books printed out of a target of 1000).
 Activity outputs can be measured and valued. This is the case with the construction of
buildings and roads. progress towards meeting physical targets should be expressed as:
When dealing with direct labor the planners must be careful not to equate the value of the
work done with financial spending. The planners should devise methods to measure
actual physical progress.
 Activity outputs cannot be directly valued. This is the case in activities such as training or
in supply-only contracts. These activities should use milestones to mark the beginning
and end of each separate activity phase. if this is not possible, physical progress can be
expressed as:
Time spent to date X 100(%)
Total time to complete
 This can be problematic because the time taken may not bear any relation to the actual
amount of physical progress towards activity completion. Once physical progress has
been monitored for all ongoing activities, it is possible to plot this information against the
implantation plan in the form of a bar chart.
MONITORING FINANCIAL PROGRESS:
This involves comparing actual expenditure against the financial plan (budget) produced as part
of the implementation plan. The project must therefore have a cost reporting system in place to
enable a comparison of actual and predicted costs. It is unwise to rely on existing accounting
systems to provide this information as these systems are liable to be slow and to categorize
expenditure using different methods to those desired by the project manger.
As many authors note “public sector mangers will need to take particular care that they keep a
measure of overall spending of the project against overall budget……managers are not able to
spend above each year’s authorized budget, so that cost over-runs are met by delaying
implementation, or reducing the scope of the project to compensate.”
Once the manger has access to accurate cost data, it is possible to utilize this information in the
process of project cost control. Using the following relationship can do this:
Cost of work to date = Cost of work remaining
Value of work to date Value of work remaining
The information gained through this calculation can then be entered in tabular form.
MONITORING THE QUALITY OF PROJECT OUTPUTS:
This involves ensuring that outputs are delivered according to specification. This is normally
done through a system of direct inspection and supervision. A formal agreement between the
implementing agency and the project owner that project outputs are satisfactory is known as
‘signing-off’. Each project will have its own quality assurance features in operation and it is
important that the quality control aspect is not overlooked during project design.
EVALUATION:
Evaluation is the structured process by which a project activities and achievements are assessed
and understood. It provides information for those who are involved in the project such as
managers, promoters, funders and/or policy makers. Evaluation in addition to quantitative
questions attempts to answer also qualitative questions. Evaluation could be ongoing (mid term),
terminal or ex post. A good evaluation system in a project from the outset may assist the project
implementers in identifying difficulties that hinder the progress as planned and avoid repeating
mistakes in future endeavors. It is therefore, crucial to identify the main actors for the evaluation
exercise during the project formulation.
The preliminary function of evaluation after project completion is to use data on the performance
of projects in such a way that new projects can learn from experience.
PROJECT SUSTAINABILITY:
A project is sustainable if its net benefits continue throughout the life of the project at a level
sufficient to meet the predetermined objectives. Sustainability is, therefore, the ability of a
project under consideration to continue operation or provision of services and/or production
without interruptions for the period under design. It also includes the managerial and technical
capacity and capability of the project personnel in the operation and running of the project to
meeting its desired objectives.
The aim of any development project is to meet its predetermined objectives/goals on sustainable
basis. If the project formulators fail to consider what will happen upon completion of the
project’s implementation phase, then however well implemented, the project is liable to
encounter serious problems in providing the required services and/or production.
Full coverage and exhaustive analysis of project aspects such as: demand/need, technical,
environmental, social, institutional, financial, and economic analyses are critical for the
sustainability of a project under consideration. Furthermore, risk, uncertainty and distributional
analysis are vital to ensure the sustainability of a project. Project planning, therefore, should also
need focus on project handover, operations, maintenance and termination arrangements so that
implementation and operation phases are smooth and clear.
To ensure that the transition between the project’s implementation and operation phase is as
smooth as possible consider the following strategies in the formulation of the proposed project:
 Ensure that project handover, operation and termination arrangements are properly
planned and responsibilities identified from the outset.
 Ensure that the handover operation and commissioning period is smooth in order to use
newly created facilities and utilities to use them in the most efficient and effective
manner. Ensure that project handover procedures have included acceptance tests, relevant
safety and quality standards set by the project or responsible authority.
 Ensure that the process of project operation is properly monitored and changes to be
achieved during operation are evaluated.
 Ensure that adequate maintenance facilities and operation arrangements are in place for
the proposed technology or system of operation.
 Ensure that the institutional and financial arrangements for project operations should be
clearly outlined at the project formulation stage.
 Ensure that adequate financial provision has been made for maintenance needs, which
may arise during operations.
 Examine thoroughly that financing arrangements for future operation, especially with
relation to the funding of recurrent costs.
 Ensure that the body responsible for project operations should have adequate
organizational capacity in order that it will be able to sustain operations.
 Ensure that proper management information system is in place with practically applicable
tools to successfully implement and operate a project. Ensure that the project’s technical
design utilizes technology, which is easy to maintain within the environment in which it
will operate.
Summary of Project Analysis and Overall Decision Project Profile
Project Title: _________________________________________________
Project Code: ________________________________________________
Specific area where project will be implemented: ____________________
Sector within which a project will be implemented: __________________
Responsible Authority: ________________________________________
Scheduled Start Date: _________________________________________
Scheduled completion Date:____________________________________
Total Budget: ________________________________________________
Sources and Terms of Project Financing: __________________________
Summary of Project Analysis:
Issues of Project Preparation Good Satisfactory Unsatisfactory Comments
Technical aspect
Environmental aspect
Social aspect
Institutional aspect
Financial aspect
Economic aspect
Sensitivity analysis and Risk
Overall Decision:
Accept Reject Redesign Comment (action to be taken/by
whom)

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