Question

Discuss the benefits of timely, appropriate, detailed information. How can a value be assigned to these characteristics?

Answer 1

The benefits of timely, appropriate detailed information include the below.

When the reports are sent within time to the people in the project on time with relevant and detailed information, it will help them to understand the goals of the project and develops a mutual understanding between them regarding the goals.

It helps the people to be aware of the parallel activities that are conducted, their progress and the difficulties associated with coordinating those activities.

It helps to develop an understanding of the needs of people associated with a team and develop a plan which is more realistic.

Each member develops an understanding of the relationship between different roles and their individual task performance to the overall success of the project.

When the information is timely and appropriate, it helps to understand any delays or problems in the project and take the necessary actions before getting worse.

It also helps to avoid the confusion that may develop in the event of a change by communicating the change in a timely and appropriate manner.

The management can identify the work that are inappropriate or unacceptable on time and take necessary actions to correct it.

The members including client and other vendors would be up to date on the project status and this transparency will help to avoid any conflicts and get the necessary help in terms of resources or necessary approvals on time to avoid delay.

A value for timely, appropriate and detailed features of a report is assigned based on the parties to whom it is sent and the criticality of the information. When we are sending a report to the lower levels of management, they require more detailed information to have a better analysis understanding the individual tasks and factors affecting those tasks. But senior management has to take care of lot of such projects and they need a brief report highlighting the important areas corresponding to the overall project. They do not require a report on specific tasks or roles unless they have a special interest on the same. The frequency of sending reports also changes accordingly. The lower level members require reports daily or sometimes hourly, but senior management requires the reports less often. The information content also changes according to parties and their interest to make it appropriate. The senior management would be interested in the information related to achievement of project milestones while a PM may require information like the key technical results achieved, and critical points in the project schedule where major decisions should be made. The client may be interested in the information on the status of the deliverable. The information should contain only relevant points based on the parties to make it appropriate.