Question

Define project management:

Primary and secondary uses for monitoring-

How the PM develops a budget-

What to do with each factor to be measured during monitoring-

Answer 1

According to the PMBOK Guide, project management is defined as the application of tools, skills, knowledge and techniques to meet the requirements of the project.
Project monitoring is mainly related to developing metrics and measuring project performance based on the metrics. Broadly, metrics are classified into primary and secondary metrics. Primary metrics are used to monitor the success of the project and the progress of the project. These metrics serve as reference points throughout the project. The primary metrics are used to improve customer satisfaction, increases the quality of the final product, production of products with less cost and ensuring on-time product delivery. Secondary metric aims at tracking process based primary movements in a project. Secondary metrics are used to improve the process and establish a relationship with the primary metric. Secondary metrics are used to measure cycle time, inspection data, volume shipped and rework hours.
The project manager develops a budget by allocating monetary resources to achieve the objectives and goals of a project within a specific period of time. In a project budget, the project manager plays the role of an approver, approving the finance or budget of a project. A Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is used for project decomposition and establishing relationships with various project components and deliverables. The project manager uses WBS to describe each project component and allocate resources to the component based on cost estimation. WBS is a tool used in the preparation of the budget and the project manager can identify the various key tasks and components involved in the project through WBS and allocated budget to the project tasks based on their complexity.
Each factor measured during monitoring is linked to the project objective and problem statement. The factors are aligned to the objectives of the project and expressed in simple, measurable equation format. Each measure can be tracked on a regular basis to ensure that the project is in the right track. Control charts are used to keep track of the various factors to be measured in the project monitoring.