1.

Project Monitoring System:

1.1. Introduction

The INDIAN NATIONAL CENTRE FOR INFORMATION SERVICES has an established

network and a sophisticated infrastructure with its diversified services and facilities
spread across several operational centers.

The following chart depicts life-cycle of a project:

Typical life -cycle of a Project
Feasibility is
Project need More information
More information studied. If not
is felt (sparked by is collected on
collected on the feasible, idea
reading, cost, time and
idea shelved for the
discussion etc .) resources
time being.

A formal proposal
In-principle Project Manager is Reviewed and
document is
allotment of funds identified, Project approved by the
created, reviewed
received charter is prepared Sponsor
& finalized

IOAS has a built in

Project team is
formed and set up
Detailed project plan, template, making it easy to
S&P process helps
estimates, milestones fill in information. This
for procurement of
etc. are prepared, ensures that proposal
items
reviewed & circulated always go in a standardized
format.

F&A process
ensures payment
are made, funds
are available at
disposal

Periodical status
Project Monitoring reports are
process collects prepared and
time details, status circulated
details

Project team is
Review process
disbanded, and Project is
leads to revision of
people are completed and
estimation,
relieved (PM will goal is achieved
timelines etc.
be available still )

Various
Materials & information on
Project folder is
equipments are Administrative lessons learnt,
closed and kept in
disposed off by closure process is estimation etc.
library for
selling or executed captured
reference
transferring

Project Manager
relieved and
Project life is
posted to another
completed
project / goes out
of the system
Master Tables:

Before proceeding to the requirements and how these are addressed in IOAS, it is
necessary to know which masters are used by Project Monitoring module.

Master used Master Owner Remarks

User Master Admin All users of the IOAS are
members of this master
Employee Master E&P To locate employee & Group
Head for whom a visitor arrives.
Project Master Project Monitoring Stores all details of a project.
Account Heads F&A Details of heads of accounts.
Cost Center F&A To properly allocate expenses.
Vendor master S&P and E&M When purchase is made for the
project.
Item master Inventory module When new procurements are
necessary for the project.
Guest house Director Office When external people are
brought in for special purpose to
work in project

Current System:

The project owner creates a proposal document (probably derives from an old
document), starts typing matter as required under different sections. After many
iterations & verifications, the final proposal document gets ready, which is sent to the
Director for review. After incorporating Director’s review comments, the document
is printed, put in a folder along with supporting documents, if any, and sent to the
MoES. This becomes the Project scoping and justification document, and is the first
record in the project folder. After the proposal is accepted and approved by the
competent authority, the project is officially born, and becomes a constituent of a
“Program”.

After the project is approved, funds are allocated, a team is formed and a PM is
identified. The project is then decomposed into smaller modules and modules are
further split into various tasks, making a task as the minimum measurable work.
Tasks are then allotted to Team members for execution / implementation. To monitor
the progress of the project, stand-alone programs like Primavera is used by some.
Some even use Excel to monitor the project progress. During the life cycle of the
project, many review meetings take place and periodical status reports are prepared &
circulated.

After the project is closed, a completion report is released, the team is disbanded and
assets are released to the general pool.
 Though the present system serves well up to the requirement, there are some silos as
well as non-standard templates.
1.2. Requirements, how these are addressed in IOAS:
Requirement How implemented in
IOAS
Preparation of a Template is designed
proposal template. outside IOAS into sections,
and these sections are
entered as parts of the
template by User.
Create a project The template is opened,
proposal document. text is entered in sections
relevant, and the user
clicks on button “Submit”.
Review the The reviewer clicks on the
proposal document. link, opens the document,
makes corrections and
clicks on button “Submit”.
Send the proposal. The PM selects “Send
proposal” button when he
wants to send the proposal.
The IOAS will print the
document for sending to
the Ministry.
Enter project & The PM enters the project
team details. & team details as approved
and received from the
sponsor.
Enter fund When fund allotment
allotment details information is received, the
(F&A) activity. same is entered by F&A.
Enter project task The PM / team member
details. will enter the individual
tasks, start date, duration
etc.
Enter project status This will be done by PM /
Remarks
By entering this
information a standard
template is created. This
is the first step in setting
up the IOAS.
The system will add
“—N.A.—“ wherever the
user has not entered
information. The
document is submitted to
next level for review.
The reviewer can click on
“Save” button to save his
work, come back and
redo any number of
times, before
“submitting” to reviewer.
Electronic version of the
document can be saved if
needed.
The receipt of the
approval is external to
IOAS, since the same
may be done in the
Ministry.
The expenses will be
automatically debited,
since these will be
through IOAS only.
If no relationship is
entered, the IOAS
assumes that the tasks run
in sequence.
To compile the status
 information. members.
Enter time spent This will be entered by
details. team members on a
periodical basis.
Enter completion This will be entered by PM
details. / team members.
Enter “Lessons When the project is
learnt” details. completed, the IOAS will
prompt the PM to enter
these details.
Enter debits / This will be done by F&A
credits. when they receive any such
information.
Enter project This will be done by the
achievements. PM.
Prepare project This will be a report,
folder for reference. printed and bound.
reports.
This is required to
compute progress reports
based on time spent.
To know the status.
This will be the first step
in Administrative closure
process.
This will be usually
expenses incurred by
other units, and
transferred.
This will be part of
Administrative closure
process.
This is usually the last
activity. The report is
kept in the library.

1.3. Proposed System

A Project is born when an idea occurs or a new requirement is received / envisaged

during the course of discussions etc. The following details important steps followed
in a project life and how the IOAS will be used to accomplish these activities:

1. Prepare a proposal document and send to MoES for approval.

2. Create program master records upon receipt of approval.
3. Create the Project Master by forming project execution team.
4. Split the project into tasks, modules / elements, arrives at timelines to create
project folder.
5. Enter the Milestone Details.
6. Enter time spent, actual dates, etc.
7. Create status reports.

Process Description:

The following section describes how each of the above items is managed in IOAS
with a brief note on how these are managed usually now.

Prepare a proposal for the approval of competent authority:

The Project Owner prepares detailed notes in a prescribed format and submits the
same to the MoES. The template has various sections / paragraphs ordered in a
proper way for the sponsor / MoES to consume and take decisions.

The proposal document is divided into various sections

Title of the document: Project proposal
Major sections:
Samples of Section Name:
Introduction, Current scene, Proposal in brief, Achievements aimed, Scope of the
project, Alternatives considered, Planned approach, Benefits derived, Base
modules, Timelines, Finance required, Supporting documents, Remarks.
Sub-section names:
Samples of Sub-Section Name for the Mentioned Section Names:
Introduction: How this idea surfaced, why we need to do this project, Is this an
extension of another project.
Proposal in brief: Proposal.
Achievements aimed: Accomplishment 1, Accomplishment 2.
Scope of the project: General scope, Specific scope, Field scope.
Alternatives considered: Alternative 1, Alternative 2.
Planned approach: Formation of team, Purchase equipments, train testing team,
conducts experiments, review results, verify results, and publish results.
Benefits derived: Benefit 1, Benefit 2, and Benefit 3.
Base modules: Module 1, Module 2, Module 3.
Timelines: Item1 description, finish date, Item2 description, finish date, Item3
description, finish date.
Finance required: Allocations required in F.P., Required in year 1, Required in
year 2, Required in year 3.
Supporting documents: Document 1, Document 2, Document 3.
Remarks: Remarks.

The above is a typical global template, which is used for creating any project
proposal. It is not possible to keep a printed empty template, since the matter
under different sections may not be of the same length for every project.

Now, let us see how creation of the template and filling up of information is
accomplished in IOAS.

The template designer master page will ask for the following information:
1. Title of the document.
2. Section name(s).
3. Sub section name(s).
4. Detailed section name(s).
5. Paragraph number(s).

The user gives a paragraph number for every section, sub section and detailed
section. For example, the data for the Introduction section will be as below:
 Section name: “Introduction”; Paragraph number: 1;
Sub section name: “How this idea surfaced”; Paragraph number: 1;
Sub section name: “Why do we need to do this project”; Paragraph number: 2;
Sub section name: “Is this an extension of another project”; Paragraph number: 3;

From the above, it may be seen that the user will be able to define the general
template as well as decide on the order of sections in the document easily. The
IOAS will have two sections to accomplish these tasks, viz., designing the
template (one time activity) and fill up the template (activity for every project). If
& when the user wants to change the order, all he has to do is to change the
paragraph number!

Screens for creation of Project proposal template:

Screen Capture :

Screen Capture for adding the Section and Sub Section Details:
After setting up the proposal document in this fashion, the user will be able to
input free text for the sections when a new proposal is to be created, and
“assemble” the proposal document for submission.

The basic premises of a project are as follows:

• A project is divided into modules / elements;
• A module / element is further divided into tasks;
• Tasks are allocated to & performed by team members;
• Tasks have a definite start & end dates;
• Depending on the inter-task relationships (dependencies), tasks are
performed in a particular order ~ generally simultaneously OR one after
the other;
• A module / element is considered completed if all the tasks of the same are
completed;
• Start date for a module / element is the earliest date of the tasks & End
date is the latest completion date of the tasks;
• Start date & end date for a project are derived from dates of modules /
elements;
• Start date & end date for a program are derived from dates of projects;
• Each task can be expressed as a % value of the module in which it is a
member;
• Monitoring & review is carried out as below:
o Task level by the Project Leaders;
o Module / element level by the Manager / Owner;
 o Project level by the Head of the Institution;
o Program level by the MoES;
• Reviews are carried out with two parameters in mind ~ physical and
financial;

Now let us see how IOAS will help the users in the above.

Create program master records upon receipt of approval:

The user will first create the program, which encompasses the project. If the
project itself is the program, then the same is entered as such in Program. The
screen to create the program will look like:

Project creation and Monitoring activity screens:

Screen Capture for Program Master:

Create the Project Master by forming project execution team:

The Admin user creates the project record. They form the project team and
enter data of the project Elements.

Screen Capture for Project Master:

Enter the Milestone Details:

The Milestone details are entered with the Actual and Planned Completion
date for each Element created for the Project.

Screen Capture for Milestone Details:

After all these details are entered, a project folder is now created, which can
be viewed as a report.

During the project, the actual details are to be entered. The following are
various types of information related to the project:

Task actual start / end dates;

Time spent by Team members;
Amount spent for the project;

While 1 is entered through the task details and 2 is entered through separate
screen named as Monthly Time Sheet by the Team mates , 3 is a computed
data “posted” in the project ledger by F & A module of the IOAS.

Screen Capture for Monthly Time Sheet by the Team mates:

Monitoring of projects:

Following reports from the perspective of monitoring the project will be made available:

Financial monitoring: The major parameter for financial monitoring is [Expenditure

incurred ÷ budgeted expenditure] expressed as a “%”. This module will derive the
expenditure incurred from the Accounts module ~ the actual plus committed ~ for the
numerator. The denominator is available in the module itself as part of the project
information. The figure will be calculated for each module, provided information is
maintained module-wise. The system will also issue a warning for projects which are
past 90% of the estimated cost to indulge in action for revision, if necessary.

Physical monitoring: The Project Manager / Team will input details about time required
for each module of the project and the time spent as and when team spends time on tasks.
From the data collected, the IOAS will be able to provide the status as a %, which is
calculated as [Time spent for module / project ÷ Time estimated for module / Project].
The data of time spent, as mentioned earlier, will be keyed in by individual members or
by the Leader. The screen will allow the user to select the project, module, member and
allow entry of time spent. The unit for time spent will be hours. For calculation of days /
months, the global formula of 40 hours make a week and 160 hours make a month is
used. A report showing simple comparison of physical progress vs financial progress will
be available.

Decisions taken in meetings: The IOAS will provide facility to upload the decisions
(minutes) of project meetings. The actual meetings are managed i.e., calling for members
to attend, collect their views & consolidate are done outside the IOAS. The decisions /
minutes uploaded will be available for view to all users concerned.
Status reports: Project status reports are derived from the information entered and
prepared. Provision to send the status reports by email will be made available.

Project Completion Report: This will be a manuscript report covering a synopsis of the
projects, achievements aimed and actual, financial projection and actual, time estimated
and actual, delay in completion, if any, benefits derived, lessons learnt, further actions
proposed, details of disposal of project resources etc. Some of the information will be
captured at the time of preparation, and some other information will be derived from the
available data.

Caveats:
IOAS will not be a replacement of Project Monitoring Tools like MS Project. IOAs will
gather all information related to a Project and make it available in the form of reports for
quicker decisions by the Management. Where it is desired that such tool is necessary for
detailed monitoring of a Project, this will be done by the respective project team.
Information required for IOAS will be entered through screens of this module, and no
facility to import data from MS Project etc. is made available.

As a normal feature, any report can be exported to Excel, and the reports of the Project
Monitoring are not an exception to this rule.

Reports in Project Monitoring Module:

Reports:

a. Project Proposal document template:

INDIAN NATIONAL CENTRE FOR INFORMATION SERVICES,

HYDREABAD.

Project Proposal Name: IOAS Created By: Neethu

1) Introduction
1.1 How this idea surfaced
1.2 why we need to do this project
1.3 Is this an extension of another project
2) Proposal In Brief
2.1 Proposal
3) Achievements Aimed
3.1 Accomplishment 1
3.2 Accomplishment 2
4) Scope of the project
4.1 General scope
4.2 Specific scope
4.3 Field scope
5) Alternatives considered
5.1 Alternative 1
5.2 Alternative 2
b. Report on List of Task in a Project:

INDIAN NATIONAL CENTRE FOR INFORMATION SERVICES,

HYDREABAD.

LIST OF TASK IN A PROJECT

Task Name Period Of Task Remarks
From To
Task 1 25/03/2008 30/03/2008 Process Going on
Task 2 28/03/2008 31/03/2008 Started
Task 3 25/03/2008 30/03/2008 Started
Task 4 01/04/2008 04/03/2008 -
Task 5 25/03/2008 08/04/2008 -