The Pitfall for RAG Based Reports Free-Samples for Students

Question: Discuss the challenges and pitfalls of traffic light reports and Explain the difference between the status reports provided for teams, sponsor, and steering committee. How is status reporting different between traditional and Agile project management approaches? Answer: Project Execution and Control Project template strengths Weaknesses Recommendations The construction of new plant at Coca Cola. The project team was working harmoniously to ensure the project objectives are met. The project was under budget and the project scope was well understood. In this project, the project manager did not explicitly specify the role of various project members this brought about communication issues. It was difficult to solve problems at the grass root. The scope of the project was achieved but is was ahead of schedule. The project manager is required to select the team leaders and ensure the team leader understands the scope of the project well. The inability to solve the problems at grass-root level would have been achieved if there was a specified person with the role of leading others. The construction of standard gauge railway The project was on schedule, and on budget. All the stakeholders coordinated to ensure the project has been implemented. The use of traditional project status report. In the traditional status report, the reports seem to be too wordy containing a reasonably a lot of information that hinders understanding. So, to some extent, this is a common problem especially for those people who like precise information which is accurate and clear. Using a burn-down chart is the most appropriate criterion when dealing with large volumes of information. The burn-down can help the project manager to forecast of the future possibilities of the project by applying the past performance of the project team. The burn-down chart gives a clear indication of the status of the project hence it is easy to predict the completion dates of a particular project (Wysocki, 2012). More specifically, when the team is aware of the scope of the project, the status is seen at a glance. This is important to those stakeholders who don1t have time to check unto the detailed report about the situation of the project by getting valuable information at a glance. In other cases, if the project is lagging behind or facing some issues there are explanations which are provided for the problem. GREEN, AMBER or RED are common phrases that are used by project managers to define the stage of the project. Just like in road, these colors have gained fame in project management. The colors are used to denote the state of the project while communicating the status of the project to the relevant authority. This kind of reporting is well known as RAG status reporting that is very useful to the project stakeholders to depict the quick status of the project. Thus, the project manager will be in a position to identify the loopholes or the performing aspects of the project or the variables that need adjustment. Of course, the pitfall for RAG based reports is that the reports are more subjective and in some instances, the colors might be misunderstood based on an individual`s interpretation without putting into consideration the underlying facts of data than the traditional reporting. Consequently, RAG based report might fail to communicate the exact progress of the project. For example, a project manager dealing with many projects with so many complicated project teams, the project manager may be prompted to record the project status as GREEN. The status might not be true based on the information provided lacking empirical facts, but the manager is prompted to report the status without putting considering the studying the impact of each project at the site. To ensure RAG reporting is efficient in communication the project status, each of the colors is supposed to be tied with particular success and failure criteria with substantive facts. Also, the project managers and other stakeholders are required to have a glimpse of the standards and parameters that define each color to ensure there is accuracy when reporting the status of the projects. Besides, data-driven approaches will help to boost the confidence level of embracing RAG reporting hence it can prevent projects from failing. The project team encompasses those individuals who take part in planning and executing the project. Project team comprises of all project stakeholders including project managers, sponsors, and project team members (Snyder, 2013). The steering committee performs the role of acting as a liaison between various stakeholders and ensure all the resources for the project are available. In another perspective, the project sponsors have an obligation of providing critical assistance to various issues like initiating the project, project planning, and development of the project Charter. The project team members ensure the objectives of the project are met. These are the key differences that distinguish the various groups of people. When we consider the aspect of differences in status reporting, one of the areas agile methodology one area that is not addressed is the project status reporting. When the project is in progress, there are those people who would spare their time to get the scope of the project while others don`t have much interest on the scrum (Heldman, 2015). As such, this method is only suitable for the category of people who have time to check on the progress unlike the other group of individuals with less interest on the status of the project. Therefore, it is not suitable for those people who are not interested and keen to the details of the project. References Heldman, K. (2015).PMP Project Management Professional Exam Deluxe Study Guide: Updated for the 2015 Exam. John Wiley Sons. Laureate Education (Producer). (2013). Project closeout [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author. Project Management Institute. (2013). A guide to the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK Guide) (5th ed.). Newtown Square, Pennsylvania: Project Management Institute. Snyder, C. S. (2013). A project managers book of forms: A companion to the PMBOK guide (2nd ed.). Indianapolis, IN: Wiley Wysocki, R. K. (2012). Effective Project Management: Traditional, Agile, Extreme (6th ed.) Indianapolis, IN: Wiley.