Login

Units

About Us

EN | PT | TR | RO | BG | SR
;
Marked as Read
Marked as Unread


PREVIOUS TOPIC


NEXT TOPIC

CONTENT OF THE UNIT




4. FOLLOWING UP / MONITORING


Following up and monitoring are emphasized in this section as critical aspects of project management. Learners understand the importance of developing a quality plan to ensure project deliverables meet predetermined standards. Proficiency in implementing monitoring mechanisms to track project progress and identify deviations from planned outcomes is discussed, along with the role of continuous monitoring in addressing issues promptly to ensure project success.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Understand the importance of following up and monitoring in project management.
  2. Learn strategies for developing a quality plan to ensure project deliverables meet predetermined standards.
  3. Gain proficiency in implementing monitoring mechanisms to track project progress and identify deviations from planned outcomes.
  4. Recognize the role of continuous monitoring in identifying and addressing issues promptly to mitigate risks and ensure project success.

Follow-up and monitoring processes are planned and implemented to ensure that the project activities are carried out on time and under the conditions specified in the proposal. Follow-up and monitoring processes are carried out not only by the coordinator, but also by the partners. In this context, the coordinating institution has to follow up and monitor both its own duties and works and those of its partners. In addition, third parties who do not take part in the project as coordinators or partners may also have duties, and the follow-up of these studies should be considered in the project proposal.

The methods to be used in the follow-up of the activities, the frequency and by whom and how they will be documented are important. All these issues may vary depending on the size and content of the project. In a project with a large budget and machine production, a quality control specialist will be required for the quality of the product, an industrial engineer or employees with similar qualifications will be required for the optimization of the performance of the machinery and workers. In this case, on-site observation will be in question and reports can be made on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.

On the other hand, in projects with a social content and a relatively low budget, services may be offered instead of products, and some of the activities in the project may be carried out at the desk. In this case, measurement methods and verification sources include surveys, signature lists, minutes, photos, images, videos, invoices, etc. supporting documents. If the budget of the project is small, the frequency of activities will be less, and the frequency of inspection may decrease accordingly. In addition, less budget will be allocated for monitoring and evaluation. Since there will not be daily monitoring and evaluations in service as in production, the frequency of these studies may vary according to the time the service is provided. In addition, some of the activities to be monitored and evaluated can also be carried out at the desk through document control.

The most objective and useful method used for the quality assessment of service-based activities is the survey and the analysis of these surveys. Surveys to be made before and after a training or service and their appropriate comparison will inform you about the success of your activity and will guide you in improving your activities in future processes and projects.

It is important that the persons and processes that will carry out the monitoring and evaluation studies are also identified in the proposal and acted accordingly. Assignments can be made from within the consortium for monitoring and evaluation studies, as well as service procurement from an outside company. However, it is recommended that you review the program guide and the rules in the call for proposals for outsourcing. In large-scale project proposals, the involvement of an external, independent person or firm as an auditor may provide professionalism, while such an application in small-scale projects may be perceived as an extra cost. In both cases, the audit processes need to be well justified.

In the assignments to be made from within the consortium, it is generally not required to give the names of the people who will make the monitoring and evaluation at the proposal stage. In this case, it will be sufficient to provide information about the position and qualification of these people. Monitoring and evaluation may not be the only task of the people you will assign, but they will also be able to work at different stages of the project. In this case, it may be useful to indicate how much of their time they will devote to these tasks.

You may need to set a hierarchy according to the number of people you will assign. For example, monitoring and evaluation personnel can carry out their work in accordance with the specified activity calendar and report to the coordinator assigned as the monitoring and evaluation manager. The Manager can review these reports and request corrections or approve the report and submit it to the Project Executive Board. A similar process can be established for the monitoring and evaluation relationship between the partners and the coordinator. In this case, the monitoring and evaluation managers of the partners can send their reports to the director of the coordinating institution. As a result of the process, these reports are revised or accepted. If there is any deviation from the targeted time and quality, this situation is separately presented to the information of the top management and decided in the next meeting.


» 4.1 Quality Plan

Summary: Discusses the importance of developing a quality plan to ensure project deliverables meet predetermined standards. Covers the process of creating a comprehensive quality plan and implementing quality assurance and control measures throughout the project lifecycle.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Understand the significance of a quality plan in ensuring project deliverables meet predetermined standards.
  2. Learn how to develop a comprehensive quality plan outlining quality standards, processes, and responsibilities.
  3. Gain proficiency in implementing quality assurance and control measures to maintain project quality throughout the project lifecycle.

Quality studies play an important role in determining the extent to which the objectives and outputs of the project have been achieved and in intervening when necessary. Quality requires examining goals and outputs not only quantitatively but also qualitatively. Quality studies in your project are carried out by regular monitoring and evaluation of Key Performance Indicators (KPI). Monitoring and evaluation of management processes as well as objectives and outputs are also included in the quality issue. As a matter of fact, a good management process is required for the project to reach its goals and outputs at the desired level. Problems experienced in management processes will directly affect the quality of the target and output. In addition, the image of a poorly managed project that achieves the desired goals and outputs and the institutions involved in the project may also be adversely affected. For this reason, while preparing and implementing your project, you need to consider both objectives and outputs and management processes. It is also important to include items related to management processes when determining your KPIs. In order to minimize management risks, you need to define a Risk/issue/change/crisis Management methodology and strategy at the proposal stage.

As quality management is directly related to monitoring and evaluation processes, it can be specified in this part of the proposal form. You also need to define how the quality management processes will operate. You can divide your quality management process into quality assurance and quality control.

The quality assurance technique and process are the set quality objectives and the preventive steps taken to eliminate any differences in the quality of the output produced. In this process, the frequency and quality of the steps followed in the coordination and cooperation of the output, service or activity to be produced are evaluated. Meeting minutes, correspondence, decisions taken, practices made, internal correspondence, survey results to be applied to project employees can be used within the framework of quality assurance mechanism.

Quality control technique and process can be defined as the quality objectives set and the remedial steps taken to eliminate any difference in the quality of the output produced. If there is a deviation from the targets, related problems are identified and necessary measures are taken and improvements are made. Surveys for beneficiaries, feedback, visuals, images, notes, invoice / waybill information, peer / expert evaluations, work package / output review meetings can be used within the scope of quality control mechanism.

In the evaluations to be made, a commission within the consortium will be appointed, or an external evaluator may be hired. If the grant program allows, you can justify the external evaluation service in this context. It is important that you specify how often, by whom, and for what purpose your quality studies will be carried out, in the relevant sections of the project proposal form. At this stage, you can specify the qualifications and profile of the person or people who will carry out the quality studies. When presenting the profile of these people, you do not need to give their names unless otherwise requested. It is recommended that you pay attention to proportionality in the budget you will allocate for quality studies. In this context, quality work should not constitute a large part of the project budget. If you are developing a production-related project where quality is very important, you can justify this situation, but this budget will naturally be more limited in projects where the physical product is scarce and for services and activities.


PontoPR