Step 8: Monitor and Generate the Status Report

Executing without measuring is driving with your eyes closed. Monitoring means comparing the actuals against the baseline you captured in Step 5 — and finding out, in time, whether the project is on track. This step brings together monitoring and controlling the work, controlling the schedule, controlling the costs and monitoring stakeholder engagement.

Its goals: determine the deviations from the schedule and cost baselines, influence the factors that cause them, manage changes when they occur and resolve issues as they come up. In one sentence: assess the health of the project, identify the areas that need attention and recommend actions to correct or avoid deviations.

The activities of monitoring

1. Collect performance information on the activities;
2. Update the schedule (dates, completion and actual costs);
3. Identify schedule and cost variances and their causes;
4. Update the issue log;
5. Generate the Status Report.

The simplest metric (and the most powerful)

Start with planned × actual percentage: comparing how much should be done with how much really is already reveals most deviations. As your maturity and your approach evolve, move on to:

• Earned Value Management (predictive): indicators such as schedule variance (SV) and cost variance (CV) show, in numbers, whether the project is ahead or behind and above or below budget.
• Burndown chart (agile): shows the work remaining in each Sprint.
• Portfolio dashboard: consolidates the indicators of every project in a single panel — which is what I recommend implementing in Project Management Offices.

The Status Report

With the board’s information up to date, you generate the Status Report: what has been delivered, where schedule and cost stand, which deviations and causes, and which actions. Automate that generation as much as you can — monitoring with no process behind it eats time and produces imprecise information. Aim to have no open issues in your Status Report.

On your board (ProjectAdm)

Work across every list — especially WBS, Risks [HOW] and Budget [HOW MUCH]: update dates, completion and actual costs on the cards and compare them with the baseline saved at approval.

Predictive × Agile

In the Agile approach, monitoring is a matter of transparency. The burndown shows, day by day, how much work is left in the Sprint; if the actual line sits above the ideal one, there is a risk of not finishing what was planned. And the Sprint Review demonstrates the increment and collects feedback. Status emerges naturally from the board and the burndown, instead of depending on a manual report.

🎯 Your turn — Monitor and generate the Status Report

🎯 Objective: compare actual with planned, get ahead of the deviations and inform the people involved, keeping the project healthy.

✅ Before you start: execution under way, with the board’s cards carrying owners and dates (Step 7).

🗃️ On your board: work across every list — especially WBS, Risks [HOW] and Budget [HOW MUCH].

📋 Checklist:

1. Check which activities are overdue and which are due soon, and contact their owners.
2. Update the cards: dates, completion and actual costs.
3. Compare the actuals with the baseline and identify the causes of the deviations.
4. Update the issue log in the Risks [HOW] list and generate the Status Report.

🎁 Your deliverable: the periodic Status Report, with deviations, causes and actions.  ⏱️ Time: recurring — monitor the schedule at least once a week and issue the Status Report at the agreed frequency.  🛠️ Tools: ProjectAdm + planned × actual (and, depending on the approach, Earned Value or burndown).

💡 Accelerate with AI: run Step 8 in the course menu. It takes a live picture of your board — what is done, what is late, what the baseline said — and hands you the prompt already filled in, asking the AI for a Status Report draft with the main deviations, their likely causes and the recommended actions. Paste the answer into the “0. Inbox” card and run Step 8 again: the Status Report is recorded on the board and saved to your _saida/ folder.

💬 Tip: aim for a Status Report with no open issues.

🎁 Your artifact — the Status Report in Word, generated from your board

Every time you run Step 8, Project Together generates the Status Report (Word .docx) into _saida/documentos/, dated, ready to send to the sponsor. It reads the board — it does not ask you to retype what is already there.

As you monitor, you will start receiving change requests. Controlling them without losing control is Step 9.