In order to record the progress of resources’ work there are several steps that you have to follow:
| 1. | Save or update a baseline resource schedule, if you haven't already done so in the planning phase. This will enable you to compare the information in your baseline resource schedule to your up-to-date resource schedule later in the project and will help you to identify and solve resource allocation problems. |
| 2. | Decide the way you are going to record resource progress. Depending on the specific requirements of each project, as well as the type of the contract with the economic operator (in case that project implementation is outsourced) there are different ways for tracking resource progress: |
| • | If you haven’t assigned resources to activities/ tasks, you won’t be able to track actual work and you will have to manually update the percentage of the work performed on a particular task, its actual duration and actual start and finish dates (refer to 7.5.1.2). |
| • | If you have assigned resources to activities/ tasks but you don’t need to track the work of each resource (this is the case where you have a lump sum contract and the payment of the contractor does not depend on the actual time spent by his resources), you can collect information (from your Project Team Members or/and the Management Team of the contractor) on the aggregate work performed on each activity/ task and update manually the percentage of work complete and the remaining work. |
| • | If you have assigned resources to activities/ tasks and you need to track the work of each resource assigned to each task (this is the case when you have a fee-based contract and the payment of the contractor depends on the actual time spent by his resources or when there is a so great need to stay within budget or on schedule that you have to track separately the work of each resource) you have to collect information on the actual time spent by labour and equipment resources and on the quantities used for material resources. |
| 3. | Decide which resource information you want to track and update. For instance, you might want to track only the time spent by labour resources and the time that equipment resources were used (e.g. in case of a service delivery project) or you may wish to track also the time spent by labour resources on travels (e.g. in case that travel costs are a great percentage of the overall budget and need to be tracked accurately). Or in case of construction projects you will probably need to track the used quantities of material resources, apart from labour and equipment resources. |
| 4. | Decide how often you will collect information about resources’ progress and how often you will update the resource schedule. For example, are you going to collect information and update your resource schedule once a week or once a month or once every three months? Selecting a frequency that is convenient and fits into your schedule increases the likelihood that you will collect resource progress information timely and you will have an up-to-date resource schedule. |
After deciding which resources you want to track, as well as the tracking frequency, you can use the following methods to record progress depending on the type of the resource:
Recording time spent by labour resources
The most common method for recording the time spent by labour resources undertaking project activities/ tasks is through a completion of a Timesheet. Timesheets exist in various forms, including paper based, spreadsheet or software-based formats. For the purposes of this Guide a template of a Timesheet is provided in Annex 7-9. It should be noted that this template can be modified to meet the monitoring requirements of a specific project.
Regardless of the method used to capture time spent, time must be recorded at an agreed level of detail as defined upfront by the Project Manager. Usually, time spent is recorded in work days, since the cost per day (€/day) is the most frequently used rate for labour resources. However, in case that a resource cost is measured on an hourly basis (€/hr), it may be more suitable to record the total hours spent by the resource in a day to perform the assigned activity/ task.
In order to obtain more accurate timesheet information, you should ask project staff to record time in their timesheet as they undertake each task, instead of waiting till the end of the reporting period. Timesheets must be submitted by each member of the Project Team (or by the Management Team of the contractor in case of a fee-based contract) to the Project Manager for approval on a regular, pre-determined basis. Usually, timesheets are submitted on a monthly basis.
The Project Manager prior to approving each timesheet will have to:
| ● | Confirm that the activities/ tasks undertaken were those identified and agreed in the Resource Plan |
| ● | Confirm that the staff member was in fact the resource allocated to the specific activities/ tasks |
| ● | Judge if the outcome of the activity/ task is reasonable and justifies the time spent |
Based on the above information, the Project Manager will either approve the timesheet or request further information/ clarification from the project staff member prior taking the final decision or decline the timesheet and raise a staff issue.
The data from the approved timesheets are then recorded in the Resource Schedule which is updated to reflect the actual time spent by the resources against each task.
Recording usage of equipment and material resources
The most common method to collect data for equipment and material usage is to exchange status information with your Project Team Members or/and the Management Team of the contractor using the communications mechanisms documented in the Communication Plan (refer to 7.4.10). The status information is usually provided in a form of a progress report. However, for construction projects you have to collect the respective data either by conducting on-site inspections by yourself or by asking the supervising engineers to submit performance metrics, which include analytical information about the usage of equipment and the quantities of materials utilised in the performance of the various activities/ tasks.