6.4 Information Sources
6.4.1 Project-generated information
1. Project outputs
As work is done by the project team, work outputs are produced. Depending on the type of project, these outputs could range from floors going up on a high-rise construction project to software functions being developed to project communications going out to key stakeholders.
In any case, work outputs are being produced as the project progresses and these need to be measured against the plan and reported.
2. Project Risk register
Project risk profiles will change as the project progresses, risk mitigation actions are carried out and the business environment changes. Changes to the likelihood or consequence of the key risks need to be captured and reported through updates. Different responses or more effort may be required to contain the most important risks. Key risks should be updated at least weekly.
3. Project Issues Log
Issues need to be tracked and reported even more frequently, since they are already impacting the project or on business performance. Agreed actions to deal with issues need to be tracked until the impact of key issues is reduced. This impact can often be measured in dollars and is therefore an impact on the bottom line.
6.4.2 Internal Sources of Information
1. Key stakeholders
Key stakeholders interface between the project, the external environment and the rest of the organisation. Once they understand the objectives of the project, they will often bring opportunities to the team.
This can take the form of expertise, resources, piggybacking onto other initiatives or simply information that is relevant and useful to the project. For example, the company’s marketing function can bring customer intelligence to the project while the external relations function can advise how shareholders are feeling about the company.
2. Staff/ Employees
Most employees will want the company’s projects to succeed and, like key stakeholders, can offer expertise and information to the team. This is one of the arguments for communicating and promoting the project far and wide throughout the organisation.
3. Company data and records
Companies generate vast amounts of data to manage and report performance on a range of areas including safety, operations, sales, financial performance and regulatory compliance. This reporting is often required for external legal and regulatory stakeholders as well as for internal consumption.
In addition, companies are required by law to retain a wide range of records. Well-organised company knowledge can enable the project team to easily find information about each division to assess impacts to organisational structures, reporting lines, roles and responsibilities and whether the project is likely to have a positive or a negative impact on each division. This is an excellent place to start to understand stakeholder groups and how to communicate with them.
6.4.3 External Sources of Information
1. Customers
Customers are the lifeblood of any organisation. Listening closely to customers, often through the organisation’s marketing arm, can ensure their needs and wants are keenly considered by the project team before making change to any aspects of the product or service consumed.
Projects are often initiated to improve the customer’s experience with a company’s product and project teams need to understand how the improvements they make will do this without reducing the value provided in other areas. For example, customer feedback and focus groups can help greatly in prioritising which new features you wish to invest in when improving your product.
2. Partners and Suppliers
Vendors and suppliers are commercial partners with your organisation. They will often supply other similar organisations including competitors and can provide valuable information about the industry as a whole and insights into what your competitors are doing.
For example, you may discover through a supplier that your competitor is developing a similar new product or service, and this may drive your sponsor to modify or completely change the offering.
3. Share Markets
Listed companies will monitor their share prices and those of their competitors frequently, even daily. In Australia, listed companies are required to report to shareholders on their performance quarterly and publish a detailed annual report which is available to the general public. If one of your competitors has had a poor quarter, both shareholders and the market will know, and you will typically see their share price drop.
Short-term price increases can also result from news of mergers and takeovers, and the price can reflect the market attitude towards such news. In other words, share price can communicate a lot about what is happening in a company.
Source: Stephen R Robbins Mary Coulter Introduction to Management
4. The Media
The media will provide information on newsworthy developments in the market including either improved or worsened company performance, mergers and acquisitions. CEOs and senior leaders of well-known “blue chip” companies have become public figures due to frequent reports in both traditional print and social media.
5. Industry newsletters, websites and blogs
Information more specifically related to the industry your company is in will include conferences, newsletters, blogs and webinars where the key players are discussed, and future trends explored including what they can mean for each of the key players.
For example, the fashion industry has moved to significantly to an online retail format so any new technology enablers which enable further reduction in the costs of online players may spell further trouble for traditional “bricks-and-mortar” fashion retailers.