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Take corrective action 

 February 27, 2023

By  Dave Litten

Take corrective action

Take Corrective Action – So You Are Off-plan, Now What?

The project manager’s role is not just as a book keeper, but rather to take corrective and proactive action when required.  When the Stage Plan is approved by the project board they will set tolerance for the stage and also advise the project manager how often Highlight Reports are to be sent to them.

The project manager will be tracking actual progress and comparing that to the planned progress as laid out in the Stage Plan.  Providing everything is going to plan and this stage is forecast to remain within tolerance, then the project manager needs take no corrective action.

Even when changes and adjustments to the project appear to be easily manageable and within tolerances, they must be made in a consistent and rational way.

By taking corrective action, the objective is to select and implement actions that will resolve deviations from the plan (within the limits of the stage and project tolerances). Corrective action is triggered while evaluating the stage status and typically involves handling advice and guidance received from the project board and issues raised by team managers.

Take Corrective Action

Recommended actions for the project manager:

  • Collect any relevant information about the deviation.
  • Identify potential solutions for the deviation, and select the most appropriate option.
  • Trigger corrective action via authorizing a work package
  • Update the product register records of the affected products, including whether any changes
  • are required or new products are required.
  • Update the issue report (if necessary) to show the status of the corrective action.
  • Update the project log with any changes resulting from the corrective action.
  • Update the stage plan for the current stage.

However, things don’t always go to plan, and as long as the stage remains within tolerance, any small deviations within tolerance are acceptable.

But many small deviations can add up and so it is important that the project manager makes small changes and adjustments in a considered and rational way even though the stage may still be forecasted to complete within tolerance.

Much like a car driver is continually making small adjustments to the speed and direction of the car in order to complete the journey safely and on time, then the project manager should also be making such small adjustments as required to ensure that the stage completes within tolerance and other agreed  the constraints..

Taking any corrective actions is normally triggered after review of the stage status by the project manager after due consideration and possibly consultation with the specialist team, or the project board.

The project manager will collect relevant information about small deviations from such management products as the Configuration Item Records, issue and risk registers, issue and exception reports, and the Daily Log.  Any small deviations which have already happened should have any potential ways of dealing with them identified and the most appropriate option selected.

As a result of implementing any corrective actions, the Configuration Item Records, the registers and the Stage Plan should be updated to reflect the current reality and future forecast.

In summary, taking corrective action is an ongoing and continuous activity that the project manager will want to take to ensure that the stage and project complete within their tolerances.

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Dave Litten


Dave has spent 25 years as a senior project manager for USA multinationals and has deep experience in project management. He now develops a wide range of Project Management Masterclasses, under the Projex Academy brand name. In addition, David runs project management training seminars across the world, and is a prolific writer on the many topics of project management.

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