“On the Ground” Project Monitoring - Site Visits

clock August 10, 2012 07:10 by author Bulletin Board
Ensuring project success requires effective monitoring of what’s actually happening “on the ground.” While a Technical Project Officer (TPO) can evaluate a great deal of important project information from his or her home office, known as “desktop monitoring,” this cannot replace the increased level of communication and goodwill built from an onsite visit with the recipient. TPOs utilize site visits as an opportunity for face-to-face meetings to foster an improved relationship with the Recipient, review new and/or complicated grant requirements, and discuss progr... [More]
Categories: Monitoring | project management | Risk Management | Permalink
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The Project Management Plan: A Recipient’s Stellar Example

clock May 4, 2012 11:35 by author Bulletin Board
Thanks to the Recovery Act, the EERE portfolio of financial assistance grew eight-fold, resulting in a broad range of renewable energy and energy efficiency technology projects. Regardless of the type of the Recipient or the technology focus, DOE expects all Recipients to meet basic requirements of accountability, oversight, monitoring, and reporting.

Good planning at the outset of a project helps ensure strong performance during implementation. One tool in particular that DOE believes is particularly useful is known as the Project Management Plan (PMP). [More]
Categories: communication | project management | Risk Management | Permalink
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Analyzing Audits to Improve EERE Monitoring and Oversight - Expanded Review Underway

clock March 16, 2012 18:24 by author Bulletin Board
EERE is committed to continually improving the efficiency and effectiveness of its monitoring and oversight activities for financial assistance. Audits represent an essential oversight function and may be conducted by a wide range of internal and external parties: the Department of Energy’s Office of Inspector General (OIG); the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO); or other independent agencies or firms. Audits scrutinize the technical and financial performance and management controls of EERE’s technology programs and its financial assistance Recipients. Individually, these audits have helped inform and strengthen EERE’s monitoring activities. Collectively, they can help to identify and address common issues. [More]
Categories: Audits | project management | Risk Management | Permalink
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Benefits of the Stage Gate Process: the Case of a Biofuels Project

clock March 9, 2012 15:00 by author Bulletin Board
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has a variety of tools for risk management and effective project decision-making. The stage gate decision-making process has been particularly valuable in a biomass technologies project which seeks to merge an existing electrical generation platform with an emerging gasification-based producer gas technology. The larger project purpose is to determine the commercial viability of using biomass-based fuels in existing fossil fuel-fired electrical generators. [More]
Categories: project management | Risk Management | Permalink
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Developing a Risk Assessment Tool to Evaluate and Manage Project Risk

clock March 6, 2012 13:10 by author Bulletin Board
How do busy Technical Project Officers manage the risk associated with their portfolio of projects? Successful risk management can ensure that a project that achieves its goals on time and within budget by enabling DOE and grant recipients to identify and address issues before they turn into problems.

One EERE program has developed a risk assessment tool that measures and evaluates the risk associated with a range of projects in a systematic way. Using a series of financial and technical performance indicators, it has developed a tool that forms an evidentiary base for the systematic assignment of risk (classified as low, medium, or high). While the particular metrics used are designed specifically for this program, this tool has wider applicability to other programs. [More]
Categories: Monitoring | Risk Management | Permalink
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Recipient Risk Management Tool Helps DOE Track Project Potential Problem Areas

clock December 23, 2011 13:14 by author Bulletin Board
A cornerstone of effective project management is the identification, assessment, mitigation planning and tracking of project risk. With the aim of continually improving project management and oversight, EERE mines best practices and lessons learned to incorporate it into its knowledge base and enhance practices and procedures. Mindful of managing the risk associated with the activities it funds, EERE examines risk at the programmatic and project-level. [More]
Categories: Independent Project Reviews | Monitoring | project management | Risk Management | Permalink
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