Collecting the Project Data

If the data described in the preceding sections is collected periodically during the project, it becomes much less of a chore to collect it at the end of the project. I recommend that someone on the project be assigned to collect and display this kind of data during the project. The project manager is a good candidate, but it can be anyone, provided that he is motivated to handle the task.

Some commercial tools can collect and manage this data. Certainly, the cheapest and most widely available tool is a simple Excel spreadsheet. Other options include tools such as IBM Rational's ProjectConsole, which can extract data from a variety of tools and produce charts, graphs, and statistics in an automated fashion. Although it takes significant up-front work to set up, configure, and customize, the data is automatically collected and displayed without intervention. The data is produced as a normal side effect of the project team using the tools they normally use in the course of their project work.