As with the project scope, it is important to monitor the project schedule on a regular basis. It is important to note that just because you may stay within the scope of a project in terms of activities, does not mean that you are effectively managing your project schedule. It may be very well that you are taking longer to complete activities than originally planned. Regularly monitoring the schedule of a project will enable you to react more effectively to deviations when they occur. This will allow you to get an activity under control before it affects the rest of the project. Furthermore, this monitoring will allow you to better forecast schedule implications of project activities.
Often times alterations in the project schedule means that another portion on the scope or project budget is impacted. A worst case scenario is that a project will have to remove or limit project activities because of schedule overruns. This reduced scope may impact the quality of the overall project. If the project schedule has to be changed it is vital to determine what impact it will have on the planned project scope and budget. Based on the nature of the funding, you may also need to receive the sponsor and/or institutional approval in advance of implementing such changes. If approved, the project plan must be updated to reflect the changes.