Project management escalation

Project management escalation is a subset of issue management process . It refers to the situation when issues and conflicts that occur inside a project and between project participants can be no more resolved internally within the project, so the project team is unable to find solutions, and external assistance and advice are required. It shows that both existing capabilities of the project team and methods of managing the project are insufficient or ineffective for some reasons. The project manager should detect impossibility to resolve issues and conflicts beforehand, and then implement an escalation plan that gives a foundation for involving and engaging external resources (experts, technologies, finances, etc.) in the project.

The ability to develop an effective plan and strategically manage procedures is one of the key differentiators between an experienced manager and a beginner. Experienced project managers know that even though a team strives to resolve as many issues internally as possible, some issues can be too complicated, so the team fails finding solutions and attention of external experts, including upper management, is required. Appropriate project procedures and approaches should be identified, agreed and implemented in order to provide the project with external expert judgment and to get issues and conflicts resolved.

To initiate and control the process , the listed below requirements should be met:

• Templates are available. Escalation of issues should be accompanied with a suggested action plan developed by senior management and external experts. Such an action plan can be created in the form of templates .
• Escalation is formally documented. All escalated issues need to be recorded in a documented model that describes action plans and names of responsible escalators. Such a model also identifies critical deadlines and timeframe for implementing action plans.

To meet the requirements and run the specified process , project managers can use CentriQS. This software solution is best for managing tasks and schedules of projects. It features powerful tools for delegating responsibilities and roles, making project re-assignments, building and sharing templates, and creating action plans. CentriQS supports group collaboration allowing team members to control tasks and procedures.