Milestone trend analysis

Created by Ann Sofie Grube Kjeldsen, February 2022

One of the most essential elements of successful projects and project management is to have clear project goals [1]. A critical path in reaching project end goals is by defining project milestones. Every project has milestones.

A milestone is a specific period in the project that showcases what has been accomplished and allows the project manager to see a project's progress. Milestones are a point of reference that mark major events specific date, time, task, or event chosen to portray a turning point within the project. The milestones can also be points in the project’s lifecycle when the project management team is supposed to deliver deliveries before the final execution or a key decision. [2]

Milestones do not only monitor the project progress, but help the project manager to group different tasks, and thereby identify a project critical path. It is a useful way to easily share the health and progress of the project with stakeholders and the project team [3]. To monitor and compare the progress of each milestone with the planned milestone-schedule a simple method, Milestone Trend Analysis (MTA), can be used. With MTA project managers can recognize deviations and trends from the planned schedule. The graphical Milestone Trend Analysis chart is used to graphically compare the scheduled date of the milestones and the various point in time. [4]