Duties and Responsibilities

of a Project Control
Engineer
written by: N Nayab edited by: Ginny Edwards
updated: 1/3/2011
The major duties and responsibilities of project
control engineer are controlling the progress of the
project, ensuring resource availability and allocating
the same, coordinating with various departments
and external agencies, and reporting.

Control of Project Progress

The project control engineer evaluates the actual
position of the project, compares the actual state
with the desired state, and takes corrective actions if
required.

The primary role of the project control

engineer is to track and coordinate the progress of
the project on a day-to-day basis to ensure that the
project is on-track. Some of the specific activities in
this direction that usually find mention in a project
control engineer's job description include:
1.

developing and maintaining detailed

product schedules

2.

monitoring cost and commitment

through requisition and invoice review

3.

ensuring active engagement of

team members by delegation of tasks to the
appropriate person both on a long term and on a
day-to-day basis

4.

ensuring adherence to
recommended best practices such as the critical
path method based on PERT and the like

5.

ensuring adherence to quality

standards such a Total Quality Management or
Six Sigma by ensuring employees follow quality
standards and by using quality control checklists

6.

coordination and regulating various

meetings such as project progress review
meetings, quality circles, and the like

7.

application of various project

progress methods to ensure the project schedule
is on track to meet deadlines or deliverables

8.

devising strategies to overcome

roadblocks or delays through various methods
such as using industry related technical
knowledge, innovating short cuts or alternative
ways, improvising with available resources,
scheduling overtime to meet the deadline, and
the like

9.

ensuring compliance with safety

standards

10.

developing and monitoring project

cost forecasts
Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons/Alphamu57

Ensuring Resource Availability

and Allocation
Among the major duties and responsibilities of a
project control engineer is forecasting the required

resources and tracking the availability of the

resources on a real time basis to ensure the smooth
progress of the project.
The project control engineer needs to estimate the
inputs required for all the various tasks, and ensure
placing orders or requisitions to ensure the
availability of such input at the required time.
Further, the project control engineer has to ensure
that such inputs arrive at the required time to
prevent hold ups, and track inventory on a real time
basis. The project control manager also sees that the
output reaches its destination.
A critical component of ensuring resource availability
is that of human resources. The project control
engineers job profile includes:
1.

coordinating with human resource

management in HR planning and recruitment
functions

2.

exercising the power to recommend

leaves and overtime

3.

preparing duty rosters

4.

recommending training
interventions to increase productivity and
develop quality of work

Coordination
A major role of the project control engineer is
coordinating with other departments or agencies.
The project control engineer needs to requisition raw
materials or inputs from the stores, coordinate with
human resource to ensure availability of human
resources, coordinate with the safety and quality
departments, report to the planning department,
and the like.
The project control engineer also needs to liaison
with various external agencies for progress and
maintenance of critical project components. Some
examples of such liaison with external agencies
include securing permission to transport a large
boiler through city roads, securing license to
undertake demolition work, ensuring the canteen
contractor makes food available on time, and the
like.

Reporting
Another crucial component of a project control
engineers job profile is reporting. The major forms
of reporting include:
1.

providing vital inputs to daily and

periodic project progress and status reports to
top management and other stakeholders

2.

monitoring, tracking and reporting

project cash flow

3.

planning and preparing man hour

budgets, and schedules

4.

preparing and submitting financial

analysis reports.