I have now heard the same story over and over again, and I just have to relay this conversation. It's like being stuck in a time-loop, or in a scene from groundhog day. It goes something like this:
Mary: So how do you track project status?
Marty: We track time in a system that's integrated into finance.
Mary: But how do you make sure the project plan is current?
Marty: We get together once a month to update the plan.
Mary: How do you update the plan?
Marty: We pull the data from our finance system and update the plan manually.
Mary: So do you replicate your WBS in finance so your actual values are related to deliverables?
Marty: No, we track time to activity codes for cost accounting.
Mary: So how do you reconcile the actual numbers to the plan?
Marty: We don't - we just update the schedule on our understanding of the project status.
Mary: How many projects do you do this for?
Marty: Just the ones we have time to get to.
This is the state of the very basics of Project Management - it's a sorry state.
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