30-60-90 day plan for project coordinators
On this page
- What does a project coordinator own that a project manager does not?
- What does the 30-60-90 day plan look like?
- Which project records does the coordinator keep?
- What changes on federally funded construction projects?
- Which numbers should a new project coordinator baseline?
- What does "on track" look like at day 30, 60 and 90?
- A filled example
- How should the hiring manager use this plan in the final interview?
- What should the project manager ask at the check-ins?
- What the project manager owes a new project coordinator
- Common mistakes
- Adapting the plan
- Questions people ask
A 30-60-90 day plan for a new project coordinator should learn each project's records, meetings and reporting calendar in the first 30 days; own the minutes, action and decision logs, schedule updates and document control with the project manager reviewing in days 31-60; and by day 90 run the weekly reporting cycle without being chased, with one recurring paperwork delay fixed. The coordinator does not decide scope or trade-offs. They keep the information the project manager decides from accurate and on time, which is why the plan is built around records and deadlines rather than outcomes. On federally funded construction work, as of November 2026, that includes the weekly certified payrolls the Davis-Bacon contract clauses require.
This page is for the project manager, PMO lead or operations manager hiring a project coordinator, project administrator or project assistant. Accountability for delivery, the RAID log and rebaselining sit in the 30-60-90 day plan for project managers; dependencies and benefits across several projects in the 30-60-90 day plan for program managers. If the seat is still open, the project coordinator job description template covers the industry seat, the documents and overtime status.
What does a project coordinator own that a project manager does not?
| Area | Project coordinator | Project manager |
|---|---|---|
| Meetings | Schedules them, sends agendas, takes minutes, records decisions and actions | Runs them and makes the calls |
| Schedule | Collects updates from task owners and keeps the tool current | Owns the baseline, the critical path and any rebaseline |
| Risks and issues | Keeps the log current, chases owners for updates, flags overdue items | Decides responses and escalations |
| Documents | Runs document control: one location, version names, who has the latest | Approves deliverables |
| Money and paperwork | Tracks purchase orders, invoices against milestones, change requests and vendor documents | Owns the budget and approves changes |
| Reporting | Assembles the status report from the logs on a fixed day | Writes the judgment: status, forecast, asks |
Coordinators often support several projects or several project managers at once. Agree in week one which projects are in scope and who has priority when two managers need the same afternoon.
What does the 30-60-90 day plan look like?
30-60-90 day plan — [Name], Project Coordinator, [team / PMO]
Reports to: [project manager / PMO lead] Start date: [date]
Projects supported: [N] Project managers: [names]
Industry: [construction / IT / engineering / events / other]
Tools: [scheduling tool, document system, ticketing or
project board, finance or procurement system]
DAYS 1-30 — Learn the projects and their records
Goals:
- Read each project's charter or contract summary, schedule,
action and decision logs, RAID log and last [4] status reports
- Attend every recurring meeting; take minutes for [3], reviewed
by the project manager within a day
- Map where documents live, how versions are named, who approves
- Build the coordinator's calendar: report days, meeting cycles,
invoice and submittal deadlines, vendor renewals
- Meet each workstream lead and the main vendor contacts
Deliverables by day 30:
- Records map for each project (what, where, owner, how current)
- Calendar of every recurring deadline the coordinator owns
DAYS 31-60 — Own the records with review
Goals:
- Minutes out within [one business day], decisions and actions
logged with owners and dates
- Collect schedule updates from task owners weekly; flag tasks
past due to the project manager
- Run document control for [project]: one folder structure,
version naming, a register of current documents
- Track purchase orders, invoices and change requests against
the contract or budget lines
Deliverables by day 60:
- Clean action and decision logs; overdue items reported weekly
- Document register for [project]
DAYS 61-90 — Run the reporting cycle
Goals:
- Assemble the weekly status report from the logs on the fixed day,
ready for the project manager's judgment
- Fix one recurring paperwork delay at its source
(example: invoices that arrive without the PO number)
- Write desk notes for each recurring task; cross-train a backup
Deliverables by day 90:
- Four status cycles delivered on time in a row
- One delay fixed, measured against the day-60 log
Check-ins: weekly with [project manager]; reviews at day 30, 60 and 90.Numbers in brackets are examples; adjust them to the projects' size and pace.
Which project records does the coordinator keep?
Each record below has an owner for its content, usually the project manager or a workstream lead, and a keeper, usually the coordinator. The day-30 records map says, for each one, where it lives and how current it is.
| Record | What it holds | A sign it has slipped |
|---|---|---|
| Action log | Each action, its owner, due date and status | Actions with no owner, or "ongoing" for weeks |
| Decision log | Each decision, the date, who made it and what it changed | The same question reopened at every meeting |
| Minutes | Attendees, decisions, actions and open questions, not a transcript | Minutes sent days later, or never read |
| Schedule updates | Percent complete and forecast dates from the people doing the work | Dates that never move until they are missed |
| Document register | Current version of each deliverable, drawing or specification, with its approver | Two teams working from different versions |
| Change log | Each requested change, its cost and schedule effect, and the decision | Work started on changes nobody approved |
| Procurement tracker | Purchase orders, invoices against milestones, vendor documents and expiry dates | Invoices paid for work not yet accepted, or vendors stopped for missing paperwork |
In construction the same table gains a submittal log and an RFI log, each with a required-by date that comes from the schedule. A submittal that sits with the architect past its date is a schedule risk the project manager needs to hear about the same week.
What changes on federally funded construction projects?
Where a construction contract is covered by the Davis-Bacon Act or its related acts, the coordinator is often the person who collects and checks the certified payrolls. As of November 2026, the contract clauses at 29 CFR 5.5(a)(3) say:
- Contractors and subcontractors submit certified payrolls weekly, for each week in which covered work is performed.
- The prime contractor is responsible for the submission of all certified payrolls by its subcontractors.
- Each payroll comes with a signed Statement of Compliance; Optional Form WH-347 or any other format may be used.
- Weekly transmittals must not include full Social Security numbers or workers' last known addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses; an identifying number such as the last four digits is used instead.
- Payrolls and basic records are kept for at least three years after all the work on the prime contract is completed.
A practical tracker lists every subcontractor, every week they worked and whether that week's certified payroll arrived. Missing weeks are much easier to collect during the job than at closeout. This is not legal advice; the contract and the agency's own requirements decide what applies.
Which numbers should a new project coordinator baseline?
The measures are examples. Track them from week one and set targets after the day-60 baseline.
| Measure (examples only) | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Minutes sent within the agreed time | Whether decisions reach people while they still matter |
| Open actions past their due date, by owner | Where work is stuck |
| Schedule updates received from task owners each cycle | Whether the schedule reflects reality |
| Status reports ready on the fixed day | Reliability of the reporting cycle |
| Invoices matched to a purchase order and an accepted milestone before approval | Control over what the project pays for |
| Submittals, RFIs or change requests past their required-by date | Paperwork that is about to become a schedule problem |
What does "on track" look like at day 30, 60 and 90?
| Checkpoint | On track | Worth a direct conversation |
|---|---|---|
| Day 30 | Records map and deadline calendar done for every project; minutes accepted with light edits | Has learned the tool but not where documents live; minutes read like transcripts |
| Day 60 | Action and decision logs current; overdue items reported weekly; document register in use | Logs updated only before meetings; chasing done by forwarding emails |
| Day 90 | Four status cycles on time; one delay fixed and measured; a trained backup | The project manager still assembles the report; the same paperwork stalls every month |
A filled example
Project coordinator: Andre Mitchell (invented), joining a regional general contractor to support two project managers on a school renovation and a municipal library, both publicly funded. All details are examples.
Day 30: His records map showed drawings stored in two places with different revision letters, and an RFI log kept in one superintendent's email. The library project's certified payroll tracker had no entries for two subcontractors that had been on site for a month.
Day 60: Minutes went out the morning after each meeting with actions and owners. The document register named the current drawing set, and the old folder was archived. He collected the missing certified payrolls and set a weekly Monday check of which subcontractors had worked the week before.
Day 90: The weekly status report was ready every Thursday for the project managers to add their forecast. Invoices from one supplier kept arriving without purchase order numbers; after a call with its billing contact, the supplier added them, and approval times shortened. A project assistant was trained to cover the logs.
How should the hiring manager use this plan in the final interview?
Give every finalist the same brief: the projects, the tools, one page of a real but anonymized action log and the reporting calendar. Score the plans with the rubric in how to evaluate a 30-60-90 day plan in an interview. A strong coordinator plan learns the records before redesigning them, and knows the difference between flagging a problem and deciding it. Questions that test it:
- "A workstream lead has missed three action deadlines. What do you do, and when does the project manager hear about it?"
- "Two project managers need you for different deadlines on the same afternoon. How do you handle it?"
- "You find two versions of the same drawing in use on site. Walk me through the next day."
- "What makes minutes useful, and how would you know if ours are not?"
The interview guide for project managers includes organization and follow-through questions that fit coordinator candidates.
What should the project manager ask at the check-ins?
- Day 30: Which record is least current, and what would it take to fix it? Which deadline in your calendar is easiest to miss?
- Day 60: Who owns the most overdue actions, and what is blocking them? Which documents are still not under control?
- Day 90: What does the report now show that it did not before? What would stop if you were out for a week?
What the project manager owes a new project coordinator
- Access to every tool and folder in week one, and an introduction to each workstream lead and vendor contact.
- Clear authority to chase owners in the project manager's name, and backing when they do.
- Written limits: what the coordinator can approve, such as meeting changes or document releases, and what always goes to the manager.
- Prompt review of the first minutes and reports, so the coordinator learns the standard quickly.
Common mistakes
- Hiring a coordinator to be a second project manager. Without decision rights, the coordinator ends up carrying risk they cannot act on.
- Minutes as transcripts. Decisions and actions get lost in pages of discussion.
- Logs updated the hour before the meeting. The meeting discusses last week's reality.
- Paperwork left for closeout. Missing payrolls, certificates or signed changes are hardest to get once the vendor has left.
- No backup. A reporting cycle only one person can run stops when that person is out.
Adapting the plan
- Construction: add the submittal and RFI logs, insurance certificate expiry dates and the certified payroll tracker to month one; the 30-60-90 day plan for construction project managers covers the pay application and change order cycle the coordinator supports.
- IT and software projects: replace submittals with change requests, test schedules and release calendars, and keep the decision log close to the ticketing system; for customer implementations, the 30-60-90 day plan for implementation managers covers the statement of work and change control the coordinator tracks.
- Client-facing agencies: the client's approval steps and report format replace internal ones; the 30-60-90 day plan for account coordinators covers client files and status reports.
- Credentials: PMI's CAPM requires no experience and 23 hours of project management education to apply, as of November 2026; treat it as a nice-to-have, not a substitute for a work sample.
Questions people ask
What should a new project coordinator do in the first 30 days?
Learn every project they support: read each charter or contract summary, the schedule, the action and decision logs and the last status reports; sit in every recurring meeting; find where documents live and how versions are named; and take minutes for a few meetings with the project manager reviewing them. The month ends with a records map for each project and a calendar of every report and deadline the coordinator will own.
What is the difference between a project coordinator and a project manager?
A project manager is accountable for delivering the scope on time and on budget and makes the trade-offs when the plan slips. A project coordinator keeps the project's records and rhythm working: minutes, action items, schedule updates, document control, status report assembly and paperwork such as purchase orders, invoices, submittals or change requests. The coordinator spots problems early; the manager decides what to do about them.
Does a project coordinator need a CAPM certification?
No. PMI's Certified Associate in Project Management requires no project experience, only 23 hours of project management education to apply, as of November 2026, so it shows vocabulary and interest. What predicts success in the first 90 days is whether the coordinator keeps accurate logs, chases owners before deadlines and writes minutes people act on.
What does a project coordinator do on a federally funded construction project?
Often they track the certified payrolls. Under the Davis-Bacon contract clauses at 29 CFR 5.5(a)(3), as of November 2026, contractors and subcontractors submit certified payrolls weekly for each week covered work is performed, the prime contractor is responsible for its subcontractors' submissions, and payroll records are kept at least three years after all work on the prime contract is completed. This is not legal advice.