Earned Value Management Using Microsoft� Office Project: A Guide for Managing Any Size Project Effectively

by Sham Dayal

Overview

Schedule and cost management are the most essential parts of project lifecycle management and many projects fail as a result of not managing these critical components effectively. The most commonly used tool for project schedule management is Microsoft Office Project, which is designed to assist project managers in developing schedules, assigning resources to tasks, tracking progress, managing budgets and analyzing workloads. The most common technique used for cost management is earned value management (EVM), a project management technique used for measuring project progress in an objective manner that combines measurements of project scope, schedule and cost performance within a single integrated methodology. EVM is becoming the standard across the world for this purpose in both the private and public sector and many organizations are now adopting this technique to manage their projects. In the public sector, EVM is mandated for all government projects in the United States and many other countries are following suit. Earned Value Management Using Microsoft® Office Project is the first reference to effectively combine the most widely used scheduling tool with the most widely accepted cost management technique. It is a practical guide to end-to-end scheduling and cost management using Microsoft Office Project that includes a CD-ROM of a limited version of a unique EVM software tool that will help practitioners more effectively manage their projects, track and report the status and progress of projects, and take necessary action before their projects fail beyond repair. This text is an excellent complement to whatever Microsoft Office Project guide that you may be using and a significant addition to the literature on how to use EVM.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781932159981
Publisher:	Ross, J. Publishing, Incorporated
Publication date:	09/01/2008
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	7.50(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Sham Dayal, PMP, has over 12 years of practical experience in the IT industry where he specializes in managing projects using EVM techniques with Microsoft Project software. Mr. Dayal currently holds a program management position with MphasiS BFL Ltd, an EDS company, and is co-founder of Connoizor Software Ltd, a company that specializes in software tools and templates, project execution, and product development. Mr. Dayal was the first person at MphasiS to successfully implement EVM for project tracking (progress, status and forecasting) and was instrumental in creating a new technique for tracking the progress of production support projects. This new technique, based on the EVM concept, won a Quality Knowledge Excellence Award. Mr. Dayal is a frequent speaker on EVM and has been published in leading journals on EVM pertaining to more effective project lifecycle management. He has a bachelor's degree in Computer Science and a master's in Applied Statistics.

Table of Contents

Preface ix Acknowledgments xi About the Author xiii An Introduction to the Chapters xv Web Added Value xix Chapter 1 EVM in Project Management 1 Common Project Management Issues 2 The Solution 2 The EVM Reporting Tool 3 Read Me First Instructions 5 Mock Setup Process 7 Customer Support 8 Chapter 2 Schedule Management 9 Basic Project Management Processes 9 Basic Schedule Elements 10 Work Breakdown Structure 10 Effort Estimates 12 Resources 13 Resource Costs 14 Task Dependencies 16 Chapter 3 What Is EVM? 19 Basic Elements of EVM 19 Planned Value 20 Earned Value 22 Actual Cost 24 Planned Time 26 Elapsed Time 27 Calculation of Earned Value Performance Measures 28 Schedule Variance 29 Schedule Variance Percent 30 Schedule Performance Indicator 32 To-Complete Schedule Performance Indicator 34 Schedule Variance (Time) 36 Schedule Variance Percent (Time) 38 Schedule Performance Indicator (Time) 39 To-Complete Schedule Performance Indicator (Time) 41 Cost/Effort Variance 43 Cost Variance Percent 44 Cost Performance Indicator 46 To-Complete Cost Performance Indicator 48 Budget at Completion 52 Budget at Completion (Time) 52 Estimate to Complete 53 Estimate at Completion 54 Estimate at Completion (Time) 56 Variance at Completion 58 Variance at Completion (Time) 58 Chapter 4 Why EVM? 59 Benefits of EVM Explored 59 Monitors a Project as It Progresses 59 Shows Schedule/Cost Performance at a Glance 61 Uses Numbers Rather than Dates 62 Quantifies and Tracks Delays Caused by External Factors 62 Embraces Change in a Project 63 Makes Project Monitoring Simple 64 Facilitates Having Projects On Time and Under Budget 66 Improves Customer Satisfaction 67 Forecasts Cost/Effort and Time Required 68 ForecastsFuture Efficiency Needed 69 Manages Trends 71 Allows Total Control of a Project 73 Chapter 5 Creating a Schedule 75 Schedule Preparation 75 Setting Up Microsoft Office Project-MPP Options 76 The Schedule Screen 76 The Calendar Options Screen 78 The Project Information Screen 80 The Project Calendar 81 Creating a WBS 83 Assigning Estimates 84 Creating Resources 88 Setting Up the Resource Calendar 89 Assigning Resources 91 Sequencing Lowest-Level Tasks 93 Assigning Priorities to Summary Tasks 96 Creating Recurring Tasks 98 Resource Leveling 101 Baselining the Schedule 106 Chapter 6 Setting Up the EVM Report Template 109 Preparing the Template for a New Project 109 Project Options 109 Configuration Options 111 Populating Reporting Periods 113 Chapter 7 Tracking Progress in the Schedule 117 Tracking Progress in MPP 117 Summary Level Tracking 118 Task Level Day-Wise Tracking 119 Resource Level Day-Wise Tracking 120 Adjusting the Schedule While Tracking 122 Tracking Progress with the EVM Tool 123 Chapter 8 Monitoring the Schedule 129 The Summary Sheet-Checking and Updating 129 The Earned Value Graph 131 The Forecast ($) Graph 132 The Forecast (Time) Graph 133 The Forecast (Index) Graph 134 The Variances ($) Graph 135 The Variances (Time) Graph 136 The Indexes Graph 137 The Other Indexes Graph 138 Chapter 9 Additional Schedule Management Techniques 139 Drilling Down to Check Tasks at Risk 139 Resequencing Tasks in a Schedule 141 Putting a Schedule on Hold 142 An Entire Schedule 142 Selective Resources 142 Updating Resource Leave/Vacation Time 143 Managing Scope Creep 143 When Should a Schedule Be Rebaselined? 144 Rebaselining a Schedule 144 Rebaselining the EVM Report Template 145 Appendix A EVM for Production Support 147 Appendix B Schedule Management - An End-to-End Example 155 Appendix C EVM Template Quick Guide 187 Glossary 193 Index 223