Project Software Extension

EVM in the Project Manager's Toolbox: Use It

Let's use project tools, such as earned value management, to assess our status, make immediate changes to adapt to the current conditions, and forecast our ability to deliver. ...

... "The outcome can then not only help identify at an early stage any issues and allow small changes to be made so that a project can be brought rapidly back on track, but will also give the capability to play the what-ifs that are necessary to make the decision as to whether a project should be stopped" ...

Via IT Director: Earned Value Management

Data Speaks, Not Necessarily

The truth is out there. Where? Who knows? Surely the project manager's earned value spreadsheet. ...

... "The most politically savvy employee with the most persuasive arguments - and not necessarily the employee with the most accurate information or most insightful analysis - is deemed the holder of the spreadsheet of truth. " ...

Via DM Review: BI Barriers

EVM not serving its intended function at U.S. DoD

A recent article in InsideDefense titled "Pentagon to Take New Steps to Combat Major Cost, Schedule Problems" describes strong warnings issued by top DoD officials. Kenneth Krieg, who stepped down July 20 as Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (USD-AT&L), issued a July 3 memo stating...

Several unfavorable findings from recent audits indicate that earned-value management (EVM) is not serving its intended function in the internal control process,

DOD components are due to update John Young, acting USD-AT&L by early October on "efforts to underscore the rules and get better results," according to InsideDefense. "Young announced in a July 30 letter that the military departments will be compelled to immediately form powerful Configuration Steering Boards (CSBs) for every major program in development."

Earned Value Lies and Truths

There was a great quote from Benjamin Disraeli in David Hillson's letter to the editor in the latest PM Network Magazine.

Disraeli allegedly* said, "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies, and statistics."

* As an aside, there's apparently some debate over the actual origin of this phrase.

In any case, Hillson's interesting letter was cautioning those who frequently misapply statistics, and offered some clarification the terminology----specifically, the mean (average), mode (most frequently occuring item), and median (the middle item if all were lined up in order).

I find that many misuse Earned Value statistics the same way. The intent of EVM is to be an early indicator of a potential cost or schedule overrun (and I personally feel that it's better at predicting cost than schedule). However, much like the Ghost of Christmas Future, it's not set in stone. There are many things a project manager can do to get things back in order. More importantly, sometimes there are reasons for the apparent variance that indicate that the variance is explainable and not a concern at all.

The key with EVM (much like any metric) is to not take the statistics at face value, and to use them as a trigger to do further subjective examination. It's a tool, and organizations often overuse such tools (much like they do with Six Sigma). If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

Einstein Project Management Tip #4: Think Value

And so we continue our series on project management tips from Albert Einstein. Here's another...

"Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value."

This sums up perfectly the problem with most projects today. They focus on "success" without fully defining what success means. Project managers and PMOs track schedule and budget metrics. Then, at the end of the project, some capture customer satisfaction, almost as an afterthought.

What really needs to happen is to insure value to the customer, and this usually goes way beyond being on time and on budget. We spoke about the need for clear goals. Surely that's part of it. We also need to deliver in small, frequent iterations to provide the quickest value and get more immediate customer feedback.

Customer satisfaction should be measured and tagged as an index throughout the life of a project, just as Earned Value uses indices to track cost and schedule performance. This allows course correction to be made in areas such as goal clarification, communication, and other areas needed to provide good value.

And when the product has been delivered, be sure that the customer can maximize the benefits of the product through proper training, tips & techniques, next steps, or any other items that will help them get the value expected.

These are the very items I've attempted to address with my Service-Oriented Project Management (SOPM) framework, with its four phases of Understand, Prepare, Iterate, and Transform (UP-IT).

More Einstein tips coming soon...

Earned Value Wikipedia: Your Chance to Contribute

Our friend Garry Booker of Project Frontier has revised the Wikipedia entry for Earned Value Management and is looking for feedback.

Feel free to check it out and update as needed. Also, here's Garry's introductory statements in the topic's discussion page.

His revisions have added some clarity, plus information on making EVM scalable to various size projects. There are some good diagrams and links as well.

Here's the link...

Earned value management - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Earned Value EVM Adoption Growing?

Earned value management is seeing adoption outside of traditional user base, through mandates and associated success stories. ...

... "So EVM tells you — by planning and setting the milestones — whether you got the value for what you're paying for. I think people are starting to understand that. " ...

Earned Value EVM Adoption Growing?: Via FCW: Making EVM matter ...

Project Management Holy Grail; Keep Searching

With all the hoopla over the DaVinci Code, I figured I'd share this insightful article from Max Wideman on what many have considered the "Holy Grail" of project management---the ever elusive set of "best practices."

Wideman rightfully argues that any list of best practices is likely tainted, because who'd want to share anything so groundbreaking that it gives them a competitive edge---and if it was so groundbreaking, it would most likely get lost in the survey process that looks for frequently used practices.

So, instead of best practices, we end up with "common practices," which in many cases are extremely flawed.

Better to break new ground and look for unique approaches that fit what you are trying to accomplish, or look for the best examples of what some other organizations are doing. But beware of surveys that claim they show "best practices."

When it comes to project management, you'll just need to keep looking for the Holy Grail. Better yet, try to create one, as I'm attempting to do with my new Service-Oriented Project Management (SOPM)™ model, and others are doing, such as Garry Booker with his Streamlined Earned Value model and his other creations. But you won't see any of these on any "best practice" lists.

Here's the full article...

Max's Musings - The Fallacious Argument of Best Practice - Or the Holy Grail of Project Management

SOPM; A New Project Management Methodology

Service Oriented Project Management (SOPM) is taking shape as a methodology that fills the gaps in traditional project management, namely a RELENTLESS customer focus and the all-important analysis and benefits evaluation after the project has "completed."

As I fine tune the model, I'll post the iterations here, as a methodology in progress.

The four high-level steps in SOPM are as follows:

1) UNDERSTAND ... Develop an understanding of the problem being addressed, the goals, constraints, the internal environment, the external market, benchmarks, the people and subject matter involved, potential solutions, risks, benefits/justification, and any other knowledge necessary for success. Most of all, understand the customer.

2) ENABLE ... After helping the customer obtain approvals, prepare the project organization (resources, roles & responsibilities), operating principles, the infrastructure and tools needed to run the project, organizational alignment, preliminary training needed, communication, and anything else needed for a smooth road ahead.

3) ITERATE... Plan, design, build, test and pilot the solution before attempting a full scale implementation. Implement in phases to achieve quick wins, earlier benefits, and greater customer satisfaction. Consider iterative prototypes during the design phase. Don't forget additional training needed.

4) EVALUATE... After each project phase and at the end of the project, evaluate and document lessons learned, customer satisfaction, and benefits achieved (vs expected). This includes evaluating how the customer can achieve maximum results with the product of the project, and laying the groundwork for their continued success.

By using an UNDERSTAND, ENABLE, ITERATE, and EVALUATE process, with COMMUNICATE as an overarching activity that extends across all four steps, we adopt a much more holistic and customer-centered approach to project management.

A few key points... Customer satisfaction should be measured at milestones throughout the project, not just at the end. It's as important as monitoring cost and schedule (i.e. Earned Value performance).

Imagine seeing an S-Curve showing Planned Value, Earned Value, Actual Cost, and Customer Satisfaction. Maybe your project is on schedule and on budget, but the customer isn't satisfied with the results (or with the project communication, or a whole host of other issues).

A narrow focus on cost and schedule takes too much of an inward view. Besides, measuring customer satisfaction throughout a project allows for corrective action instead of managing in the rear view mirror.

More to come.

NOTE: I have since revised this model. See my updated entry.

Earned Value Management Trends, Best Practices, and Pitfalls

A few weeks ago, I commented on Part 1 of a three-part series on Earned Value Management on Projects@Work.

While Part 1 set the stage and illustrated some of the challenges of EVM, Part 2 of this excellent series offers some excellent case studies and learnings.

For instance, the US government agency, OPM (Office of Personnel Management) cites the following critical success factors:

- Continuous executive sponsorship (not just up front)
- Committment to funding for adequate tools and training
- Adequate allocation of project managers' time to manage using this system
- Piloting EVM in a small group of projects to illustrate success and fine tune the details
- Not underestimating the culture change management required, involving employees, managers, and timekeepers. Regularly maintained training and job aids are critical.

Another organization, Inter-Coastal Electronics, cites having shallow, simple WBS templates in their ERP system as a key success factor. They claim that a WBS that's too granular becomes too difficult to manage. I couldn't agree more.

I highly recommend this series to anyone attempting to introduce Earned Value Management in their organizations.

http://www.projectsatwork.com/content/Articles/230753.cfm

Project Burn Charts; A New Way to Look at Earned Value

Alistair Cockburn (pronounce "Coburn") has a nice article about Burn Charts, which are an effective way to show progress (or lack thereof) on your project.

I particularly like the chart on figure 3-19. It's a variation of the traditional line chart, in that it shows the actual deliverables on a timeline.

Here's the article...

Cockburn - Earned-Value and Burn Charts

Project Management Book Giveaway

I donated two copies of Napoleon on Project Management to Cornelius Fichtner to give away on his Project Management Podcast series.

If you'd like an opportunity to win one of them, check out his April 8th episode (and while you're there, learn something about how to monitor your projects without the sophistication of Earned Value!!).

The contest will take place on the April 8th episode and the one after, with the two winners being announced in the third episode.

Not only will you have a chance to win a book by listening to a free podcast, but you'll be sure to learn something. Cornelius's podcasts are always enlightening. The link is below...

The Project Management Podcast

More Earned Value Woes for IT

I mentioned the other day that the IT industry has been struggling to adopt Earned Value Management. There's a three-part series on Projects@Work on Earned Value that illustrates the trials and tribulations thus far. This first part is based on a survey from Primavera that demonstrates just how far behind the IT industry is.

Ironically, this is especially so in the US government (the focus of the Primavera study), despite a mandate from the OMB (Office of Management and Budget) that any IT organization that wants to get their project approved must use Earned Value for tracking cost.

According to the article:

Respondents cite three big EVM challenges:

• 25 percent say they are unfamiliar with EVM;
• 24 percent say they lack personnel trained in EVM; and
• 21 percent say they lack senior management interest.

As the article points out, the latter is the most suprising, considering the OMB mandate. It just goes to show that these things must be driven from the top if they are to be effective.

I suspect part of the problem is that the concepts need to be made simpler for management to embrace it, or at least the focus should be directed at the ultimate EVM figures management would care about, such as "Estimate at Completion," as opposed to the more cryptic Cost Performance Indices (CPI) - although they're valuable as a project manager's tool.

If you really want to turn a senior manager off, just show them an Earned Value metrics chart. Better to sell them on the concepts first and give them the resulting target estimates and planned corrective actions rather than the nuts and bolts of EVM metrics.

http://www.projectsatwork.com/content/Articles/230677.cfm

Earned Value Management; Important for IT

There's a nice little writeup in Computerworld about Earned Value Management and its increasing use in IT.

The article offers the basics of EVM, along with the challenges in getting it widely used IT industry, particularly since EVM assumes that there's some sort of disciplined project management approach to begin with---which many IT organizations are still behind on.

It rightly positions EVM as a valuable tool for predicting budget overruns early in the project.

The article is below (there are a few good sidebars on EVM as well) ...

Earned Value Management - Computerworld

Earned Value Management EVMS Convergence? ...

Feds prodded to standardized earned value management systems, EVMS, to enable supplier efficiency. ...

... "The Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) recently urged acquisitions regulators for defense and civilian agencies to reconcile differing draft requirements for federal IT contractors to establish Earned Value Management Systems (EVMS) for IT projects. " ...

Earned Value Management EVMS Convergence?: Via ITAA: Defense, Civilian EVMS Rules Heading Down Different Paths ...

Project Management Success Stories; Learning from the Past

There's nothing like learning from others who have "been there and done that" to expedite our attempts to try something new. It's sort of like asking for directions versus driving around for hours fruitlessly.

For example, for those considering implementing Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM), here's a list of CCPM Success Stories from the Goldratt Institute.

And if it's Agile Project Management you're considering, here's a great Agile Project Management success story from Computerworld, which shows how Sabre Holdings Corp. spent $125 million on a failed project to overhaul their reservation system in the late 80's, and then tried another attempt more recently, this time with a more agile approach, and had tremendous success.

All too often, organizations attempt to undertake huge initiatives without learning from others' successes, and more importantly, their failures.

And the past doesn't have to only include the recent past. I've been writing about project management "lessons from history" for years now, and some of the successes and failures of such notables as Caesar, Augustus, Napoleon, and many others bring lessons that are directly applicable today. For instance, Napoleon was using Earned Value before it was "invented" 200 years later.

I am absolutely convinced that the search for the "next big thing" will undoubtedly bear its best fruit through closer examination of the past.

Earned Value Management Deadline Looms for U.S. IT Projects

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has given government agencies until December 31, 2005 to develop a a plan for implementing Earned Value Management (EVM) for all of its IT projects. The IT industry in general has been slow to adopt EVM, and this is especially true in government agencies.

To assist with this, the CIO Council released a framework earlier this month for organizations to use for implementing EVM.

As reported on Government Computer News, "The guidance comes after a recent report by EVM software developer Primavera Systems Inc. of Bala Cynwyd, Pa., found that many agencies will struggle to meet the upcoming milestone because many agency senior managers have not embraced the concept. "

I think that's true for many senior managers in general, not just in the government. With the deadline a day away, let's hope the template has been of assistance. Meanwhile, check out the information below about the CIO Council's framework for implementing EVM.

CIO Council releases guidance on EVM plans

Earned Value: Government EVMS Progress, Targets Raised ...

OMB provides status update for agency progress against electronic government targets. Metrics show modest progress in adoption of earned value management system, EVMS. 2006 targets raise the bar to drive further adoption. ...

... "As of September 30, 2005, 28% of agencies have fully implemented EVMS (7 out of 25) and on average are achieving at least 90% of their cost, schedule, and performance goals. Another 52% of agencies are using some level of EVMS (13 out of 25) to track the cost and schedule status of their major investments and do not have cost overruns or schedule delays exceeding 30%. Those agencies are taking the appropriate actions, including developing comprehensive agency policies and incorporating requirements into contracts for using EVMS, to bring the management of all of their major IT development efforts into full compliance with the industry standard for EVMS. Together these two groups of agencies account for over 75% of Federal agencies being able to measure progress toward milestones in an independently verifiable basis, in terms of cost, capability of the investment to meet specified requirements, timeliness, and quality. The remaining six agencies have a plan of action and milestones to incorporate the use of earned value management into their Capital Planning and Investment Control Process.

For FY 06, the goal is for at least 50% of the agencies managing their IT portfolio in accordance with the standard and averaging 10% of cost, schedule and performance. " ...

Earned Value: Government EVMS Progress, Targets Raised: Via OMB: Expanding E-Government: Improved Service Delivery for the American People Using Information Technology ...

Project Management Graphical Innovations

I've posted in the past about the limitations of current project management reporting (are Gantt charts really the best we can do in the 21st century?).

PCF has some intriguing reporting alternatives on their site for project schedule, resource, and earned value tracking, as well as high level program performance.

Check it out...

PCF Ltd - Giving You Complete Control

Earned Schedule instead of Earned Value?

This presentation from PMI conference in UK this year describes the problems with Earned Value Management. One is that Earned Value is useful only in the early stages of a project for providing schedule management information - the SPI will always be 1.00 at the end of the project. Another is that most people don't understand schedule in terms of budget - and the use of accounting practices in project management probably has a lot to do with that!
The proposed approach uses the same basic information as SPI but expresses a Schedule Variance in terms of time rather than money. The SV(t) is the difference in time between the the status date and the date for BCWS equal to the current value of BCWP.
Earned Schedule

Earned Value - why does it have to be so difficult?

This paper from the recent PMI-SAC conference describes how to apply a simple approach to Earned Value Management for IT Projects. It starts with the question 'why is EVM so little used?' and puts forward 4 of the more common reasons. The author goes on to describe what was originally used as a paper based method. It exploits the natural structure of IT projects, frequently formalised in some form of stage gate process. Industry norms for the relative breakdown of costs by stage and activity or phase within the stage are used to compare to actual costs.
This approach implies that you do not need a detailed bottom up cost and activity tracking in order to calculate the earned value. Of course, it would mean that you don't have much earned value information during phases and breaking the phases down into very small units may stretch the applicability of the statistics used at the outset.
Of course, the method still requires some work, project structure and some organisational discipline. This can be one of the most difficult of the original four reasons to address - Because sometimes management doesn't really want to know!
Earned Value Management for IT Projects

Project Management Innovations at Project Frontier; WBS "String Theory"

Our friend Garry Booker has been introducing some innovative ideas on his website. We've reported here about his Streamlined Earned Value Management (EVM), and reclassification of operational effort vs. LOE.

His latest innovation is the use of WBS Strings (not to be confused with the "String Theory" concepts in physics). The premise is that, instead of sequential numbering systems, a smart string of codes could be used, which allows for easier understanding when reporting (especially in organizations where the code itself is prominent in reporting).

This makes sense, and I can compare it to my old days as an IT manager, asking for intelligent naming conventions for files, data fields, and programs. This facilitated easier maintenance, better readibility, and quicker orientation for new employees, not to mention less errors due to having a wrong digit or a number out of sequence.

Check out the link below, which contains an interactive tutorial on WBS Strings, along with Garry's other innovations.

Welcome to Project Frontier

Earned Value Breakthrough; Operational Effort vs. LOE Effort - Project Frontier Weighs In

There's been much discussion recently about the fact that LOE (Level of Effort) tasks can cloud Earned Value figures and should therefore be treated separately. Garry Booker at Project Frontier proposes replacing LOE work with a new category called Operational Effort.

This also allows an organization to use Earned Value at an organizational level to achieve "management by projects," a model that aligns closely with what Tom Peters has suggested in recent books.

Explore the interactive tutorial below from Project Frontier, which clearly describes the issues and terminology involved.

Operational Effort

Earned Value Management: The Performance Baseline ...

NASA provides nice tutorial on the earned value program management technique, EVM. It emphasizes establishing the performance measurement baseline which becomes the reference to which progress is tracked. ...

Earned Value Management: The Performance Baseline: Via NASA: EVM Tutorial - EVM: Earned Value Management

... "Earned value provides an objective measurement of how much work has been accomplished on a project. Using the earned value process, the management team can readily compare how much work has actually been completed against the amount of work planned to be accomplished. All work is planned, budgeted, and scheduled in time-phased planned value increments constituting a Performance Measurement Baseline (PMB). " ...

Earned Value Management EVM Principles ...

The Earned Value Management methodology enables visibility into cost, schedule, and technical progress on projects to measure and manage performance. ...

Earned Value Management EVM Principles: Via DOE: EARNED VALUE MANAGEMENT APPLICATION GUIDE ...

... "Principles of Earned Value Management (EVM): All work is planned to completion; The work is broken down into finite product-oriented components that can be assigned to a responsible organization; The scope, schedule and cost objectives are integrated into a plan by which progress can be measured; Actual costs are recorded; Performance is objectively measured; Variances and deviations are analyzed, impacts are forecasted and estimates at completion are based on the actual performance to date; Changes to the performance measurement baseline are controlled; " ...

EVMS Earned Value Management: Federal Agencies Lag Behind

Primavera studies the adoption and implementation of earned value management processes and systems (EVMS) in federal information technology organizations. Current assessment shows that agencies lag behind on implementation versus their EVMS targets. ...

EVMS Earned Value Management: Federal Agencies Lag Behind: Via Primavera: Study Reveals Disconnect Between Perceived Merits of Earned Value Management and Federal Agencies Readiness to Implement ...

... "Specifically, the study indicates that the federal IT community agrees with OMB that EVM delivers improved project outcomes, with 60.6 percent of respondents reporting that EVM is very or somewhat important to achieving their capital investment goals. Despite this value perception, results do not demonstrate agencies movement from belief to action, with only 37 percent currently utilizing EVM and even fewer prepared to train or hire personnel skilled in EVM within the next 12 months. Respondents cited their top challenges to EVM implementation as unfamiliarity with EVM and lack of trained personnel. These findings indicate that agencies will not only have difficulty developing EVM implementation plans in time for the December 31 OMB deadline, but also will face challenges implementing documented plans. EVM processes, systems, and software enable the continuous assessment of project performance and status - providing a methodology that can help agencies effectively measure project alignment with resources and goals by comparing status to original plans and end goals. EVM can help agencies achieve green marks on the President's Management Agenda scorecard. To achieve and maintain this high score, agency projects must stay within a 10 percent variance from their cost, schedule, and performance goals. Further, OMB issued a memorandum in August 2005 requiring agencies to utilize EVM Systems (EVMS) on all new major IT projects. The memorandum requires development of written policies outlining agency-specific plans for EVM implementation by December 31, 2005. Agencies must also evaluate exiting, cost, schedule, and performance of ongoing IT projects and take any necessary corrective actions by March 31, 2006 and before devoting any FY06 funds to associated projects. In support of this effort, OMB is working with the Federal Chief Information Officers (CIO) Council to develop a model agency EVMS policy for IT projects ... " ...

Earned Value Management System: Risk Perspective ...

ASC will identify, manage and mitigate risks on its military projects using Welcom's software, which complements its existing use of the earned value management capabilities. ...

Earned Value Management System: Risk Perspective: Via Welcom: Australian Submarine Builder ASC Pty Ltd Chooses WelcomRisk ...

... "ASC has been using our Cobra project cost and earned value management system since 2002, and we see the selection of WelcomRisk as a further endorsement of WST Pacific and Welcom's project portfolio management solutions, said Steve Cook, president of Welcom. " ...

WelcomRisk is a formalized risk management tool for the proactive identification and mitigation of business risk, both threats and opportunities. WelcomRisk combines a user-friendly interface with a higher level of flexibility and granularity than other products. Its flexible integration capabilities and tight security provide companies with a better solution across the enterprise. WelcomRisk is part of WelcomSuite™, a comprehensive solution that supports portfolio analysis, project collaboration, planning and scheduling, and cost and earned value reporting.

Earned Value Major Event November 7-9

It's not too late to register for the 17th Annual International Integrated Program Management Conference, scheduled for November 7-9 in Virginia.

Earned Value enthusiasts rejoice! The topic of this year's seminar is: EVM is Everywhere - "Let's do it!"

Presenters will discuss EVM best practices and tools. Here's the info...

PMI College of Performance Management

Earned Value Metrics Tainted by LOE; Project Frontier Studies Solutions

As covered in the latest addition of Earned Value Project Management, by Quentin Fleming and Joel Koppelman, Earned Value metrics are tainted by the inclusion of tasks that are defined as "LOE."

Examples are Project Administration, Meetings, supporting operational activities, or any general category that is just marked by the passage of time instead of being completed against a deliverable. As Fleming and Koppelman report, these items can cloud Earned Value statistics and should be segregated from normal Earned Value charts.

However, should they be handled as LOE at all, or some other operational category?

Garry Booker is writing a report, along with a FranklinCovey instructor, on how best to deal with this issue. As he reports on Project Frontier, he's looking for interested parties to provide a critical review of his paper. Please check out the link below for more...

Welcome to Project Frontier

Project Management Maturity; Easy Does It

So many organizations decide to institute disciplined project management processes, often as part of a PMO implementation, and try to go from zero to 60 in a few weeks. The fact is project management maturity doesn't happen overnight.

The best place to start is with a good set of principles, possibly in combination with a light set of processes (i.e. defining a good scope statement, a simple change control process, an issues and milestones list, etc.). Then---and only then---after the project managers have begun to grasp the principles, it's OK to begin introducing new disciplines, such as Earned Value Reporting, Project Accounting, Resource Leveling, etc.

The key is to introduce each item gradually and measure its use and effectiveness.Otherwise, the project managers can get so overwhelmed with details that it distracts them from the real issues of the project. And issue tracking, risk awareness, leadership and communication are the real value-add items that a project manager brings. The rest can be processized and learned over time.

OMB EVM Rules: Software Supports Capital Project Oversight ...

Software enables compliance with OMB earned value management EVM rules, which supports better oversight of capital projects ....

OMB EVM Rules: Software Supports Capital Project Oversight: Via xpdoffice - A Division of SSSI - Offering Web-Based Timesheet and Project Management Software

... "xpdient, Inc., a division of Scientific Systems and Software International (SSSI), announced the release of a new module of its successful xpdoffice solution to address new Earned Value Management (EVM) rules propagated by the federal government's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) via circular A-11, Part 7, titled Planning, Budgeting, Acquisition, and Management of Capital Assets. The release occurs as OMB officials are becoming increasingly persistent in urging agencies and agency contractors to adopt EVM oversight of major capital projects.

Becoming effective in the near future, rule changes to the Federal Acquisition Regulations will standardize EVM execution and use for all major federal government acquisitions, including information technology services. Widely used in commercial markets, earned value management is a standard way to measure a project's progress, forecast its completion date and final cost, and provide schedule and budget variances along the way. By integrating these capabilities, xpdoffice provides consistent indicators enabling project evaluation and comparison. " ...

xpdoffice is a web based Business Automation Software (BAS) solution that streamlines enterprise management and delivers improved project financial reporting. xpdoffice modules include HR, Contracts Administration, Time Management, Document Management, Knowledge Management, Purchase and Inventory, Project Management, and Expense Management.

Earned Value Project Management Third Edition Released

The third edition of Earned Value Project Management by Quentin Fleming and Joel Koppelman (the godfathers of Earned Value), has been released.

Garry Booker offers some comments on the new edition, along with some relevant quotes, at Project Frontier. At any rate, it looks like the book is well worth purchasing and offers some updates on the thinking of previous versions.

Project Risk-Based Cost Management; Is RACM The Next Big Thing?

The Defense industry brought us Earned Value and proved that Critical Chain could work. Now the DoD commissioned the Institute for Defense Analysis (IDA) to test a new cost control theory called RACM (Risk Analysis and Cost Management).

The results of the study showed that RACM can offer significant reduction in project costs and excellent cost performance management. RACM offers a method to determine and manage an appropriate risk reserve level (much like Critical Chain focuses on buffer management for schedule control). It also uses a risk multiplier (called Ps or "Probability of Success") for costs at the WBS element level.

But RACM is not being positioned as a replacement for Earned Value Management. Instead, it can be used to complement EVM.

For more info, see the website for RACM, Inc. They also offer a 60-day Evaluation Beta Model.

RACM Home Page

Public Sector Project Management: EVMS Strengths ...

Public Sector Project Management: EVMS Strengths: Primavera Launches Public Sector Group And New Project Management Software Solution For Government: Via Primavera

Primavera focuses on public sector vertical with project management solutions and services, highlighted by strength in EVMS, earned value management system ...

: "The formation of Primavera's public sector group builds on the company's long-history of success working with the public sector and underscores the company's understanding of and commitment to the government market. The public sector team is dedicated to working with agency customers to successfully deploy solutions that help agencies develop, manage, and execute successful programs that meet performance objectives and federal mandates. Further, the group is committed to working with systems integrators to deliver project management solutions that enable successful delivery of government projects. The public sector division offers agencies and systems integrators a true partner in implementation of Earned Value Management Systems (EVMS), drawing on the deep experience and expertise of Joel Koppelman. " ...

Project Management: Oil Industry Room For Improvement ...

Project Management: Oil Industry Room For Improvement: Via Financial Times: Project delays drive up price of oil

Carola Hoyos reports on research by Sanford Bernstein that identifies gaps in the project management performance of the oil industry, which results in less capacity and higher prices in this supply-constrained environment. So, conserve. And, watch those earned value indexes on the oil industry capacity-expansion projects ...

... "The industry is truly dreadful at project management, or at least at predicting the timing of project start-ups. The amount of production growth that has been lost to projects being delayed over the past few years is stunning, over 2m b/d 2.3 per cent of expected global production in 2007 ... " ...

Are Your Project Managers Leaders?

If you ask someone who just worked on a great project to rate the project manager, very rarely will you hear them say the following:

"Great! He really knows his MS/Project!"
"Wow! She's a wiz with Earned Value!"
"Top notch. You should see how he links all the dependencies together."
"Stupendous! She can do a backward pass with her eyes closed!"

More than likely, you'll here something like:

"He was extremely visible and gave us the confidence that someone was running the show."
"She was able to remove all of our barriers and communicated extremely well throughout the project."
"He was really on top of the issues, yet didn't micromanage"
"She offered clear guidance and goals, and fully engaged the team, soliciting our input wherever possible."

See a pattern? While it's important to master the "mechanics" of project management, ultimately it's all about leadership --- the soft skills. Unfortunately, when organizations send their project managers to training, they tend to focus on tools training, or training in project management fundamentals. Certainly these are valuable, but the real need (and most frequently ignored area) is training in the soft skills.

And the best way to train people in soft skills is some kind of course that offers simulation training. It's good to understand theory around conflict management and psychology, but there's nothing like simulation training to really sink in.

So, if you want to really make a difference in how your project managers are perceived, focus on leadership training, including team leadership, presentation skills, communication, conflict management, negotiation, assertiveness, motivation, and other soft-skill topics that can define people's perception of the project manager.

Beyond Gantt Charts; Project Frontier Reports on Information Design Challenges

Garry Booker at Project Frontier is proving to be a key thought leader in project management. His latest essay explores the limitations of most graphical tools used today, such as Gantt Charts, Dashboards, Earned Value charts, and other tools we know and love. Unfortunately, most of these tools are two-dimensional at best, and only offer a snapshot of the whole picture (something Edward Tufte would certainly agree with).

No system lives in isolation, and this is the essence of Garry Booker's essay. The essay explores systems thinking, and the 10 top challenges for those looking to adopt a systems approach to presenting their project management data. The key to any information design layer is awareness-- awareness of both the forest and the trees (and, as presented in the essay, even the leaves). Booker feels he may have addressed these problems with his EV Maps, and perhaps he has (KIDASA's Milestones Professional certainly seems to think so).

Regardless, I encourage everyone to read this essay and think about the implications of how we present data currently. Never mind the fact that he praises PMThink in his essay --- honest! Our site is all about research and exploring ways to improve the status quo in project management. Project Frontier is certainly pushing the envelope and we fully support endeavors such as that.

Information Design Challenge

Project Frontier's Earned Value Maps Part of KIDASA Milestone Professional 2006 Beta

As we reported here several weeks ago, our friend Garry Booker of Project Frontier came up with a revolutionary way to depict Earned Value status in a graphical pattern that goes way beyond Gantt Chart flatland.

Looks like people are taking notice. KIDASA's Milestones Professional 2006 will include these "EV Maps" as part of their product, and they're now looking for beta testers.

Here's the link to the Project Frontier news item, which contains more detail...

News

Project Management Lessons Learned; Think Practical!

I've already written about the foolishness of documenting lessons-learned without having an up-front project management process to review prior lessons-learned. Think of the adage, "If a tree falls in the forest and nobody's there to hear it, did it make a sound?"

Assuming you do have such a process to review prior lessons-learned, it's also necessary to think about how one would go about doing such a review. Chances are, you're not going to begin a project and say to yourself, "Let me look up some lessons on Earned Value Reporting." More likely, you'll want to look up lessons for the type of project you're managing or product you're developing. Maybe later during the project, you may want to look up lessons on certain project management questions.

The key here is categorizing your lessons-learned properly. If you add keywords or categories that are product (or project type) specific, along with any relevant project management process areas, you'll be more likely to have a useful format for researching these lessons. Of course some lessons are simply process related. But we need to try to include product or project type related lessons as well, in order to have a truly practical repository.

For more info, see my post from yesterday on Project Management Categorization. Meanwhile, I'd be interested in hearing others' experiences on categorizing and reviewing lessons-learned.

Thoughts on Project Time Tracking

In a couple of recent consulting engagements, the subject of time tracking has come up. For the organisations that have never required people to report time worked, there is an instinct that it is too much of an imposition on the work force and it would distract from getting the work done. There's an interesting reference to this in this article about Microsoft's use of MS Project from a couple of years ago.
gantthead offsite content
For organisations with a business model for delivering services (as opposed to a pure cost centre model), the idea of recording work done as a means of justifying billing is acceptable and may already be established.
The step to full task work effort recording against a baseline needed for Earned Value calculations can be too big a cultural step for some organisations. This is particularly true for those that already have some form of time recording - typically at the general activity type (vacation, project x, project y, administrative) - using a system that is already integrated into an accounting or payroll system.
One strategy that is often proposed is to use the EPM (Enterprise Project Management) system's task time tracking functionality as a front end to the legacy time reporting system - or vice versa. Designs for this kind of integration requires that key fields are present in the source system for matching records in the target system. It also implies that the administrator(s) of the source system have management processes that are sufficient for data management in both systems.
I'd be interested in readers' experiences and comments on this subject.

The Impact of Initiation and Planning on the Project Budget

For those familiar with Earned Value, we know that the calculations require a baseline (which get created at the end of the planning phase), as well as actual costs.

But what about all that time spent during the all-important initiation phase (which should include some sort of conceptual planning and alternatives analysis) and the planning phase (which includes WBS and schedule development)? These happen prior to Earned Value tracking.

Typically, there will be quite a bit of time spent in these phases, and by the time the baseline is approved at the end of these phases, a big chunk of the budget has already been spent. Since we can't use Earned Value during those phases (no baseline exists yet), how can we avoid blowing our budget too early?

I've seen several approaches to this:

1) One approach is to create the initiate phase in the project schedule immediately upon starting a project. Begin tracking time immediately. Consider starting with a baseline (i.e. budget) for that phase, and tracking against "budget" just like you would the rest of the project. The problem is that it's hard to budget for this type of activity.

2) Another approach is to do the initiation work (conceptual planning, initial requirements gathering, preliminary scope and business case development, etc.) outside of the project, and begin the project with the charter resulting from that "early initiation" activity (typically just after project approval). As Max Wideman said on his site, there's not really consensus in the industry if these "front-loading" activities should be part of the project or not. Still, you'd need track the WBS and schedule development, but at least those activities are easier to get a handle on.

3) I've even seen companies not bother tracking time until the schedule has been created and baselined. All initiation and planning phases are outside of the project. Sometimes they don't even submit their project for acceptance until after the WBS and schedule have been created. Most companies want the first approval earlier, though, based on an order-of-magnitude estimate.

I'd be curious to see what other approaches may exist for controlling (or not) the time spent on the initiation and planning phases.

No Earned Value Acronyms for Management

There's a good post on the Defense Acquisition University's EVM (Earned Value Management) Forum suggesting a good format for management reporting.

The submitter, Mr. Roger Mandel, makes a good case for protecting management from the details and acronyms inherent in Earned Value and offering the basics in a report.

Check out his recommended format. Looks pretty good to me...

1. Summary Status: (Stated here are the major facts in bullet format. Statements shall be clear and concise.)

2. Major Achievements & Future Scheduled tasks: (List those major milestones that have been accomplished during this past performance period and those that are schedule for the current or near term performance periods.)

3. Trends: (Stated here are the major trends, as the data indicates. Emphasize the present major problem. Phrase the statements in the form of a question. In a few cases, there may be more than one problem. A good problem statement will be concise, usually only one sentence.) Graphic figures should also be used.

4. Projections: (List the possible projections to the major trends. Develop alternative ways to solve the problem, generally more than one possible solution. Briefly note the advantages and disadvantages of each possible solution. State the projected completion period and total final cost.)

5. Choice and Rationale: (State choice from among possible solutions and the detailed reasons for that choice. State why certain alternatives were not chosen.)

6. Areas of Concern: (List cost accounts of task items that are prominent schedule or cost drivers that could cause significant variances.) Some form of a Stop Light chart could be used for a quick overview.

7. Validity of Data: (Comment of noted discrepancies within the submitted report and any concerns for the validity of data presented.)

See below for the full posting...

ACC: Acquisition Community Connection

Earned Value Tip of the Day

When is it time to start reporting Earned Value on a project? After the baseline is saved and you've begun collecting actual costs (ideally for at least a week). Typically this is soon after the beginning of the project execution phase.

Although activity happens earlier in a project and is certainly tracked, you need a baseline and actual costs in order to do Earned Value reporting. And the baseline typically doesn't exist until after a detailed schedule and budget has been finalized.

Implementing Earned Value; Training and Scalability Are Key

Here's a lesson from NASA's Public Lessons Learned System (PLLS) from their pilot project to implement Earned Value Management at the NASA Kennedy Space Center in 2004.

Two key points were raised:

• Make sure that sufficient training is provided to cover all facets and various scenarios
• Make sure your EVM system is implemented in a way that doesn't slow down small projects and work requests (either have a light version of EVM or don't require it for projects under a certain size).
  
  For the full details, go to the NASA PLLS System below and search for '1409' (which will bring up lesson #1409)...
  
  NASA Public Lessons Learned System (PLLS) Database

Earned Value Gone Wild; Exploring New "Frontiers" in Project Management

Project Frontier is a business that certainly would fall under the umbrella of "thought leadership." Their site offers ideas for "Streamlined Earned Value Management (EVM)" for personal weekly planning, and explores alternate ways of pictorially depicting Earned Value as "weather maps" (see their EV Maps section).

Check it out...

Welcome to Project Frontier

Project Management Approaches; Not One Size Fits All

While seemingly basic, this project management Wikipedia section from Answers.com is surprisingly robust, with good explanations of critical chain, WBS development, Earned Value, etc.

Best of all, it explores various approaches one can take to managing a project, including "extreme project management."

The best project management metholodogies do not take a "one size fits all" approach, but instead offer multiple approaches, depending on the nature of the project, and the circumstances. This site is a good place to start for those exploring alternative approaches.

project management: Information From Answers.com

Earned Value Weighted Milestones in MS/Project

Looking for a way to get Earned Value Weighted Milestones out of MS/Project? Here's a NASA presentation showing how MS/Project can be configured to offer a real percent complete based on wieghted milestones. Again, click on the link to view the PDF version.

Earned Value and Software Development

Even Software Developers are catching on to the value of Earned Value. And once again, the advantage of using weighted milestones comes up.

Here's a good article from Computing Canada that explains why weighted milestones are a good way to go.

The Software Engineering Instititute offers yet other alternatives, even using a modified version of Earned Value for Spiral Development. Once there, click on the link to view the PDF version.

Earned Value at NASA

Here's a good presentation from NASA back from 2002 on scheduling and Earned Value. The report is focused on R&D projects, but it's a valuable overview nonetheless. Pay particular attention to the "backup" slides, as they offer various alternatives for tracking Earned Value.

As those who have struggled with EV know, problems can occur when a simple percent complete formula is used, as all milestones are treated equally. Weighted milestones is a good solution, but not all project management software easily supports it. Another option is to use percent complete, but add a manual adjustment factor (perhaps in MS/Excel) that is based on weighted milestones (also see my entry on "Earned Value Weighted Milestones with MS/Project" for another solution). The fact is, Earned Value is a great tool, but it must be combined with weighted deliverables to be totally effective.

The link below is to the HTML version. Once there, click on the link to bring up the PowerPoint version for best readibility.

Earned Value for R&D-Type Projects

Using an Integrated Master Plan (IMP) and Integrated Master Schedule (IMS)

The U.S. Department of Defense, who were the first to use Earned Value and other project management techniques that are now standard everywhere, uses the IMP/IMS approach to project planning (this stands for Integrated Master Plan / Integrated Master Schedule). An Integrated Master Plan is events-based (typically in the form of a milestones list), while the Integrated Master Schedule contains the tasks that lead to the the events.

The presentation below offers the best outline I've seen yet on the use of IMP/IMS. Once you click on the link below, make sure to then click on the link at the top of that page to access the PDF version - it's much more readable and makes more sense when you see the diagrams. I linked to the HTML version for those who can't read PDFs (although it's free to get an Adobe Reader).

Microsoft PowerPoint - Integrated Master Plan (IMP)

Need a project management crystal ball? Watch the Aerospace & Defense Industry

The Aerospace and Defense industry was the first to use PERT, Earned Value, Critical Chain, and now Earned Schedule. It was also the first to use IDEF for process modelling. In fact, mostly every advanced project management method and technique originated from the defense industry.

To stay in touch with the latest news on industry best practices, check out the PMI's Aerospace and Defense Specific Interest Group. I did, for that very reason, and now serve on their Board of Directors.

PMI Aerospace & Defense Specific Interest Group

From Earned Value to Earned Schedule - Addressing a Gap

For a while now, people have been complaining that, while Earned Value is an excellent tool for cost management, it has some gaps when it comes to managing schedules.

For example, at the end of a project, the Schedule Variance (SV) is always zero. The Schedule Performance Index (SPI) always ends up at 1.00 (perfect score). That's because at the end of a project, all of the planned work has been completed. The concept is only good earlier in the project to show how much has been completed versus what percent should have been completed at this point in time.

Enter Earned Schedule. Earned Schedule addresses this gap by adapting Earned Value metrics to duration. It's being used more frequently now, especially in the defense industry (where Earned Value began), and is already mentioned in PMI's Earned Value Practice Standard. The idea is to use Earned Value for cost reporting, and Earned Schedule for schedule reporting.

Here is a great article from the Software Technology Support Center (STSC) explaining the concepts of Earned Schedule...

STSC CrossTalk - Connecting Earned Value to the Schedule - Jun�2005

Project shmoject - Just gimme a frickin issues list...

How many times have you heard this? And you know what? They may be right (under the right circumstances)! Some of the best perceived projects I've managed have been those where I had a one-page milestones list and an issues list, and communicated the hell out of the project. Simple as that.

At each weekly status meeting, after going through this week's issues, we reviewed the milestones. I asked questions like: "What percent complete are we on these?" "How much time have each of you spent on these in the last week?" "Is there anything standing in the way of meeting our next milestone, and if so, how do we resolve it?" I put together a simple Earned Value chart and management was happy. Simple, flexible, and fast - three principles of any good project.

Will this work for every project and in every environment? No. But it'll work more often than we care to admit (and this is coming from a PMP-certified, project management evangelist). Of course, we still need a business case and a collaborative effort putting the plan together. But once the plan is developed, the milestones and issues list can often take you the rest of the way. As Eisenhower said, "Plans are nothing. Planning is everything." Food for thought.