Earned Value Workshop Overview

This workshop addresses earned value management system (EVMS) concepts, applications and issues in the context of performance-based management and budgeting. It uses case studies throughout to reinforce the concepts. It addresses: organizing the project work; planning for performance management; accumulating performance data; monitoring project performance; maintaining the project baseline; assessing project performance; and the system compliance process. This seminar is designed for the person new to the world of performance-based management and EVMS and also for those who are looking for a refresher/update on these topics.

Workshop Target Audience

Project managers, project engineers, other project personnel who independently monitor and analyze project schedule performance.

Length of Workshop

3 Days

The workshop emphasizes many important techniques including:

• Understanding the basic concepts of earned value
• Integrate the scope, schedule and cost elements of the project
• Understand the critical distinctions between budget and funds
• Understand the management control point concepts behind the control account
• Define control accounts in both traditional functional and IPD environments
• Effectively define candidates for the role of control account manager
• Better define work and planning packages as well as relate them to activities within the schedule
• Select the most appropriate EV techniques for individual work packages
• Apply the rolling wave planning principles
• Develop and/or analyze a control account plan
• Understand management reserve and how to establish a meaningful amount
• Understand undistributed budget
• Identify the optimal point of measurement for material for the organization
• Better understand what are and aren't appropriate change practices in a baseline environment
• Close an in-process work package
• Make changes to future portions of an in-process work package
• Calculate efficiency factors such as the CPI, SPI and TCPI
• Avoid common pitfalls associated with data analysis
• Develop and/or analyze graphical depictions of performance information

Detailed Agenda

DAY ONE

Introduction to Earned Value

• The basic concepts of earned value management
• The earned value data elements
• Funds vs. budgets

Organizing the Project Work

• The work breakdown structure (WBS): development, benefits and guidelines
• The WBS dictionary
• Assignment of responsibility and Control Account identification
• Control account "size" rules of thumb

Planning

• The integrated baseline concepts
• Top down and bottom up planning concepts
• Work packages: definition, characteristics, development guidelines
• Earned value techniques for calculation of Budgeted Cost for Work Performed (BCWP)
• Apportioned effort tasks
• Level of effort (LOE) tasks
• The rolling wave concept
• Essential scheduling system characteristics
• Case Study: Application of Earned Value Techniques

DAY TWO

• Case Study: Control Account Plan Preparation
• The Contract Budget Base (CBB) and the Performance Measurement Baseline (PMB)
• Management reserve and undistributed budget
• Budget element relationships

Work Authorization

• Reviewing planning for approval
• Authorization to perform work
• Case Study: Contract Baseline Establishment

Monitoring Project Performance

• Accounting for costs
• Data accumulation
• Cost, schedule and at completion variances
• Defining a "significant" variance
• The variance analysis process
• Elements of an effective variance analysis
• Corrective action plans
• Development of the estimate at completion (EAC)
• Case Study: Statusing the control account plan
• Case Study: Control account performance analysis

DAY THREE
Controlling/Maintaining the Baseline

• Types of changes impacting project cost and schedule baselines
• Change traceability
• Disciplines inherent to baseline stability
• Re-planning vs. rebaselining
• Over target baselines
• Replanning/closing in-process work packages
• Over target schedules
• Calculating cost and schedule efficiency factors: SPI, CPI,TCPI
• Developing calculated, independent estimates at completion (IEAC)
• Case Study: Cost Performance Report (CPR) Analysis
• Data analysis pitfalls: invalid data, unrealistic baselines, washout, data time lags, too much emphasis on history
• Material price and usage variances
• Case Study: Detailed Data Analysis of Control Account Performance
• Graphical analysis techniques: Effective trend illustration, common data plots, the Bulls' Eye Chart
• Class graphical analysis of data from actual major acquisition programs

Summary and Wrap Up

• Review and Recap

PDU's

21 Units

Prerequisites

Basic Project Management training

Materials Provided

Workshop notebook