BCWS and basline work do not end up the same

[TinkerBell]

We perform hardware and software maintenance actions, and have to constantly
add tasks ranging from weeks to years to the overall plan. As such, some of
the tasks are always going to be complete and some not. The problem we are
having is that after adding tasks to a plan and saving them to the baseline,
the baseline work skews away from the BCWS, and at the end of the baselined
plan, the two values do not end up with the same.

Any help in understanding this skew would be appreciated.
Thanks.

 

[JulieS]

Hi Tinkerbell,

What version (including service pack) of Project are you using? When
you add more tasks are you rolling the change up to the summary task?
Baseline work is the total amount of work for the task or project --
BCWS is the *cost* of the baseline work through the status date. Have
you assigned your resources at $1.00 per hour? When you are comparing
BCWS to Baseline Work, what is your status date?

I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional information
about Microsoft Project

 

[salgud]

We perform hardware and software maintenance actions, and have to constantly
add tasks ranging from weeks to years to the overall plan. As such, some of
the tasks are always going to be complete and some not. The problem we are
having is that after adding tasks to a plan and saving them to the baseline,
the baseline work skews away from the BCWS, and at the end of the baselined
plan, the two values do not end up with the same.

Any help in understanding this skew would be appreciated.
Thanks.

Without knowing a little more, I can't be sure. But it sounds to me like
you're scheduling ongoing work, not a project. A project has many
definitions, but all of them include that it has to have a finite start and
finish date. The finish date often extends later than originally planned,
but if you're constantly adding tasks to your plan, particularly if they
extend the end date, then it's not a "project". Project won't schedule it
well, and EVA will have no meaning. EVA requires a fairly constant baseline
to work. I don't think you have that, or ever will, from your description.
I would suggest you find a method/software for production/maintenance
planning. I know they exist, just have never used one. But I have googled
for them over the years, and have always gotten a number of hits pushing
various methodologies for dealing with your issues more effectively than
CPM/Project.
Hope this helps in your world.