Confusion with BCWP

[verossa]

Hi All,

I have a created a test project with tasks and resource allocations in order to understand the workings of BCWS, ACWP, BCWP.

I'm fine with BCWS and ACWP. However, BCWP is confusing because it's always the same as BCWS when I Analyse Timescale Data is Excel.

The help states: BCWP "is the percentage of the budget that should have been spent for a given percentage of work performed on a task".

E.g. Task 1, is a 10 day task, and is allocated Resource 1 at a rate of £50/day.

Task 1
Day 1 - 8hrs
Day 2 - 8hrs
Day 3 - 8hrs
Day 4 - 8hrs
Day 5 - 8hrs
Day 6 - 8hrs
Day 7 - 8hrs
Day 8 - 8hrs
Day 9 - 8hrs
Day 10 - 8hrs

Once this project is baselined I would expect BCWS and BCWP to be linear if Resource 1 worked 8 hrs / day. However, if on Day 6 and 7 Resource 1 did 16 hrs (double shifts) I would expect BCWP not to equals BCWS. However, on my plan it does which means my understanding of BCWP must be incorrect.

I'd appreciate any information on this or samples. Remove the _nospam to reply direct.

Thanks in advance to all who reply - Vers

 

[JulieS]

Hello Verossa,

Are you changing your status date as you add actual work?
As stated in help "BCWP is calculated up to the status
date or today's date."

I have re-created your scenario as you suggest.
When I get to day 6, I see the following figures:
BCWS: 300
BWCP: 333
ACWP: 350
**My status date is equal to the date of day 6.**

When I add actuals of 16 hours for day 7
BCWS: 350
BCWP: 437.50
ACWP: 450
**My status date is equal to the date of day 7*

On a side note, you may find it quicker to view the
Earned value (BCWP, BCWS etc) data by applying the earned
value table to the task usage view, instead of exporting
the information to excel to see the changes.
I hope this helps.
Cheers!
Julie

-----Original Message-----
Hi All,

I have a created a test project with tasks and resource

allocations in order to understand the workings of BCWS,
ACWP, BCWP.

I'm fine with BCWS and ACWP. However, BCWP is confusing

because it's always the same as BCWS when I Analyse
Timescale Data is Excel.

The help states: BCWP "is the percentage of the budget

that should have been spent for a given percentage of
work performed on a task".

E.g. Task 1, is a 10 day task, and is allocated Resource 1 at a rate of £50/day.

Task 1
Day 1 - 8hrs
Day 2 - 8hrs
Day 3 - 8hrs
Day 4 - 8hrs
Day 5 - 8hrs
Day 6 - 8hrs
Day 7 - 8hrs
Day 8 - 8hrs
Day 9 - 8hrs
Day 10 - 8hrs

Once this project is baselined I would expect BCWS and

BCWP to be linear if Resource 1 worked 8 hrs / day.
However, if on Day 6 and 7 Resource 1 did 16 hrs (double
shifts) I would expect BCWP not to equals BCWS. However,
on my plan it does which means my understanding of BCWP
must be incorrect.

I'd appreciate any information on this or samples.

Remove the _nospam to reply direct.

 

[JulieS]

Hi Verossa,
No, your graph isn't incorrect. The differences that I
talked about in the earlier post was when I had status
dates that were different from 6/2/04.
When I did exactly what you did, which is set the status
date to 6/2/04 the difference between BCWS, BCWP, and
ACWP does disappear.
As of 6/2/04 the original scheduled end date for the
task, the amount of work scheduled (BCWS - 80h x rate),
the amount of work performed (BCWP - 80h x rate), and the
actual cost of work performed (ACWP - 80h x rate) are
equal.
However, if you export the timescaled data to excel, you
will see the differences on 5/27/04 through 6/1/04 - just
as you do in your data below.

By 5/31 the resource should have worked (baseline work)64
hours, they actually worked 80 hours **and the task is
complete**.
By 6/1 the resource should have worked (baseline work)72
hours, the resource didn't work any more hours because
the task is complete so they still have 80 hours.
By 6/2 the resource should have worked (baseline work) 80
hours which is now equal to the 80 hours they did work.

I hope this has helped. You are doing nothing wrong at
all. I think it's just the status date and its effect on
the earned value data that is throwing you off. Let me
know which version of MS Project (2002 or 2003) you are
using and I'll email you the file if that helps.

Please let me know if this doesn't help and we'll try
again.

regards,
Julie

-----Original Message-----
Hi JulieS

Thanks for responding (again). I have reviewed my small

test project, set the status date to Wed 02/06/04 to
represent the last reporting date and get the following
figures:

20/05/2004 (Day 1)
ACWP £80.00
BCWP £80.00
BCWS £80.00


21/05/2004 (Day 2)
ACWP £160.00
BCWP £160.00
BCWS £160.00


24/05/2004 (Day 3)
ACWP £240.00
BCWP £240.00
BCWS £240.00


25/05/2004 (Day 4)
ACWP £320.00
BCWP £320.00
BCWS £320.00


26/05/2004 (Day 5)
ACWP £400.00
BCWP £400.00
BCWS £400.00


27/05/2004 (Day 6)
ACWP £560.00
BCWP £480.00
BCWS £480.00


28/05/2004 (Day 7)
ACWP £720.00
BCWP £560.00
BCWS £560.00


31/05/2004 (Day 8)
ACWP £746.30
BCWP £640.00
BCWS £640.00


01/06/2004 (Day 9)
ACWP £772.80
BCWP £720.00
BCWS £720.00


02/06/2004 (Day 10)
ACWP £800.10
BCWP £800.00
BCWS £800.00

As you can see my BCWP is exactly the same as BCWS and

therefore my graph is incorrect. In your example the
variance is shown. I wonder what I'm doing wrong - its
seems so self explanatory.

Would it be possible to email the example you tried? If

so, please remove the _spam from the address.

 

[verossa]

Morning Julie

Thanks for responding with such a comprehensive answer. I understand what you mean and have some additional questions. I've emailed you off-group

Hope you don't mind

Thanks again
Vers