Where to find best practice for earned value in MS Project

[Peters]

Hello,

I am searching for some guidance on best practice on using MS Project in
conjunction with MS Project. Doing the WBS and assigning resources and cost
are not a problem. That is described everywhere. But when you go into
tracking, what is the best practice?

Not using Project Server, I would be doing manual updating of actual work.
Should I record remaining hours for every task, or do the not "started,
started, complete" method? And if so, which fields/method are the right ones
to use in MS Project if I want to be able to edit tasks to reflect the
current situation without destroying the base for earned value calculations?
What is the most practical way of exporting data to Excel without having to
do manual editing of the data every time (VBA?)?

I am hoping that there is a guide that someone could recommend with
practical advice that would cover areas such as the ones I have mentioned
above?

Thanks in advance,
Peters

 

[Jim Aksel]

** In Line below and represents one man's opinion**
--
If this post was helpful, please consider rating it.

Jim
It''s software; it''s not allowed to win.

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

Hello,

I am searching for some guidance on best practice on using MS Project in
conjunction with MS Project. Doing the WBS and assigning resources and cost
are not a problem. That is described everywhere. But when you go into
tracking, what is the best practice?

** MS Project has a robust Earned Value system using the ANSI STD fields
such as Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled (BCWS) or PLanned Value (PV),
Budgeted Cost of Work Performed (BCWP), Actual Cost of Work Performed (ACWP).
There are all the other measures SPI, CPI, CV, SV (and their %'s), etc.

Not using Project Server, I would be doing manual updating of actual work.
Should I record remaining hours for every task,

*Yes
or do the not "started,

started, complete" method?

*If tasks start/finish on any day other than the scheduled dates, enter the
actual dates in the [Actual Start] or [Actual Finish] columns

And if so, which fields/method are the right ones

to use in MS Project if I want to be able to edit tasks to reflect the
current situation without destroying the base for earned value calculations?

** If you set a baseline, there is little you can do to destroy it.
Make sure you have costed resources and those resources are loaded to the
actual rate the project must pay for their use. That is, the rate the
company bills you for their use .... not the rate the project invoices the
customer. Assign resources to tasks, but not summary level tasks.

Make sure Project is set to allow costs to be entered manually.
(Tools/Options/Calculations)

My opinion (and it is a strong one, and there are people here who disagree
with me...) is to use Physical%Complete for your Earned Value. On the
Calculations tab, click Earned Value, set your baseline and also set EV to
Physical%Complete.

When creating tasks make them all EV method=Physical%Complete. This allows
you to take EV based on BCWS and Cost parameters not the passage of time. I
have a separate PowerPoint on this topic if you'd like more information.

When updating tasks, your Control Account Managers owe you Physical%Complete
(they would call it %Complete), and the remaining work hours they need to
finish the task.

Enter Actual Costs from your accounting system.... you may need to have some
individual tasks that track this cost since I doubt you can track discrete
time charges all the way down to the single discrete task levels.

What is the most practical way of exporting data to Excel without having to
do manual editing of the data every time (VBA?)?

**Use the Analyze Time Phased Data In Excel wizard. It can be found on the
Analysis toolbar (View/Toolbars/Analysis). You can use this to create your
EV graphs if you use Project2003. There is an Earned Value graph already
included in Reports/Visual Reports... in Project 2007.

I am hoping that there is a guide that someone could recommend with
practical advice that would cover areas such as the ones I have mentioned
above?

*** I recommend a book by Quentin Flemming on Earned Value Management;
here's a link:
http://www.pmi.org/Marketplace/Pages/ProductDetail.aspx?GMProduct=00100075201

www.pmi.org has additional resources on Earned Value.

If you do a Google search on "Department of Defense Earned Value
Implementation Guide" you should find a wealth of information. That is the
American version, there are corresponding guides for Australia and England.
It appears the Aussies have a leg up on us Yankees in this matter.

 

[Peters]

Dear Jim,

Thanks for all the good advice! I am now more than halfway through the book
you recommended!

As I write this, I am just about to complete the WBS for the project that I
will run EV on, and I have one more specific question on updating the plan.

Let's say that the baseline WBS contains a task which is a good guesstimate.
This could be "Design device casing" Work=240 hrs, Duration=10 weeks. I know
that one month after the baseline has been set, for communication purposes, I
will be wanting to and be able to divide this task into smaller tasks, such
as "Design front cover" Work 40 hrs, "Design top cover"...all still summing
up to the original 240 hrs.

My question is, how do I work with my plan when I can detail my tasks
better? I keep the task from the baseline plan? Add the new tasks? Will it
work to just set the remaining work on the first task to zero? Or how do I go
about it?!

Also, when a task becomes obsolete due to some clever design, how do I
change that task?

/Peter




--
--------
Peter S

** In Line below and represents one man's opinion**
--
If this post was helpful, please consider rating it.

Jim
It''s software; it''s not allowed to win.

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

Hello,

I am searching for some guidance on best practice on using MS Project in
conjunction with MS Project. Doing the WBS and assigning resources and cost
are not a problem. That is described everywhere. But when you go into
tracking, what is the best practice?

** MS Project has a robust Earned Value system using the ANSI STD fields
such as Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled (BCWS) or PLanned Value (PV),
Budgeted Cost of Work Performed (BCWP), Actual Cost of Work Performed (ACWP).
There are all the other measures SPI, CPI, CV, SV (and their %'s), etc.

Not using Project Server, I would be doing manual updating of actual work.
Should I record remaining hours for every task,

*Yes
or do the not "started,

started, complete" method?

*If tasks start/finish on any day other than the scheduled dates, enter the
actual dates in the [Actual Start] or [Actual Finish] columns

And if so, which fields/method are the right ones

to use in MS Project if I want to be able to edit tasks to reflect the
current situation without destroying the base for earned value calculations?

** If you set a baseline, there is little you can do to destroy it.
Make sure you have costed resources and those resources are loaded to the
actual rate the project must pay for their use. That is, the rate the
company bills you for their use .... not the rate the project invoices the
customer. Assign resources to tasks, but not summary level tasks.

Make sure Project is set to allow costs to be entered manually.
(Tools/Options/Calculations)

My opinion (and it is a strong one, and there are people here who disagree
with me...) is to use Physical%Complete for your Earned Value. On the
Calculations tab, click Earned Value, set your baseline and also set EV to
Physical%Complete.

When creating tasks make them all EV method=Physical%Complete. This allows
you to take EV based on BCWS and Cost parameters not the passage of time. I
have a separate PowerPoint on this topic if you'd like more information.

When updating tasks, your Control Account Managers owe you Physical%Complete
(they would call it %Complete), and the remaining work hours they need to
finish the task.

Enter Actual Costs from your accounting system.... you may need to have some
individual tasks that track this cost since I doubt you can track discrete
time charges all the way down to the single discrete task levels.

What is the most practical way of exporting data to Excel without having to
do manual editing of the data every time (VBA?)?

**Use the Analyze Time Phased Data In Excel wizard. It can be found on the
Analysis toolbar (View/Toolbars/Analysis). You can use this to create your
EV graphs if you use Project2003. There is an Earned Value graph already
included in Reports/Visual Reports... in Project 2007.

I am hoping that there is a guide that someone could recommend with
practical advice that would cover areas such as the ones I have mentioned
above?

*** I recommend a book by Quentin Flemming on Earned Value Management;
here's a link:
http://www.pmi.org/Marketplace/Pages/ProductDetail.aspx?GMProduct=00100075201

www.pmi.org has additional resources on Earned Value.

If you do a Google search on "Department of Defense Earned Value
Implementation Guide" you should find a wealth of information. That is the
American version, there are corresponding guides for Australia and England.
It appears the Aussies have a leg up on us Yankees in this matter.

Thanks in advance,
Peters