Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
Project Management and Earned Value Management
Effectively managing complex projects requires an intricate balance of computational skills, prescient preparation, and a keen sense of adaptability when contingencies inevitably occur. The interplay between a project's scope, time, and cost is ever evolving, and this unpredictability presents project managers with an unending stream of data points and ratios through which success or failure can ultimately be determined. One of the most valuable concepts to emerge within the field of modern project management is known as earned value management (EVM), and this formula represents "a project performance measurement technique that integrates scope, time, and cost data" (Schwalbe, 2011). By applying the precise analytical power of EVM to one's specific work breakdown structure (WBS), a project manager can easily begin to decipher the flood of data every major project generates to accurately assess that project's...
The benefits of using EVM practices are manifold, because this technique allows project managers to measure their project's current progress against a predetermined baseline, or "the original project plan plus approved changes" (Schwalbe, 2011). Earned value management "involves calculating three values for each activity or summary activity from a projects WBS & #8230; planned value (budget), actual cost, and earned value" (Schwalbe, 2011), and this flexibility affords project managers with the invaluable ability to apply crucial variances and indexes while generating highly accurate estimates and forecasts. By transforming the wealth of data generated by EVM into immersive charts and graphs, project managers are capable of comprehending the pace and production of their project's in a multitude of beneficial ways, from the estimate at completion (EAC) to the schedule performance index (SPI).
The practices…
References
Schwalbe, K. (2011). Information technology project management. (6th ed.). Boston: Course Technology Ptr.
Earned Value Management This is the standard method used in the project management industry to measure the progress of a project at any given time. It also allows for forecasting of the project's completion time, its final costs and the project manager can also analyze any variances in the project's budget, and schedule as the project is ongoing. Earned value management through earned value analysis achieves these by allowing the project
The intent of the Earned Value Project Management planning session would be to concentrate on providing the stakeholders within insights into each phase of the project development and the level of earned value at any point in time. The ability to use Earned Value Project Management to define checkpoints and key insights into the financial performance of a project plan is critically important to ensure the project will succeed
Validating the Concept of Earned Value Management It is important to note, from the onset, that most companies have in the past made extensive use of planned costs and actual costs in seeking to track project costs. In this case, if all the funds assigned to a specific project are used up, then the target is seen as having been hit. However, a cost under-run is perceived is less funds are
Most of these limitations can be attributed to project managers that use this technique. Some of the specialists in the field consider that the success of strategies based on earned value management relies on the project managers in case. This means that companies must orient towards project managers with proper skills that can be addressed. Therefore, the recruitment and selection process is very important when developing the project team. Companies
S. Air Force. During the heyday of defense contracting in the 1950s and 1960s, it became apparent to the Defense Department that as projects get larger and more complex, it becomes increasingly difficult to track what is happening on them. This problem is compounded by the fact that these large projects are being carried out in multiple contractor organizations, each of which employs its own peculiar planning and control system
Due in part to globalization, businesses around the world now require a large degree of project management and innovation. Project management enables companies to maintain their competitive position relative to peers in the industry. To maintain this position management must ensure that time and costs are controlled throughout the duration of the project. This is a critical element as it helps to determine the overall financial performance of a department