The Money Files

“It was two years of effort and two years of struggle,” said Steve Wake, describing the work to bring the Earned Value Management certification to fruition yesterday.  Wake, the chief examiner for the EVM qualification, was speaking at Project Challenge.

“The best thing that a project manager can do for us is this – it’s status,” he said.  “It’s where we are and what we’ve done.  To ask a project manager to do more than that is quite a lot.”

Earned Value does ask us to do more than that.  Wake explained it as “a disciplined framework for managing work.”  His definition is:

“A project control procedure based on a structured approach to planning, cost collection and performance management. It facilitates the integration of project scope, time and cost objectives and the establishment of a baseline plan for performance measurement.”

Got it?

If not, never fear.  There is a new exam you can take to prove you understand the concepts of EVM.  “It keeps you out of harms way,” Wake said of the new qualification.  “You’ll understand the language and vernacular and when asked to do something you’ll have a grasp of the process.”  If that sounds basic, it’s because it is.  There is no Practitioner EVM qualification yet, but there is one in the works.

The Foundation exam, like the others from the APMG stable, is a multiple choice, entry level paper.  It’s 40 questions, 30 of which are knowing/comprehending questions and 10 of which are applying/analysing questions.  Questions are based on the EVM – APM Guidelines.  Candidates have one hour to sit the closed book exam and the pass mark is 65% - or 75% if you want to be an assessor.  Wake explained that when the pilot group took the exam all but one passed.  This has given them confidence that they have set the difficulty levels appropriately. 

There is a course that accompanies the exam, although it is not compulsory and you can enter yourself directly for the qualification itself.  The course objectives are:

• Define EV concepts
• Select and deploy EV formulae
• Describe EV processes
• Explain different levels of system review
• And of course, take and pass the exam.

“We have a problem with Earned Value in the UK,” Wake said.  “We all use it, those who say they do, but there’s no way to put a stamp on it.”  He hopes that this qualification is the stamp, and that it will help avoid differing understandings and applications of EV.  However, he was pragmatic about how much a qualification can really increase the abilities of project managers.  “If you are confident that the thing is working correctly it frees you from chasing data,” he said.  “Exams are good because they determine a standard and also because with this method they give you the chance to manage.  With a good method you make good people very good.  It won’t make bad people good, though.”

The EV qualification has been put together by APM’s Earned Value SIG, and they are now working on a paper to discussed EV and PRINCE2 alignment.  “They are a good overlay to each other,” Wake explained.  “There’s limited detail in PRINCE2 about how you measure progress.”  This paper will be presented to the Best Practice User Group mid-November and made available after that – watch this space for more on how the two fit together. 

Can software really help save money on projects?  Genius Inside's blog claims that it can improve productivity by a quarter.  That's an impressive claim, and I wanted to hear if that was really the case.  I spoke to Neil Stolovitsy, Senior Solution Specialist, at the company.

Neil, you say on your blog that project management software can improve lost productivity by 25%. How is that?

We arrived at this percentage from various conversations internally as well as feedback from our clients. We also have an ROI calculator which helps us demonstrate the value of project management software to prospects and clients.

The Golden Gate Bridge project that you talk about was brought in under budget and on time. Would software really have improved the outcome that much?

It is important to look at the project within its historical context where no automation of any kind was used. I believe the ability to automate many of the project management (PM) processes employed and the significant increased visibility provided by today's PM software reporting tools would have positively impacted the bottom line and improved the efficiency of the work achieved. So although the project was on time and under budget by the acceptable standards of the year 1916, its success was measured based on the available tools of the time. However, the participants could have achieved even greater success using 21st technology.

How do you feel project management software like Genius can help us save costs on projects?

Most project cost losses result from the inefficient use of time and lack of visibility of project progress and potentially disruptive issues. Genius Project provides a single view that can be accessed anywhere allowing the efficient capture of project details, the elimination of manual processes, and 360 degree visibility into project progress and potential bottlenecks. The Genius Project solution therefore ensures lean project management processes are in place at the start of a project, helps eliminate wasteful activities and allows for project leaders to quickly respond to potential problems that may lead to increased costs in projects.

What are your top tips for cutting costs on projects without compromising quality?

There are several best practices I’d recommend but the most important is to have a solid project governance and business process strategy in place at the outset. Project governance will ensure that project teams follow a proven path to success and will increase the productivity of team members on their assignments while maintaining the quality of the work. Project governance also allows for the development of repeatable processes that will save time and money for future projects. You also want to have a solid business process strategy that has been approved and vetted by all stakeholders at every point within the life cycle of the project. This ensures no stone that can impact the project timeline, budget and ultimate success and quality of the project is left unturned.

Thanks, Neil!

More about my interviewee:

Neil Stolovitsky has 10 years of IT experience with end-user, consulting, and vendor organizations, along with extensive expertise in business development, software selection, and channel strategies. Neil is a Senior Solution Specialist with Genius Inside and can be reached at [email protected]

There’s been an interesting discussion on LinkedIn recently, in the BCS Project Management Specialist Group forum.  Members have been debating the hidden costs of projects.

Once you have a few projects under your belt, you’ll find it easy enough to work out what your project is going to cost – especially if you do the exercise with your project team.  The costs we focus on tend to be the things that we actually have to buy in order to deliver the project successfully, like new computers.

There are a host of things the LinkedIn group has come up with that are overlooked. For example, do you routinely factor in costs for marketing and advertising?  What about database and server licensing (even if you remember client licences)?

Here are some other items that you might want to double check are included in your next project budget:

• Training
• Internal communication and marketing materials, for example posters for the launch of your project
• Redundancy payments for people leaving the company as a result of your project
• Room hire for off-site meetings (and the associated costs of feeding everyone during the lunch break)
• Travel costs
• Decommissioning costs for wrapping up defunct servers or software
• Costs for end of project party!

What else do you include, that other people might not always remember?
 

The holidays are over and we’re into the final stretch before the milestone of year end.  This is a great time to get your project financial records in shape and set up systems to help you breeze through the end of year demands from your corporate finance people.   Today I’m looking at filing systems.

A flexible filing system will help you feel more organised and on top of the financial details.  Your files can then easily be archived at the end of the project or handed over to the operational team.

You need:

• Somewhere to store paper documents:  ring binder with dividers per project or hanging folders.
• Somewhere to lock away paper documents: filing cabinet, lockable desk drawer etc.
• A place to store electronic documents, preferably on a networked drive so if your PC or laptop breaks your files are not lost.  This networked drive should not be available to everyone.  Some (if not all) of your financial records will be sensitive, and should not be shared.
• A method of scanning in paper documents for electronic storage.

Keep these in paper format:

• Signed copies of contracts including appendices and amendments
• Any insurance policies you have set up as part of the project
• Escrow agreements
• Signed copies of change control notifications to contract terms

Keep these in electronic format:

• All the above – scanned in and stored electronically with the rest of your project files
• Service level agreements and other contract appendices – keep paper copies as well.  The electronic records will be good for easy reference
• Purchase orders
• Invoices
• Quotes
• Contact details for Accounts Receivable, Account Managers and other key financial contacts at your suppliers

Shred these:

• Paper copies of purchase orders and invoices – your corporate finance team responsible for Accounts Payable will also store copies, so you don’t need these
• Paper copies of quotes, once you have stored a copy electronically

Be especially careful with these:

• Financial records relating to project team members.  

If your project team members work for you, you’ll probably already have visibility of their salaries, expenses and bonus arrangements.  Don’t lump all this in with your ‘project’ records.  If the project team works for someone else who has asked for your input to their performance review to award a bonus, or you are responsible for their expenses or timesheets, don’t store this with the project records either.  Create a separate, private, ‘Personnel’ filing system for this type of sensitive record.