I work for a large organization that is interested in using MS Project (2010 and 2013) to calculate earned value for projects. We have all kinds of projects with varying degrees of complexity and various types of resources (in-house, consultants, vendors, etc.). I am familiar with using MS Project for EVM, but the challenge would be getting a multitude of other project managers with mixed experience levels all on the same page. I'm not looking to be prescriptive, but I do want to communicate the principles of EVM while providing practical guidance for setting up and using MS Project to manage EVM data.
As you know, EVM is not exactly straightforward with MS Project, and many of our PM's do not track resources on an hourly basis. Many of our projects use fixed price contracts with fixed cost deliverables. Therefore, I'm considering (as a means to introduce basic EVM and also to demonstrate it for fixed price deliverable projects) creating a simple mockup schedule with costs entered in the Fixed Cost field on summary tasks only. This basically side-steps the need to use cost-loaded resources to enable EVM calculations in MS Project, although we could still assign resources with a Standard Rate of $0.00/hr to the detail tasks in order to track work hours/effort. It's just a starting point though; eventually we'll get to where we're using cost-loaded resources to calculate earned value.
Does this seem like a reasonable approach? If not, any advice or suggestions? Thanks in advance. Saving Changes...
You are doing well by the approach you are considering. MS Project by itself is not a very well aligned EVM software but I would agree it does support EVM. On the other hand convincing people to use it is even an uphill task and that too when consistency is the goal. If at all you want to use MS Project and it's EVM approach, I would suggest you coach all project managers on the correct use of it rather than devising a shortcut. Although I have absolutely no problem with the approach you are suggesting but then that is not a conventional approach and your project managers will still not learn how to use EVM in MS Project, they would rather learn a patch which may not be reusable in another environment. Saving Changes...
Ganesh SrinivasanGanesh PMO (PMP, PMI-SP, ITIL-F)| MNC BankChennai, India
Hi,
Nice question. I would like to ask further more in this regards.
When most of the Resources are working in Fixed Price contract and when Project manager mostly not entering the cost, how we can calculate EVM. I'm asking in terms Schedule.
Thanks.
Ganesh Saving Changes...
Gary RichardsonProfessor| Univ of HoustonKingwood, Tx, United States
One of the earlier posts highlighted that MS Project is somewhat flaky in regard to EV calculation (too much to outline here). One possible simplistic way to start this process would be to simply record theparameters PV/BCWS and EV/BCWP for the desired status point directly into Excel. This can be copied directly from MSP. Then manually add actual costs to that view. From these three values schedule and cost parameters can be produced. Also the various work packages can be sorted in various ways to show multiple views of project status. this can be done by adding a sort field to the raw data. Saving Changes...
Not a single software calculates the EVM differently for different projects in a portfolio. My suggestion is automate MS project 2013 or use Excel for EVM. If you need EVM sheet then contact me to send you the sheet. My email is [email protected] Saving Changes...
Stéphane ParentSelf Employed / Semi-retired| Leader MakerPrince Edward Island, Canada
Have you considered moving to Microsoft Project Server? Your PMs can continue feeding their usual schedules but you will be able to pull EVM from them. Saving Changes...
