ITMG624 W7- Earned Value Management
First provided required reading resource
Chapter 9 - Executing the Project - Read the following sub-heading
The Project Control System - Learn the three project control environments section
Monitoring Progress - Read this entire section
Managing Issues
Tracking you project
Controlling the project costs
Second Required Reading resource - Chapter II Critical Success Factors for IT Projects
A key factor leading to the continued failure in IT projects is the lack of identification and appreciation for all the major components of project success. Critical success factors are those things that must be done or handled properly for a project to be successful. A comprehensive model of critical success factors for IT projects permits the development of better management plans, processes, and metrics, particularly for risk, quality, and performance control. In this chapter, general critical IT success factors are identified and techniques for the management of those factors are introduced; later chapters then detail those techniques. Read the provided second reading resource Chapter II in its entirety
Third Required Reading Resource - Chapter 21 - Tracking Progress to Achieve Project Control
Tracking Progress to Achieve Project Control - If you are going to keep a project on schedule, within budget and scope, and meet quality requirements, you must have away to measure where you are for each variable of interest.This is much easier said than done. When you are doing work that has some tangible nature, you can measure progress fairly well, but when you are trying to measure knowledge-work progress, it gets more difficult. Read Chapter 21 in its entirety. Recommended Reading Resource - Read Pages 35 to 43 of the recommended reading resource.
Instructions:
Class, I appreciate your participation in this discussion. For this discussion, create an original post addressing the topic(s) below, prior to midnight ET on Thursday. Continue to follow your classmates' posts for the remainder of the week and respond to two or more of your classmates prior to midnight ET on Sunday. Your follow-up posts may add additional insights to a classmate's opinions or may challenge posted opinions. Use examples from the readings, or from your own research to support your views as appropriate. Be sure to read the follow-up posts to your own posts and reply to any questions or requests for clarification. By the way, include the name of the person's post you are replying to. Thanks!
Discussion Points: Please list each question and answer each question below when posting your initial response.
What is the definition of Success in a Project?
What is Earned Value Analysis? What is the purpose of Variance analysis?
Discuss two of the performance Indeces
What is the definition of success in a Project?
Definition of success in a project overtime has been measured using cost, scope, time, and quality of the project. Authors in recent times have suggested other factors as important to define success in a project, i.e., completion, and satisfaction criteria (Lewis, 2007).
To define project success, satisfaction, and completion criteria needs to be considered. The completion criteria include contract-related items such as time, cost, and scope of the project. The satisfaction criteria include quality of the project, fitness of the project for its intended purpose and
operation of the project such as the ease of learning and its use.
What is Earned Value Analysis? What is the purpose of Variance Analysis?
Earned Value Analysis is used to measure the progress of a project at a given time/period in relation to the cost/value of the project.
The purpose of Variance Analysis is to identify and evaluate the difference between an expected result and the actual result of the cost, schedule, and resources allocated to the project.
Discuss two of the performance Indices
Schedule Performance Index (SPI) measures the actual progress of the project from the scheduled time of the project to indicate that the project is on schedule or behind schedule. When the SPI is greater than 1.0, it indicates the projects performance is on target. If the SPI is less than 1.0, it indicates a negative project performance.
Cost Performance Index (CPI) measures the completed project work to the actual cost of the project. When the CPI is greater than 1.0, it indicates the projects performance is positive. On the other hand, if the CPI is less than 1.0, it indicates the project is over budget.
REFERENCES
Lewis, J. P. (2007). Mastering Project Management: Applying Advanced Concepts to Systems Thinking, Control and Evaluation, Resource Allocation. McGraw-Hill Education
Brandon, D. (2005). Project Management for Modern Information Systems. Hershey, PA: IRM Press
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