This document discusses project control and status reporting. It covers planning project performance, measuring work status, comparing work to the baseline plan, and taking corrective actions. The key principles of project control are discussed, including balancing control and trust of workers. Progress monitoring through status reports is also covered, including reporting formats, monitoring frequencies, and addressing issues. The document then discusses earned value analysis, a method for quantifying project performance that considers planned, actual, and earned values. It covers components of earned value analysis like variances, indices, and forecasts.
This document discusses project control and status reporting. It covers planning project performance, measuring work status, comparing work to the baseline plan, and taking corrective actions. The key principles of project control are discussed, including balancing control and trust of workers. Progress monitoring through status reports is also covered, including reporting formats, monitoring frequencies, and addressing issues. The document then discusses earned value analysis, a method for quantifying project performance that considers planned, actual, and earned values. It covers components of earned value analysis like variances, indices, and forecasts.
This document discusses project control and status reporting. It covers planning project performance, measuring work status, comparing work to the baseline plan, and taking corrective actions. The key principles of project control are discussed, including balancing control and trust of workers. Progress monitoring through status reports is also covered, including reporting formats, monitoring frequencies, and addressing issues. The document then discusses earned value analysis, a method for quantifying project performance that considers planned, actual, and earned values. It covers components of earned value analysis like variances, indices, and forecasts.
This document discusses project control and status reporting. It covers planning project performance, measuring work status, comparing work to the baseline plan, and taking corrective actions. The key principles of project control are discussed, including balancing control and trust of workers. Progress monitoring through status reports is also covered, including reporting formats, monitoring frequencies, and addressing issues. The document then discusses earned value analysis, a method for quantifying project performance that considers planned, actual, and earned values. It covers components of earned value analysis like variances, indices, and forecasts.
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Software Project Management
Session 9: Project Control
Principle of Project Management Fall 1
2008 Today • Project Control • Status Reporting • Earned Value Analysis
Principle of Project Management Fall 2
2008 Project Control • Ongoing effort to keep your project on track • 4 primary activities: – 1. Planning performance • A SDP, schedule, and a control process – 2. Measuring status of work performed • Actuals – 3. Comparing to baseline • Variances – 4. Taking corrective action as needed • Response • Prerequisite to good control is a good plan Principle of Project Management Fall 3 2008 Project Control • “Control” • Power, authority, domination. No. • Guiding a course of action to meet an objective. Yes. • Principles • Work is controlled, not workers – Control helps workers be more effective & efficient • Control based on work completed – Use concrete deliverables • Balance – Appropriate level between too much and too little – Includes: » Micro-managing vs. neglect » Too much tracking detail vs. too little
Principle of Project Management Fall 4
2008 Progress Monitoring • The 3 key Progress Monitoring Questions – What is the actual status? – If there’s a variance, what is cause? – What to do about it? • Possible responses • 1. Ignore • 2. Take corrective action • 3. Review the plan
Principle of Project Management Fall 5
2008 Progress Monitoring • Monitoring rates – Daily, weekly, monthly – If problems occur – then adjust • You may have to monitor problem areas more closely • For some period of time • Almost always there’s one or more areas under closer scrutiny • Status Reporting – Part of the communications management plan – Which is usually just a section of SDP
Principle of Project Management Fall 6
2008 Status Reports • From team to PM, from PM to stakeholders • Typical format for latter – Summary – Accomplishments for this period (done) • Tasks, milestones, metrics – Plans for next period (to-do) – Risk analysis and review – Issues & Actions • Shoot for weekly updates – Email notes, then hold brief meeting – More frequently during crises
Principle of Project Management Fall 7
2008 Programming Status Reporting • A programmer reports that he’s 90% done. – What does this mean? • A programmer reports completing 4,000 LOC on estimated 5,000 LOC effort. • Is this 80% complete? • Quality? • Ratio, estimated to completed? – Your estimates could have been wrong • If you can’t measure scope or quality you don’t know “reality” • You really only know cost (hours spent) • How can you improve this?
Principle of Project Management Fall 8
2008 Binary Reporting • Work packages (tasks) can only be in one of 2 states: complete or incomplete – No partial credit • Preferred to anything subjective! • “90% Complete Syndrome” – Software is 90% complete 90% of the time • Use lower-level task decomposition • Tangible exit criteria • Plan for 4-80 staff hours of effort per task
Principle of Project Management Fall 9
2008 Earned Value Analysis (EVA) • a.k.a. Earned Value Management (EVM) • a.k.a. Variance Analysis • Metric of project tracking • “What you got for what you paid” – Physical progress • Pre-EVA ‘traditional’ approach • 1. Planned time and costs • 2. Actual time and costs • Progress: compare planned vs. actual • EVA adds third dimension: value • Planned, actual, earned
Principle of Project Management Fall 10
2008 Earned Value Analysis • Forecasting – Old models include cost & expenditure – EVA adds schedule estimation • Measured in dollars or hours – Often time used in software projects • Performance Measurement Baseline (PMB) • Time-phased budget plan against which contract performance is measured • Cost & schedule variances go against this • Best via a bottom-up plan
Principle of Project Management Fall 11
2008 Earned Value Analysis • Different methods are available – Binary Reporting – Others include • Based on % complete • Weights applied to milestones • EVA can signal errors as early as 15% into project • Alphabet Soup Principle of Project Management Fall 12 2008 Earned Value Analysis – 3 major components • BCWS: Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled – Now called “Planned Value” (PV) – “Yearned” – How much work should be done? • BCWP: Budgeted Cost of Work Performed – Now called “earned value” (EV) – “Earned” – How much work is done? – BCWS * % complete • ACWP: Actual Cost of Work Performed – Now called “Actual Cost” (AC) – “Burned” – How much did the work done cost?
Principle of Project Management Fall 13
2008 Derived EVA Variances • SV: Schedule Variance – BCWP – BCWS – Planned work vs. work completed • CV: Cost Variance – BCWP – ACWP – Budgeted costs vs. actual costs • Negatives are termed ‘unfavorable’ • Can be plotted on ‘spending curves’ – Cumulative cost (Y axis) vs. Time (X axis) – Typically in an ‘S’ shape • “What is the project status”? – You can use variances to answer this
Principle of Project Management Fall 14
2008 Earned Value Analysis
Principle of Project Management Fall 15
2008 Derived EVA Ratios – SPI: Schedule Performance Index – BCWP / BCWS – CPI: Cost Performance Index – BCWP / ACWP – Problems in project if either of these less than 1 (or 100%)
Principle of Project Management Fall 16
2008 Earned Value Analysis • Other Derived Values • BAC: Budget At Completion – Sum of all budges (BCWS). Your original budget. • EAC: Estimate At Completion – Forecast total cost at completion – EAC = ((BAC – BCWP)/CPI) + ACWP – Unfinished work divided by CPI added to sunk cost – If CPI < 1, EAC will be > BAC • CR: Critical Ratio – SPI x CPI – 1: everything on track – > .9 and < 1.2 ok – Can be charted
Principle of Project Management Fall 17
2008 Principle of Project Management Fall 18 2008 Principle of Project Management Fall 19 2008 Principle of Project Management Fall 20 2008 Principle of Project Management Fall 21 2008 EVA Example
As of 1-July where are we?
BCWS
BCWP
ACWP Principle of Project Management Fall 22 2008 EVA Example
CV
SV
CPI
SPI
CR
Principle of Project Management Fall 23
2008 Earned Value Analysis • BCWS – Use ‘loaded labor’ rates if possible • Direct pay + overhead • Remember it’s an aggregate figure – May hide where the problem lies – Beware of counterbalancing issues • Over in one area vs. under in another
Principle of Project Management Fall 24
2008 Earned Value Analysis • Benefits – Consistent unit of measure for total progress – Consistent methodology • Across cost and completed activity • Apples and apples comparisons – Ability to forecast cost & schedule – Can provide warnings early • Success factors – A full WBS is required (all scope) – Beware of GIGO: Garbage-in, garbage-out
Principle of Project Management Fall 25
2008 Homework • Schwalbe: 7 “Project Quality Management” • URLs – “Introduction to Software Testing” • http://www.iplbath.com/pdf/p0820.pdf – “Introduction to Software Testing Principles” • http://www.qestest.com/principl.htm • Project plan: – Develop and submit an initial copy of the project plan (limited to tasks & milestones) for your individual project Principle of Project Management Fall 26 2008 Questions?