Assignment Problem:
An important aspect of project management is learning to work with a team. In this assignment you will work with a group of your peers to explore how earned value management can assist in evaluating the health of a project. Earned value management helps you quantify the performance of a project. It compares costs and schedules to a baseline to determine if the project is on track.
Section 1: In this assignment, your team is managing a software development project with a total project budget of $178,500. Total work effort is 1,536 hours and the timeline for completion 24 weeks. At the end of week 12, the plan was to have completed 55% of the project scope. However, actual progress was calculated at 650 worth of hours completed on project activities and actual cost (in hours) for these activities is 780.
With your team, please answer the following questions. For each response, show the pertinent formula(s) as it applies and "show your work" in addition to providing a narrative statement.
- How much money was supposed to have been spent at the end of week 12?
- Will the project finish on time and within the given budget?
- How much money will it take to complete the project?
- What are we forecasting the final project cost to be?
Your team should show all calculations and thoroughly explain what the resulting numbers mean for the project. Remember to cite all references used to answer questions.
Section 2: For a project team to accurately calculate the earned value of a project what steps must be taken in the beginning of the project and what must the project manager commit to throughout the project management lifecycle?
Section 3: What mechanical and cultural challenges are faced by organizations implementing Earned Value Management? Is EVM worth the effort?
Create a Microsoft Project file (.mpp) and build out the Project Plan:
Prior to entering your tasks, make sure you set up your Microsoft Project file (this information is covered in Chapter 2 of the Ambriz textbook):
1. From the File tab, select Options and then Schedule - verify that the information on that tab is set correctly for your project and work environment. Change the scheduling options so that all tasks are Auto Scheduled. You want to use the dynamic scheduling capabilities of MS Project. Select whether or not you want to schedule the project from the start date or the end date (regulatory requirements and events that have non-negotiable deadlines should be scheduled from the Project End Date).
2. Create a calendar for your project or make necessary modifications to the Standard calendar to include any revised schedule days, holidays or non-working days.
3. From the Project Tab, select Project Information and set the Start Date of your project. This can be the actual start date of your project or you can select a fictitious start date if you don't know exactly when the project is going to start. Select the appropriate Calendar for your project based on step 2.
4. On the File tab in the backstage view, click on Info. From the right side of the window, select Project Information, Advanced Properties. On the Summary tab, enter the Title of your project, your name and a brief description in the Comments box.
Using the Work Breakdown Structure that your created, enter your summary tasks and detail tasks into Microsoft Project. During this exercise, you may identify additional tasks that you didn't initially think of or you may decide to move things around a bit. That is perfectly acceptable and common when you start building the schedule. It is a living, breathing document and does change throughout the course of planning. Use the Indent Task/Outdent Task buttons on the Task tab to create the hierarchy of your WBS. If you want to turn on the WBS numbering scheme, right-click the column to the right of where you want that column to appear, select Insert Column and select WBS from the list of available columns. Chapter 3 of the Ambriz book includes a lot of detailed information about entering tasks into Microsoft Project.
Step 1: Update the Project Plan 1. Updating the Project Plan:
Update the schedule based on the scenarios and instructions provided below:
You have finalized your Microsoft Project schedule. You have met the goal set by your manager to finish at least one week early and lower the costs by at least 10% and you have baseline the Project Plan. Now it is time to start executing the project. Walk through the following scenarios:
1. You have started your project and one week has passed. You receive a status report from everyone and all tasks are on schedule. You need to update the project schedule to reflect this status update.
2. At the conclusion of the second week, one of the early project tasks is 90% complete. Another task is started but is going to require an additional 5 days of duration (or 40 hours of work). A third task was completed. You need to update the project schedule to reflect these updates.
3. A Hurricane went through your area and the office was closed for 3 days. You need to update the project schedule to reflect this work stoppage.
4. After these changes, continue to update the plan for 3 more weeks as on schedule.
STEPS:
1. Estimation:
Using one of the techniques presented in the reference material (your textbooks or the videos), estimate the effort required to complete each task. Determine for each task whether the estimate is duration or work. Pages 175 - 187 in Ambriz discuss the differences and the relationship between duration and work. If you need to display the Work column in Microsoft Project, right-click the Duration column, select Insert Column and select Work from the list of available columns. Enter your estimates into your Microsoft Project schedule. Remember, don't assign estimates to Summary tasks, the time necessary to complete the Summary task is based on the estimates of the tasks that roll up to the Summary task.
2. Dependencies: Create appropriate dependencies between your tasks.
Use the Link button on the Task tab (or the predecessor and successor columns) to create dependencies between tasks. Double click the arrow between the tasks to change the dependency type. Add Lag or Lead (-Lag) time where appropriate.
Add any necessary constraints to your tasks. For any tasks that you have added a constraint to, please include a note explaining the constraint.
Chapters 5 and 6 of the Ambriz book include a lot of information on linking tasks and adding constraints into Microsoft Project.
3. Resources:
Build out the project Resource Sheet and assign all resources to tasks.
Add resources to your project using the resources sheet. Please define all type of resources including Work, Material and Cost. At a minimum, complete the following fields for each human resource: Resource Name. Type, Initials, Max, Std. Rate, Base (Calendar). You can choose to use role names or birth names. For other resource types, complete Cost/Use. Once the resources have been added to the project file, assign those resources to the tasks that you defined in the project schedule. Multiple resources can be assigned to the same task. Resources should not be assigned to summary level tasks. Chapters 7 and 8 of the Ambriz book include step-by-step instructions for completing these tasks.
4. Optimize and Baseline the Project Plan:
a. Check your MS Project schedule for any over-allocated resources. If you have any over-allocated resources, use the resource leveling feature of Microsoft Project to eliminate those over-allocations or eliminate them manually using the Resource Usage view.
b. You have now completed the fundamental tasks of building the project schedule. You now have an estimated date of completion and cost. Your team presents your project schedule to management and they inform you that the project must finish at least 1 week earlier AND you must reduce costs by at least 10%. Using schedule optimization strategies, decide which steps you want to take to accomplish these goals. Update your Microsoft Project Schedule accordingly. Make sure that you don't create any new over-allocated resources. If you do, address those over-allocations. Chapter 9 of the Ambriz book includes step-by-step instructions for optimizing your project schedule.
5. Baseline the Project Plan:
When you are satisfied that you have done your best to create the most efficient plan possible, save the baseline for the project plan so that you have a point in time to measure progress against.
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