Your project sponsor has asked you and your team to refine existing cost estimate for project so that there is solid cost baseline for estimating project performance. Recall that your schedule and cost goals are to complete project in one year or less for under $500,000. Also recall that you plan to buy web based application developed by ABC Corp. and customize it to fulfil needs for this project. You will also have consultants from Edsys, who will aid you find out user needs and create partnership programs. Initial estimates recommended about half of 500,000 budgeted for this project would go to hardware costs and outsourced software and consulting services.
1. Make and print one-page cost estimate for project. Use WBS level 1 categories provided below, and make sure to document assumptions you make in creating cost estimate. Suppose labor rate of $100/hour for project manager and $60/hour for other project team members. Suppose twice those numbers for outsourced labor.
a. Project management (internal)
b. Requirements definition
c. Off-the-shelf system installation
d. System customization (for transferring/entering product and customer information and creating new capabilities like managing referrals, displaying advertisements, and tracking customer usage patterns)
e. Testing
f. Training, rollout, and support.
2. Using cost estimate you created above, make a cost baseline by allocating the costs by WBS for each month of the project.
3. Suppose you have completed six months of project. BAC was $500,000 for this 12-month project. Also suppose the following:
PV= $300,000
EV = $280,000
AC =$250,000
using this information, write one to two page report which answers the following questions.
a. Determine the cost of variance, schedule variants, cost performance Index (CPI), and schedule performance Index (SPI) for project?
b. Use CPI to compute estimate at completion (EAC) for this project. Use SPI to evaluate how long it will take to complete this project. Sketch and earned value chart by using above information, including EAC point. Write paragraph describing what this chart shows.
c. How is project doing? Is it ahead of schedule or behind schedule? Is it under budget or overbudget? Should you alert your senior management and ask for assistance? Should you talk to your sponsor before the meeting to discuss this data?