August 2012
The EVM Newsletter™
from Management Technologies
Highlights in this Issue
CPM Holding Elections
PMI Seeks EVM COP Leader
EVPrep Workshop Follows IPMC
Free EVM Webinar
Tidbit, ANSI Compliant Software
EVP Exam Undergoes Changes
Five Days to EVM
What is my Speed?
Management Technologies Services 
 


 

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CPM to Hold Elections 
 
The College of Performance Management (CPM) announced that their upcoming election will start on August 15, 2012 and close September 15, 2012 at 5:00 pm (ET in US). 
 
Board positions open for election this year are President, Vice-President Administration, Vice-President Education and Certification and Vice-President Communications.
 
Resumes and candidate information are posted on the CPM election website.
 
Are you a CPM member? Then vote!

 

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PMI EVM CoP Seeks a Community Manager

 

The PMI EVM CoP Council Leadership is seeking a Community Manager to help serve PMI members. The Community Manager opportunity is posted in PMI's Volunteer Relationship Management System (VRMS).

 

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EVPrep Workshop Follows IPMC, Nov 1,2 
 
The EVPrep workshop is planned to be conducted on 1, 2 November (Thursday and Friday) immediately following IPMC (Integrated Program Management Conference).
 
If you plan to take the EVP exam in 2013 this workshop can save you $125 in EVP exam fees by taking the workshop and then submitting your application for a 2013 exam date. Also you will have time to study your weaker areas that are revealed in the workshop.
 
 
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AACE Approved Education  Provider

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PMI Registered Education Provider

 

Constant Contact All Star Award (2nd year) 

 

 

 

"EVM Guidelines" Webinar

 

The College of Performance Management (CPM) is providing a free webinar on "Earned Value Management Guidelines" presented by Tony Finefield.

 

Mr. Finefield will discuss ANSI 748 and each guideline in terms of the generic requirement described, how this requirement is discussed in the ANSI Standard and his recommended "dos and don'ts" involved in their application. 

 

The webinar is scheduled for 5 September 2012 from 5:00pm - 6:00pm EDT (GMT - 4). Visit CPM for more information.

 

  

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Earned Schedule Conference
 

Next year is the 10th anniversary of "Schedule is Different", the landmark article by Walt Lipke that introduced Earned Schedule.

 

A conference is being organized to mark the occasion and to address new developments and challenges, and to strengthen the network of ES practitioners and researchers.

 

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Welcome to the August EVM Newsletter.me2011

 

Fewer articles, longer articles. That seems to be how this issue ended up. 

  

Of course there is another EVM Tidbit. This month discusses the commercial EVM software vendors who claim ANSI 748 compliance or claim obtaining EV (Earned Value) with a click of a mouse.
   

A good portion of The EVM Newsletter discusses AACE's new EVP exam computer based testing, new exam fees, and the need to plan your food and bathroom breaks during your EVP exam. (Hint: it's up to five hours non-stop.)

 

The importance of metrics is reinforced. Imagine driving without a speedometer!

 

As promised last month, we'll cover how EVM was implemented on a project in five days; no it's not ANSI 748. 

  

 Like us on Facebook  View our profile on LinkedIn

 

There is news about CPM's upcoming election, a webinar on ANSI 748, and the possibility of an Earned Schedule conference to commemorate its ten year anniversary.

 

Next month a review of an EVM App plus an article on an ISO standard on Project Management.  And another Tidbit.

 

You can help make this newsletter interesting by contributing news about your activities in EVM, your company, product announcements, or your projects. Each month starts with a blank sheet, we don't make this stuff up! Send news to me at
 

[email protected]
 

Ray Stratton, PMP, EVP 

Editor

Tidbit #35, For EV click "Here" 
 

A number of software vendors claim their products are ANSI 748  compliant and/or that their product easily computes EV (BCWP). Buyers beware.

 

ANSI 748 describes a process, not a software requirement to be met. There are ANSI 748 compliant EVM implementations using just MS Office and MS Project.

 

The only ANSI 748 guidelines that could be met in software is the ability to correctly sum EVM data through the OBS (Organizational Breakdown Structure) and WBS (Work Breakdown Structure), all WP (Work Package) budgets sum to the CA (Control Account) budget, and correctly compute CV (Cost Variance) and SV (Schedule Variance). WADs (Work Authorization Document), MR (Management Reserve) logs, UB (undistributed Budget) logs, and the like could also be implemented in software. One still has to, for example, identify the person or organization responsible for indirect (overhead) costs, and meet other ANSI 748 guidelines. Software can help you get to ANSI 748, but it can't get you all the way there.

 

Earned Value is also not a mouse click away. An assessment of work started, percent work complete, and work completed must be done by a human. While 50/50 rules are common and just clicking a mouse to show a work package started or completed can miss the conversations about how "start" or "complete" was determined and if it was consistent with the IMP (integrated Master Plan), standards, or expectations. 

 

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EVPrep™ and EVM Workshops

The following workshops are planned for the following locations:

  • Reston, VA
  • Houston, TX
  • Las Vegas, NV
  • Bethesda, MD (IPMC)

Earned Value Experience (CAM) Workshop (14 PDUs)

 

You'll experience creating an earned value management baseline, determining earned value from project status, calculating earned value management indices, and estimating final cost and completion date. This workshop is perfect for team leads, control account managers, financial and schedule control staff, project and program managers, and chief project officers.

 

Excel EzEVM™Templates may be retained by attendees to implement earned value management in their organization.

 

Locations and Dates

 

View the Earned Value Experience workshop outline and get the registration form.

 

Interested in an on-site workshop? Send an e-mail with your your address and the number of attendees to receive a quote. 

 

EVPrep Exam Prep Workshop (14 PDUs)

 

The workshop covers all the topics likely covered in the exam and provides exam-like questions and workshop discussion about each question and the possible answers. This workshop also includes an EVM analysis question to help prepare you for the three page written essay in Part II (was part IV).

 

Take this workshop and save $150 on the exam. Attendees are given a temporary limited membership in AACE that allows you to take the exam at AACE member rates.

 

Locations and Dates 

 

This is twelve hours of mock EVP exam and discussions of correct and incorrect answers.

  

Do you have an EVP FAQ
 
  
 

View the EVPrep workshop outline and get the registration form.

 

Interested in an on-site workshop? Send an e-mail with your your address and the number of attendees to receive a quote.

 

EVP Exam Computer Based Testing 
 

As reported last month AACE will initiate computer based testing (CBT) in January 2013. More details have beenComputer Terminals announced.

 

A year of beta testing has been done. Kryterion is the CBT vendor. The EVP Exam will be a five hour exam consisting of a maximum of 120 questions. There are no "parts" to the exam. A timer on the screen starts when you begin the exam. It cannot be paused. After five hours the exam session is closed unless you close it earlier. Any unanswered questions will be scored as "Wrong". (Plan your snacks and bathroom breaks carefully.)

 

There is no schedule of exam dates, so there are no application deadlines, so there is no early discount. Once approved to sit for the exam, examinees will be able to schedule their exam session at a nearby testing center on a day of their choice (when the CBT center is open).


I did a quick search for a Kryterion testing center near Management Technologies and found 2 within about ten miles. Many were located on university campuses. There were twelve in the greater Los Angeles area (pop. 1.2 million). Your results may be different.

 

The EVP exam fee has not increased for over ten years. The use of CBT has incurred an additional cost to AACE. This is reflected in an increased fee for the EVP exam. The AACE member fee is $450, non-member fee is $575. AACE has done the math and the exam is actually less expensive in constant dollars that it was a decade ago.

 

Remember, attendees at our EVPrep™ two day workshop are extended a no-cost temporary membership in AACE, saving them $125 on the exam fee.

 

 

Upcoming EVM and PM Conferences 

 

IPMC ((Integrated Program Management Conference)

(Registration is underway now.)

WHEN: 29-31 Oct 2012

WHERE: Bethesda, MD

MORE INFO: CPM

An EVPrep workshop follows IPMC.

 

EVM Europe 2012

WHEN: 28-29 November 2012

WHERE: University of Twente Enschede, The Netherlands

MORE INFO: EVM Europe 

(Note: Thanksgiving ({US} is  22 Nov)

 

AACE Total Cost Management Conference

WHEN: November 14-15, 2012

WHERE: Dubai, UAE

MORE INFO: AACEI

  

Construction CPM Conference

(CPM as in Critical Path Method, not affiliated with the College of Perf. Mgmt.)

WHEN: January 27-30, 2013

WHERE: New Orleans, LA

MORE INFO: www.ConstructionCPM.com

 

EVM WORLD 2013

WHEN: 29-31 MAY 2013

WHERE: NAPLES, FL

MORE INFO: CPM

 

AACE International's Annual Meeting

WHEN: 30 June - 3 July 2013

WHERE: Marriott Wardman Park, Washington DC

MORE INFO: AACE 

 

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Zero to EVM in Five Days 

As promised in our July EVM Newsletter here is how we got our Missoula, MT client from zero to EVM reporting in five days.

 

First, keep to core elements of EVM. Separate progress measurement from funds spent and time gone by. Measure progress in economic units.

 

Two, forget paperwork and forms. No WADs (Work Authorization Documents), MR (Management Reserve) log, and no UB (Undistributed Budget), etc.

 

Three, find what is already in place and make use of it. (This is key.) In this case a detailed schedule was available. Schedule level 2 became our Control Accounts and level 3 became work packages. Lower levels just became further refinements of the work package planning and progress measurement (EV approximation).

 

Four, tweak as needed. The cost estimates (budgets) were not estimated using the schedule hierarchy. In fact, the budgets were not time phased, just an estimate to complete a task. The budgets were reworked (and revised as revisited) to sum to the work packages. Work packages were summed to the CA, sort of backwards from the usual practice. The CAs were summed to the BAC, again backwards from what is done most often. Budgets were time phased per the WIP used for each work package as they are eventually in any EVM baseline.

 

In the end we had a PMB and ability to record costs and progress at the CA level and roll it up to a program level EVM analysis. The CA and Program Plan were captured in a variant of the EzEVM™ excel template providing traditional EVM analysis and Earned Schedule.

 

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Missing Metrics

Metrics are all around us. We feel lost when they are removed.  It's hard to know how sick someone is without knowing their temperature. It's hard to know how well a project is spending its budget and time without EVM. We get used to metrics and learn to rely on them. When they are absent we feel a loss of control.

 

I was recently reminded how unsure one feels when familiarRays Racecar metrics are missing. I had the opportunity to drive 20 laps on a half-mile oval banked NASCAR track in a Super Late Model race car. The car weighed 2,500 pounds and had about 450 horsepower. It had the usual gauges: oil pressure, tachometer, charging system voltage, ammeter, and oil temperature. What was missing was a speedometer!

 

Of course my goal was to go as fast as possible without wrecking the car and paying a $2,500 deductible. With each successful lap I wanted to try going faster on the next lap. But without a speedometer, or any timing, the speed was a guess as I was going into each turn. It was impossible for me to add a little speed with each lap.

 

Without EVM we can't know how our projects are doing. We can't forecast future costs and the likely completion date. We just push around the next turn and hope for the best. We need metrics.

 

By the way the car had a manual transmission. "Gearheads" will ask "Why didn't you just use the tach as an analogy to speed?" Great idea, but I didn't think of it while accelerating for 1/8 of a mile and then slowing for 1/8 mile decreasing radius turn, times two per lap. 

 

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Do you have news to share?  Send your news item and we'll review it for posting in a future EVM Newsletter.
 
Sincerely,
 
Ray Stratton, PMP, EVP
Management Technologies

Copyright 2012, Management Technologies  

The EVM Newsletter, EVPrep, The Earned Value Management Maturity Model, EVM3, EzEVM, CAMcert, and The Earned Value Experience are trademarks of Management Technologies.

 

The Earned Value Professional , EVP, and the AEP logo
 are marks of the Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering, International. (AACE�).

 

The PMP, PMBOK, PMI, and R.E.P. , and the Registered Education Provider logo are
registered marks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.

 

EVM World is a
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