Earned Value in Project Management

Course overview

Don’t let your project control you; be proactive in its monitoring and control. Use Earned Value in Project Management to promote effective project planning, monitoring, and control. Discover keys to identify potential cost and schedule overruns. Grasp the tools and techniques to compare actual work accomplished against baseline schedules and cost. Identify early warning indicators to gain greater insight into potential risk areas and prepare more accurate completion time and cost forecasts. Recognize what must be done to successfully implement and use Earned Value in your organization.

Prerequisites

• Formal project management training such as that available in the Project Management Fundamentals (HC577S) course plus other core project management courses

Audience

This course is intended for project managers interested in best practices that apply to diverse projects in multiple industries. It is especially suited for people seeking project management certification

Course objectives

• Define Earned Value and why it is important to your project
• Explain the relationship between the cumulative cost curve and the project budget
• Develop a control account plan and establish a performance measurement baseline
• Calculate cost and schedule variances and use them to monitor project performance
• Forecast final cost and schedule results using the cost performance index and the schedule performance index
• Identify what must be done to implement Earned Value effectively
• Use statistical process control tools and techniques to improve project performance

Next steps

• Managing Project Quality (HE546S) or other advanced Project Management topics leading to recognition of your knowledge and skill by passing the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification appropriate to your country or region

Benefits to you

• Use Gantt charts, network charts, and three types of network diagrams to schedule projects
• Explain the value of PERT estimations
• Explain the relationship between the cumulative cost curve and the project budget
• Explain the earned value planning process
• Prepare a control account plan
• Establish a performance measurement baseline
• Identify the advantages and disadvantages of different earned value measurement methods
• Calculate cost and schedule variances and use them to monitor project performance
• Forecast final cost and schedule results
• Use the cost performance index and the schedule performance index
• Use several methods to calculate the estimate at completion
• Explain what must be done to implement earned value effectively

Course outline

Key Concepts

• Explain the Earned Value concept
• Describe the objectives of Earned Value
• Explain how Earned Value is integral to project management

Earned Value Principles

• Define the three processes necessary for Earned Value
• Establish actual work to be done
• Determine realistic costs and schedules

Planning Process

• Review different earned value measurement methods
• Prepare a Control Account Plan
• Create a performance measurement baseline

Definitions & Formulas: Status

• Determine the factors of Planned Value, Actual Costs, and Earned Value
• Calculate cost and schedule variances
• Identify the challenges in determining Earned Value on materials and subcontracts

Definitions and Formulas: Analysis

• Calculate Cost and Schedule Indexes
• Assess cost and schedule risks
• Calculate the To Complete Performance Index