Articles for EVM and integrated program management professionals looking to maximize the implementation and use of performance measurement techniques.
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Assessing the Impact of Front Loading on the CPI and EAC
Posted: 01/02/2012
Since the early 1970's, Earned Value Management Systems (EVMS) have been recognized throughout the project management community as a useful early warning system. The early visibility to cost and schedule variances and concomitant project overruns and schedule slippages, are both friend and foe. A project manager who is conscientious and possesses strategic management skills appreciates the early visibility. A more myopic manager may view the early alert as an enemy that can impact career opportunities and bring about early project cancellation. The potential of early project cancellations is, and always will be, one of the downsides to early cost and schedule information. For some, living with latent unease is better than facing an unpalatable truth.
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Cost Performance Index Stability
Posted: 04/25/2023
Article by David S. Christensen and Scott R. Heise, 1993, published in the National Contract Management JournalThe cumulative Cost Performance Index (CPI) is a useful indicator to calculate the likely final cost of a completed contract. ...
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Earned Value Management System Storyboards
Posted: 04/09/2012
Earned value management system storyboards have been around since the dawn of humans and are still used today as effective communication.
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Handling Authorized Unpriced Work in an Earned Value Management System
Posted: 08/02/2012
This article discusses the issues that commonly surface with authorized unpriced work (AUW)/undefinitized contract action (UCA).
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Is the CPI-Based EAC a Lower Bound to the Final Cost of Post A-12 Contracts?
Posted: 04/24/2023
Article by David S. Christensen and David A. Rees, 2002, published in the Journal of Cost Analysis and Management
This article discusses several methods used to evaluate the likely final cost of a defense acquisition contract, the ...
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Is the Cumulative SCI-Based EAC an Upper Bound to the Final Cost of Post A-12 Defense Contracts?
Posted: 04/24/2023
Article by David S. Christensen, 2004, published in the Journal of Cost Analysis and ManagementThis article discusses several methods to evaluate the predicted final cost of a defense acquisition contract, the Estimate at Completion (EAC) using ...
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Level of Effort (LOE)
Posted: 07/01/2024
Discover the impact of LOE earned value methods on procurement and reporting. Understand standard vs. non-standard practices and their implications on cost visibility and EAC.
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Level of Effort (LOE) Replanning
Posted: 07/02/2024
Avoid Corrective Action Requests (CARs) by ensuring your Earned Value Management System (EVMS) aligns with DCMA and DOE PM-30 metrics. Learn how to manage LOE tasks effectively.
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Scheduling Process Maturity Level Self Assessment Questionnaire
Posted: 01/02/2012
Process improvement usually begins with an analysis of the current state. The purpose of this document is to provide a means to undertake a self assessment of your organization's current project scheduling maturity level.
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The Costs and Benefits of the Earned Value Management Process
Posted: 04/24/2023
Article by David S. Christensen, 1998, published in the Acquisition Review QuarterlyAssessments of the earned value management (EVM) process often focus on either the positives or the negatives. This article takes a different approach with the ...
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The Difference between Undistributed Budget and Management Reserve
Posted: 01/02/2012
This article discusses the primary difference between undistributed budget and management reserve as well as their intended proper uses. This explanation reflects the accepted standard since the advent of the concept known today as EVMS.
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The Effective Use of Management Reserve
Posted: 01/02/2012
Management reserve, unfortunately, is frequently subject to non-standard practices, misconceptions, and misapplication - this guide will help clarify the topic.
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The Estimate at Completion - A Project Management Best Practice
Posted: 07/25/2013
Project managers are continually asked by company management and the customer to verify that the project’s cost and schedule goals can be met within the authorized ...
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What is a Rubber Baseline?
Posted: 01/02/2012
The rubber baseline as initially defined (1970's vintage) was any change to the performance measurement baseline (PMB) that was incorporated to: 1. Avoid schedule variance. The budgeted cost of work scheduled (BCWS) was moved with the current schedule instead of the estimate to complete (ETC) moving with the current schedule. Back in the 70's, this was referred to as "snowplowing". 2. Pull BCWS forward (robbing budget from future work effort) to temporarily hide a cost variance. This action used to be referred to as "surfing". There have been some classic examples of this over the decades, and the end result was never good. One of the more well known examples was the Navy's A-12 program which ended up being cancelled. Other contractors have lost their EVM system validations because a project used out-year budget to complete near term work effort.
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Why the PERT Method Should be Avoided or Closely Monitored
Posted: 06/25/2024
The Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) earned value calculation method, or as some refer to it, the PERT Cost Formula, was developed long before the EIA-748 Standard for Earned Value Management Systems (EVMS) Guidelines were first published in 1995.
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