18 Nov Project Evaluation

Homework 4: Project Evaluation

Preamble

Project progress and performance evaluation are part of every project manager’s job. Earned value analysis is becoming routine for companies, especially for those large multi-project organizations. If you have difficulty with earned value, a good place to begin may be to re-read the section titled “Why a Time-Phased Budget Baseline Is Needed” in chapter 8. 

Learning Objectives

This assignment allows you to:

1. Understand and appreciate the significance of earned value management.

2. Calculate and interpret performance indexes.

3. Apply pseudo earned value rules to measure progress on a project.

The Assignment

Read Appendix 13.1 on pages 522-528 of your textbook. The end of the appendix discusses the progress of a product warranty project and the development of a catalog product return process. Clearly answer each of those two questions. Make sure to explain your assessment. 

Conclusion

The reason for creating status reports from period to period in the exercises is to give you a keen understanding of how the Summary Graph is derived. This so-called “world famous graph,” which depends on the earned value system, is probably used in every country in the world because it clearly shows cost and schedule variance along with trends to the latest reporting period. A review sheet that you will likely find it useful in applying earned value concepts and indexes is attached to this assignment as well.