Anyone working in the project world has heard of the word ‘forecast’. The most commonly asked question from the senior executive management team is ‘how much will it cost at completion?’ Most of the time, this question cannot be answered with great certainty. It is, after all, an educated guess based on currently known risks. […]
Articles
Why Including Schedules With your Bid is Valuable
Including an industry-standard Primavera P6 or MS Project schedule with your bid offers many valuable aspects, both for your bid strength and for your project team. Having reviewed bid packages for owner’s teams in the past, we’ve noticed how many submissions ignore the schedule component, or have clearly spent very little effort on that part […]
Accruals Discussion: A Blog About Accruals and Their Impact on Project Tracking and Reporting
When tracking project costs, accruals and progress must be considered carefully. When expenses arise during a project, it is common for some companies to “back charge” expenses incurred to accounting at the end of the period in which the expenses occurred. This is known as accrual accounting which is required by generally accepted accounting principles […]
Earned Value Management Series: Part 4 – Progression in Detail (EVMS and Costs)
In this article, we will take a look at formulas and processes available to project teams using an Earned Value Management System (EVMS). These formulas operate on the same principle as any such a system, vulnerable to a garbage in – garbage out weakness. This weakness, “GiGo”, is a feature whereby data analytics only provides […]
Don’t get Burned by Earned…..Hours
Burned and earned hours are sometimes misunderstood. What are they? How do you calculate them? This article takes a deeper look at what these hours are and how to calculate them. What are Burned and Earned Hours? Burned hours, in many other industries, refer to hours that were non-billable, don’t contribute to the product or […]
Earned Value Management Series: Part 3 – Percent Complete(s)
When it comes to project management, the percent complete is an incredibly important measure. It’s a statistic that can be used to determine the status of a task in relation to its overall completion. From a management perspective, it also offers an objective way of measuring the amount of work that has been completed when […]
How To Make A Schedule: a Blog About Various Tips and Techniques to Make Scheduling on Projects Easier
Anyone in project management has been (or will be) asked to produce a schedule for their next project. This task is never easy and here are some steps you can take that may help you when the time comes for you to estimating on your next project. Define your scope of work It is important […]
Earned Value Management Series: Part 2 – Progress and Rules of Credit
Whether you are new to the principles of Earned Value, this article will give you an explanation of what is really involved in measuring progress on your investment. We will also provide some basic ways to keep your project on track and some best practices that you can use to improve your program today. Progress Measurement […]
Earned Value Management Series: Part 1 – General Introduction to Earned Value
This series is designed to work our way from the basics of Earned Value Management (EVM), into the best practices, and eventually beyond, to explore improvements and advanced concepts. The intent is to provide a roadmap for those looking to learn about EVM, or for those looking to review their knowledge and stimulate their advanced […]