I'm not a big user of MS Project, so excuse my ignorance
We've got a design programme which has been baselined and is used for Earned value Management
We are expecting a lot of CEs (variations) to come our way throughout the life of the project
We want to include these CEs in our Earned value metrics
We don't want to loose historical earned value performance metrics by doing a total re-baseline each time we add a CE
I was hoping to be able to add new tasks representing these CE's to the existing performance baseline, but that doesn't seem to be possible? it seems the only way to get new tasks into a baseline is by either creating a brand new baseline, or completely overwriting an existing one?
Am I missing a trick, or is there no way to increase the BAC of an ongoing project whilst maintaining the historical BCWS S-curve?
Any advice greatly appreciated
Cheers,
G
From: http://www.acq.osd.mil/evm/docs/OTB-OTS%20Guide%20121205.pdf
* Adjusting Variances: A key consideration in implementing an OTB is to determine what to do with the variances against the pre-OTB baseline. There are essentially five basic options.
As you can see even all powerful DOD, the father of the creature, recognizes that if EVM is to be used for management purposes then the contractor can opt out options 3.5.6.2.2 to 3.5.6.2.5 by merely not agreeing, leaving only as an alternative option 3.5.6.2.1. To me as a contractor I would never accept/agree to any option other than 3.5.6.2.1, it is easier to implement and validate from the contractor as well as from the owner's point of view.
If you opt for option 1, Eliminate all Variances, it shall not take much effort to tackle this issue by doing the right thing by keeping on a separate file the progress history, preferably tracking of projected at completion statistics every update discloses, to me more relevant than current period statistics
As a matter of fact for construction jobs I do not recognize the validity of any of the manipulations proposed on the alternatives 3.5.6.2.2 to 3.5.6.2.5 available at the discretion of both parties if in agreemenrt. I consider them abominations, no wonder optional, only if both parties agree. I only recognize the first option and seems like many construction contractors believe so. I cannot understan why DOD complicated it so much, even when I do not advocate the last option it would keep some order by allowing only options 1 and 5, Eliminate all Variances or Retain All Variances(if agreed).
Please note the article reffers to OTB an OTS (Over Target Baseline and Over Target Schedule) but following variance on contractual baseline is similar.
Hi Evgeny, thanks for responding.
What I want to do is add the new variations to the original baseline. -The variations shouldn't be changing the planned value target curve associated with the original baseline for the period before the variation was instructed. In other words: I don't want my SPI to magically become 1 each time I add a variation.
Think I've found a way -If you choose the "set baseline for selected task" with the oiginal baseline, it seems to just add the new tasks to it, rather than over-writing the entire project with current dates, which is precisely what I want. -I got confused by the language used which seemed to suggest I would loose this historical info.
Cheers,
G
Gary,
I may be missing something, but I am not quite sure I understand what the problem is.
You need to work with multiple baselines. You can have 10 in Ms Project (actually there are 11, but 1 is normally used to move any other baseline, which is being compared with current schedule)).
When you save project to baseline, it saves the project information the way it is now, including the time phased information, which you can use for historical BCWS S-curve.
Now, when you add variation to your schedule, this is now updated project with new scope and you need to baseline it to a new (separate) baseline.
Thus in your baseline you keep both original baseline (e.g. in baseline 1) and updated baseline (e.g. in baseline 2).
Regards
Evgeny