Thanks Luca and all others for your valuable feedback. Botttom line could be that while dealing with EV (SPI & CPI) one must not ignore the critical path analysis.
Luca further to your last para my usual practive is as follow :
Lets limit our discussion to SPI only. I have drawn to set of curves Early and Late which reflect my BCWS (Early and Late).
Now quite often in my case
BCWS(Late) < BCWP < BCWS (Early)
So my actual curve i.e BCWP remain in between the loop generated by Early and Late curves. So if from my P3 or the critical path analysis the project end date is not slipping then even if my SPI<1 still I am not reporting any delay.
In my opinion until and unless there is really a delay to the crtical path. . . . then only we must ring the bell. Otherwise during EV analysis if we monitor SPI only on BCWS (Early) and ignore critical path scrutiny then probably from the very first update of the job the project will be slipping, bell will be ringing and ringing and ringing . . . . may be uptill the end of the job and CM/execution team will be pressurized and frustated . . . for no reason !!
And may some silly CM after being blamed by a silly planner could become cost oriented and will try to execute at the earliest something which gives him more and more financial progress ignoring critical activities.
Never must be forgotten the importance of the Critical Path analysis.
The scenario proposed from Muhammad is not so remote, in special case for Earned Value analysis done at too high level.
EV has a lot of pitfalls, but is still a valid project control tools, not planning & Scheduling one!
Muhammad the Project performance Baseline you monitor against is based on early dates. I would not like to show the latest dates as people may start to get relaxed telling we have time, we are in the “banana” curve.
Member for
24 years 9 months
Member for24 years9 months
Submitted by Vladimir Liberzon on Sat, 2005-07-23 10:34
Yes Akhilesh, you are right. But EV is suggested as integrated cost schedule analysis tool. People think that SPI shows if the project is ahead or behind the baseline schedule. That is the problem. EV limitations should be widely known and EV parameters could not be used as the only project performance indicators, they are about money consumption, not about project performance.
Regards,
Vladimir
Member for
20 years 3 months
Member for20 years4 months
Submitted by Akhilesh Shukl… on Sat, 2005-07-23 03:55
You are right that if we depend only on EVA sitting remotedly the projections may go inappropriate even. but thats not the case .
My submission is :
The cocept of EVA, although a crude estimate, identifies trends regarding the status of specific WBS.
EVs are used to determine whether costs are being incurred faster or slower than planned. and this never prevents the planner to see actually where the money is going. Rather EVA only provides basis and plateform for further enquiry. EVA, in my opinion, is a tool to avoid sudden shocks.
So if the money is spent on non-critical heads, it can well be traced going in furtherence to EVA.
Regards
Akhilesh
Member for
24 years 9 months
Member for24 years9 months
Submitted by Vladimir Liberzon on Mon, 2005-07-11 13:07
I suggested similar examples at Performance Management Symposium and hoped for some discussions. Unfortunately EV gurus prefer not to notice these problems with Earned Value Analysis. It may be applied to large programs, it may produce wrong indicators for projects.
Member for
21 years 2 monthsRE: SPI <=> Critical activities
Thanks Luca and all others for your valuable feedback. Botttom line could be that while dealing with EV (SPI & CPI) one must not ignore the critical path analysis.
Luca further to your last para my usual practive is as follow :
Lets limit our discussion to SPI only. I have drawn to set of curves Early and Late which reflect my BCWS (Early and Late).
Now quite often in my case
BCWS(Late) < BCWP < BCWS (Early)
So my actual curve i.e BCWP remain in between the loop generated by Early and Late curves. So if from my P3 or the critical path analysis the project end date is not slipping then even if my SPI<1 still I am not reporting any delay.
In my opinion until and unless there is really a delay to the crtical path. . . . then only we must ring the bell. Otherwise during EV analysis if we monitor SPI only on BCWS (Early) and ignore critical path scrutiny then probably from the very first update of the job the project will be slipping, bell will be ringing and ringing and ringing . . . . may be uptill the end of the job and CM/execution team will be pressurized and frustated . . . for no reason !!
And may some silly CM after being blamed by a silly planner could become cost oriented and will try to execute at the earliest something which gives him more and more financial progress ignoring critical activities.
Member for
22 years 3 monthsRE: SPI <=> Critical activities
I am agree with Vladimir.
The SPI and CPI are just project control tools.
Never must be forgotten the importance of the Critical Path analysis.
The scenario proposed from Muhammad is not so remote, in special case for Earned Value analysis done at too high level.
EV has a lot of pitfalls, but is still a valid project control tools, not planning & Scheduling one!
Muhammad the Project performance Baseline you monitor against is based on early dates. I would not like to show the latest dates as people may start to get relaxed telling we have time, we are in the “banana” curve.
Member for
24 years 9 monthsRE: SPI <=> Critical activities
Yes Akhilesh, you are right. But EV is suggested as integrated cost schedule analysis tool. People think that SPI shows if the project is ahead or behind the baseline schedule. That is the problem. EV limitations should be widely known and EV parameters could not be used as the only project performance indicators, they are about money consumption, not about project performance.
Regards,
Vladimir
Member for
20 years 3 monthsRE: SPI <=> Critical activities
Ali,
You are right that if we depend only on EVA sitting remotedly the projections may go inappropriate even. but thats not the case .
My submission is :
The cocept of EVA, although a crude estimate, identifies trends regarding the status of specific WBS.
EVs are used to determine whether costs are being incurred faster or slower than planned. and this never prevents the planner to see actually where the money is going. Rather EVA only provides basis and plateform for further enquiry. EVA, in my opinion, is a tool to avoid sudden shocks.
So if the money is spent on non-critical heads, it can well be traced going in furtherence to EVA.
Regards
Akhilesh
Member for
24 years 9 monthsRE: SPI <=> Critical activities
I suggested similar examples at Performance Management Symposium and hoped for some discussions. Unfortunately EV gurus prefer not to notice these problems with Earned Value Analysis. It may be applied to large programs, it may produce wrong indicators for projects.