Earned Value Management

All,

After tonight's EVM Subcommittee meeting we agreed to start a discussion about an Over Target Baseline - Over Target Schedule.

Attached is a DoD Guide on how to develop an Over Target Baseline (OTB) - Over Target Schedule (OTS) as well as an AACE article on using this tool.

Does anyone have any thoughts, suggestion or ideas on the best application of this tool to for when a baseline goes over budget and/or over schedule?

This may be an interesting Recommended Practice, as well a possible article.

Let us know your thoughts.

Thanks

Dan 


------------------------------
Dan Melamed CCP EVP
Program Analyst
U.S. Department of Energy
1 (301) 775-7286
Disclaimer: this e-mail represents the view of its sender. This e-mail was not prepared as a product of the U.S. Government including the Department of Energy; no official endorsement should be inferred.
------------------------------

Dan,
We have noticed a significant increase of OTB/OTS based on the supply chain and resource availability.  Systemically, it seems that many of the issues stem from the lack of focus of what the status schedule is identifying for the managers.  I know I will get a lot of responses to this comment but, in construction the schedule is the guiding management tool for the historical performance, the current state of a project, the focus of the next 3 to 4 weeks of work, and the evaluation of the impacts to completion.  In the EVM world, where this is expected, the schedule is not as heavy utilized.  

Question: What can be done to enforce the performance management of the EVM contractor to entice the same focus as in the construction world?  Would this provide enough early warning to avoid the majority of the OTB/OTS?

------------------------------
Michael Marcell EVP PSP
Vice President
K2 Consulting
Bethesda MD
(240) 876-4833
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-08-2022 20:54
From: Dan Melamed
Subject: Over Target Baseline - Over Target Schedule

All,

After tonight's EVM Subcommittee meeting we agreed to start a discussion about an Over Target Baseline - Over Target Schedule.

Attached is a DoD Guide on how to develop an Over Target Baseline (OTB) - Over Target Schedule (OTS) as well as an AACE article on using this tool.

Does anyone have any thoughts, suggestion or ideas on the best application of this tool to for when a baseline goes over budget and/or over schedule?

This may be an interesting Recommended Practice, as well a possible article.

Let us know your thoughts.

Thanks

Dan 


------------------------------
Dan Melamed CCP EVP
Program Analyst
U.S. Department of Energy
1 (301) 775-7286
Disclaimer: this e-mail represents the view of its sender. This e-mail was not prepared as a product of the U.S. Government including the Department of Energy; no official endorsement should be inferred.
------------------------------

I think one way to make the use of EVM more valuable is to take it from project-wide down to specific focus areas of the project.  We run EVM on trade contractors, phases, milestones, the critical path activities, the near-critical path activities.  All of those provide much deeper insight and reduce the risk that some early delivery of an expensive piece of equipment can mislead the metrics. 

In addition, we run Earned Schedule along with EVM and when the project is trending late and the EVM metrics are not useful, we have earned schedule metrics to demonstrate delay in useful feedback of days/weeks/months.

------------------------------
Christopher (Chris) "Chris" Carson CEP DRMP PSP FAACE
Director of Program & Project Controls, Vice President
ARCADIS, U.S., Inc.
Virginia Beach VA
(757) 342-5524 Chris.Carson@Arcadis.com
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-28-2022 09:15
From: Michael Marcell
Subject: Over Target Baseline - Over Target Schedule

Dan,
We have noticed a significant increase of OTB/OTS based on the supply chain and resource availability.  Systemically, it seems that many of the issues stem from the lack of focus of what the status schedule is identifying for the managers.  I know I will get a lot of responses to this comment but, in construction the schedule is the guiding management tool for the historical performance, the current state of a project, the focus of the next 3 to 4 weeks of work, and the evaluation of the impacts to completion.  In the EVM world, where this is expected, the schedule is not as heavy utilized.  

Question: What can be done to enforce the performance management of the EVM contractor to entice the same focus as in the construction world?  Would this provide enough early warning to avoid the majority of the OTB/OTS?

------------------------------
Michael Marcell EVP PSP
Vice President
K2 Consulting
Bethesda MD
(240) 876-4833

Original Message:
Sent: 09-08-2022 20:54
From: Dan Melamed
Subject: Over Target Baseline - Over Target Schedule

All,

After tonight's EVM Subcommittee meeting we agreed to start a discussion about an Over Target Baseline - Over Target Schedule.

Attached is a DoD Guide on how to develop an Over Target Baseline (OTB) - Over Target Schedule (OTS) as well as an AACE article on using this tool.

Does anyone have any thoughts, suggestion or ideas on the best application of this tool to for when a baseline goes over budget and/or over schedule?

This may be an interesting Recommended Practice, as well a possible article.

Let us know your thoughts.

Thanks

Dan 


------------------------------
Dan Melamed CCP EVP
Program Analyst
U.S. Department of Energy
1 (301) 775-7286
Disclaimer: this e-mail represents the view of its sender. This e-mail was not prepared as a product of the U.S. Government including the Department of Energy; no official endorsement should be inferred.
------------------------------

All,

In addition to the recommendations already discussed I would add:

• A thorough examination and follow up to Variance reporting: ensure that the management of variances are fully addressed by management. This could include the contractor employing programmatic approaches and/or corporate resources to address variance issues.
• Track the use of cst and schedule reserves - if they are being expended too quickly early in a project - take note and work with the contractor to adress potential issues. 

------------------------------
Dan Melamed CCP EVP
Program Analyst
U.S. Department of Energy
1 (301) 775-7286
Disclaimer: this e-mail represents the view of its sender. This e-mail was not prepared as a product of the U.S. Government including the Department of Energy; no official endorsement should be inferred.
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 10-02-2022 15:20
From: Christopher (Chris) Carson
Subject: Over Target Baseline - Over Target Schedule

I think one way to make the use of EVM more valuable is to take it from project-wide down to specific focus areas of the project.  We run EVM on trade contractors, phases, milestones, the critical path activities, the near-critical path activities.  All of those provide much deeper insight and reduce the risk that some early delivery of an expensive piece of equipment can mislead the metrics. 

In addition, we run Earned Schedule along with EVM and when the project is trending late and the EVM metrics are not useful, we have earned schedule metrics to demonstrate delay in useful feedback of days/weeks/months.

------------------------------
Christopher (Chris) "Chris" Carson CEP DRMP PSP FAACE
Director of Program & Project Controls, Vice President
ARCADIS, U.S., Inc.
Virginia Beach VA
(757) 342-5524 Chris.Carson@Arcadis.com

Original Message:
Sent: 09-28-2022 09:15
From: Michael Marcell
Subject: Over Target Baseline - Over Target Schedule

Dan,
We have noticed a significant increase of OTB/OTS based on the supply chain and resource availability.  Systemically, it seems that many of the issues stem from the lack of focus of what the status schedule is identifying for the managers.  I know I will get a lot of responses to this comment but, in construction the schedule is the guiding management tool for the historical performance, the current state of a project, the focus of the next 3 to 4 weeks of work, and the evaluation of the impacts to completion.  In the EVM world, where this is expected, the schedule is not as heavy utilized.  

Question: What can be done to enforce the performance management of the EVM contractor to entice the same focus as in the construction world?  Would this provide enough early warning to avoid the majority of the OTB/OTS?

------------------------------
Michael Marcell EVP PSP
Vice President
K2 Consulting
Bethesda MD
(240) 876-4833

Original Message:
Sent: 09-08-2022 20:54
From: Dan Melamed
Subject: Over Target Baseline - Over Target Schedule

All,

After tonight's EVM Subcommittee meeting we agreed to start a discussion about an Over Target Baseline - Over Target Schedule.

Attached is a DoD Guide on how to develop an Over Target Baseline (OTB) - Over Target Schedule (OTS) as well as an AACE article on using this tool.

Does anyone have any thoughts, suggestion or ideas on the best application of this tool to for when a baseline goes over budget and/or over schedule?

This may be an interesting Recommended Practice, as well a possible article.

Let us know your thoughts.

Thanks

Dan 


------------------------------
Dan Melamed CCP EVP
Program Analyst
U.S. Department of Energy
1 (301) 775-7286
Disclaimer: this e-mail represents the view of its sender. This e-mail was not prepared as a product of the U.S. Government including the Department of Energy; no official endorsement should be inferred.
------------------------------