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EVM Newsletter 
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December 2009
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Did you find this newsletter interesting? Forward it to a friend!
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2010-11 EVP Exam Dates |  |
Listed below are the exam date, the deadline for discounted applications, and the final date for applications. Exams are generally held nationwide (US) and selected international locations.
Check future newsletters for other 2011 dates as they are annouced.
Exam: 6 Nov 2010
Early Discount: 23 Aug
Deadline: 6 Sept
Exam: 6 Nov 2010 (UAE only)
Early Discount: 23 Aug
Deadline: 6 Sept
7 July 2011 (Saudia Arabia)
Early discount: 26 April
Deadline: 10 May
Always check with AACEfor revised dates and application information
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What's a Good Schedule Look Like? | |
Depends who you ask. It would be nice if everyone could agree.
A least three groups are working on defining the parameters of a good schedule. First there is the existing US OSD DCMA 14 point review. Then there is the NDIA (National Defense Industrial Association) NDIA Industrial Committee for Program Management's Program Planning and Scheduling Subcommittee (PPSS) who are working with DoD's DAU (Defense Acquisition University). PPSS is a committee of the ten largest DoD Contractors who agreed that planning and scheduling was not all it should be within their industry. Then there is a GAO effort in cooperation with the PMI College of Scheduling. Lastly AACE has established a committee to author an AACE Recommended Practice (RP) on good scheduling attributes. Standby.
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Quotable Quote | |
"Just when you make it idiot proof.....
......they invent a better idiot."
Seen in El Squid Roe, Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico
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Keep Your EVM Newsletter Coming | |
In September it will be one year since The EVM Newsletter was initiated. Our readers are exceeding 2,100 readers! Well, actually subscribers. Which brings me to the point.
We want to make sure we're not cluttering INBOXs with mail that is no longer wanted.
In September you will receive an e-mail asking you to confirm your continued interest in receiving The EVM Newsletter. All you'll need to do is click on a link.
Those who do not confirm their interest will be dropped from our list of subscribers.
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PMI CPM Votes to Become PMI Community of Practice | |
Over 75% of the PMI CPM members who voted, agreed with the PMI CPM Governing Board to join PMI as a Virtual Community. The current board will remain in office through 2011 to help manage the transition. During the transition the College of Performance Management will dissolve and the PMI EVM Community of Practice will form. It is planned that the two annual EVM conferences that the PMI CPM has helped manage will continue. Previously known as the Performance Management Association, PMA members voted to join PMI about ten years ago and form the CPM.
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Summary of EVM Thresholds
by US Agency | |
HardDollar corporation provides cost estimating software for the design and construction industry. They have a great summary of the US Agency EVM policies and thresholds.
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| Final Thoughts | | |
What would your want on your tombstone? Mel Blanc, the voice of well-known characters as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Sylvester the Cat, Tweety Bird, Foghorn Leghorn, Yosemite Sam, Wile E. Coyote, and Woody Woodpecker died in 1989. His tombstone reads "That's All Folks", the tag line to many of his cartoon shows.
I got to thinking what would a career EVM-er want on their tombstone?
"BCWPcum = BAC"
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  Greetings..
Welcome to the August EVM Newsletter.
We think the most exciting news is that the Study Guide is now downloadable as well as available in a bound version. More on this elsewhere in The EVM Newsletter.
EVM Tidbit #13 discusses a common practice that makes EVM harder, more time consuming, and more costly than it should be.
There are two additional conferences listed, and one additional job posting with multiple needs for EVM people.
The EVM Newsletter is just over one year old! We are revalidating our e-mail list in September. This helps make sure people who no longer want The EVM Newsletter can opt out, those who want it can reaffirm their opt-in. Look for an e-mail on this subject in September. Management Technologies got an award from our e-mail distributor for adhering to best e-mail practices! We'd like to keep it up. If you not not read and respond to the e-mail your subscription will be deleted.
If you get this newsletter via a link on LinkedIn you get it about 2-3 weeks later than our subscribers. Subscribe and get the news on conferences and jobs sooner.
The promised book review of Budd and Budd's (or is it Budds' ?) EVM book appears below. The IRS is looking for more "earned value" from LLC, LLP, sole proprietorships. And we have a link to a good resource for US Agency EVM contract thresholds
You can help make this newsletter interesting by contributing news about your activities in EVM, your company, product announcements, or your projects. Each month starts with a blank sheet, we don't make this stuff up! Send news to me at evinfo@mgmt-technologies.com
Ray Stratton, PMP,EVP
Editor |
 | EVP Study Guide is now Downloadable!
|  Here was the problem. Some international buyers of "Ray Stratton's Earned Value Professional (EVP) Study Guide" did not receive their shipment due to the various Postal Offices involved, customs, or who knows why. Others got them too late to help them before their exam date. Yet other customers, both domestic and international, would decide a week before the EVP exam that they needed the Study Guide NOW, but there was no means to get it in time.
Buyers of the Study Guide can now choose either the spiral bound book or download the book's contents. The spiral bound book is nice to carry around to grab a few minutes of studying while waiting for your car pool, on the subway, in an airport, etc. The download is nice because you can get it right now. And the download does not incur sales tax or shipping costs.
Also, customers who want the spiral bound can now pick either priority or express (over-night in the USA) delivery.
Learn more about the Study Guide and comments from users.
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| EVM Tidbit #13 | Making the Easy Difficult
Recently I was conducting an EVPrep workshop on-site for an organization that had met the guidelines of ANSI 748. They had  gone through a US DoD DCMA review and been found to be compliant. So the workshop attendees had experience working within a formal ANSI 748 compliant EVMS. But as I caution EVP candidates, just because you work with an approved EVMS does not mean you should take that experience into the exam. You may in fact over (or under) achieve the guidelines of 748 for a variety of reasons. On the topic of Organization we talked about WBS, OBS, Control Accounts and Work Packages. We covered the ANSI 748 requirements to compute variances at the Control Account level, (Guideline 2.4a). Then I covered ANSI 748 Section 3.5.10 which discusses work packages in depth. Here is what it says: "A work package is the point at which work is planned, progress is measured, and earned value is computed." So I asked the class, "Do you collect costs at the work package level?" They said "Yes." I said "Why?" "Because we were told we had to." I replied, "You are making work for yourself." Somewhat surprised by my comment I asked them to reread the slide on the screen. "A work package is the point at which work is planned, progress is measured, and earned value is computed." "Do you see the word 'cost' anywhere?" Just because we budget at the work package level does not mean we have to collect costs there. The budget is there to help know the big work packages from the small work packages and get the EV correct for the work done. There may be good reasons to collect costs at the WP level, such as Activity Based Costing, but ANSI 748 EVMS is not one of them. The next logical misstep is to then compute and analyze variances at the WP level, clearly something that is NOT expected in ANSI 748.
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| Earned Value Experience™ (CAM workshop) and EVPrep™ Exam Prep Workshop Dates
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Earned Value Experience (CAM) Workshop
You'll experience creating an earned value management baseline, determining earned value from project status,  calculating earned value management indices, and estimating final cost and completion date. This workshop is perfect for team leads, control account managers, financial and schedule control staff, project and program managers, and chief project officers. Excel EzEVM™Templates may be retained by attendees to implement earned value management in their organization.
The Earned Value Experience (CAM) workshop will be conducted in:
- Reston VA Sept 14-15
- Chicago IL Sept 21-22
EVPrep Exam Prep Workshop
The workshop covers all the topics likely covered in the exam and provides exam-like questions and workshop discussion about each question and the possible answers. This workshop also includes an EVM analysis question to help prepare you for the three page written essay in Part II (was part IV). This is twelve hours of mock EVP exam and discussions of correct and incorrect answers. The EVPrep™ workshop will be conducted in - Reston VA Sept 16-17 (was Arlington)
- Chicago IL Sept 23-24
- Reston VA Oct 27-28
Do you have an EVP FAQ? Go to AACE's website for the latest information about exam dates. Interested in an on-site workshop? Send an e-mail with your your address and the number of attendees to receive a quote. |
| Upcoming EVM and PM Conferences | |
WHO:IPMA
WHEN: 1-3 November 2010
22nd Annual Integrated Program Management Conference
WHERE: Washington DC
WHEN:8-10 November 2010
EVA Europe 2010
WHEN:24-25 November 2010
WHERE: Belgium
MORE INFO:
AACE San Francisco Section 2011 Western Winter Workshop
WHEN: 2-6 February 2011
WHERE: Pebble Beach, Monterey CA
NASA PM Challenge
 WHEN: 9-10 February 2011
WHERE: Long Beach CA
EVM World 2011
WHEN: 18-20May 2011
WHERE: Naples, FL MORE INFO: PMI College of Performance Management
AACE Annual Meeting 2011
WHEN: 19-22 June 2011
WHERE:June 19-22, Disneyland Resort, Anaheim CA
Australasian Integrated Performance Management Symposium
(AIPMS)
WHEN: July 2011
WHERE: Canberra
MORE INFO: later
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EVM Jobs | |
Honeywell, Defense & Space
Puerto Rico has one position available for a Senior Analyst, require more than 10 years EVMS & Project Management experience.
US sites have multiple positions for Senior Analysts and Analysts II.
Contact:
Manager PP&C, Business Operations Honeywell Defense & Space Tel: (787)658-2671 Mobile: (787)415-2427 E-mail: maria.soto2@honeywell.com
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CDI Corporation is seeking an Earned Value Analyst in Tucson AZ with 1-3 years of experience.
Responsibilities include:
- Supporting implementation of EVM through Deltek Cobra and wInsight for reporting and analysis.
- Providing subject matter expertise and work with various project teams to provide guidance and establish familiarity with all reporting requirements on scope, cost, schedule.
- Assist project teams with preparation for IBR.
- Assist project team in setup/maintenance of Cobra.
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Requirements:
- Bachelors Degree
- Must have 1-3 years of experience in EVM in medium to large projects in the US Government environment.
- Recent hands-on experience should include Cobra and/or wInsight tools.
- Knowledge of EVM concepts, metrics, updating status, scheduling, reporting and surveillance.
- Must have the ability to conduct meetings with project managers and their teams in a collaborative work environment.
CDI Corporation
410-975-8390
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| Book Review
| "A Practical Guide to Earned Value Project Management" Second Edition, Charles I, Budd, PMP and Charlene S. Budd, PMP, publisher: Management Concepts, ISBN: 978-1-56726-256-8, $65
OK. I like this book. I liked the first edition. If I did not I would not have recommended this book as part of recommended study materials for the AACE Earned Value Professional (EVP) seven hour EVM exam.
What I like about the book is the general organization of topics and the thoroughness of the discussion. While a book on EVM can not substitute for a book on general project management principles, this book comes close. EVM integrates project planning, risk, scheduling, budgeting, cost collection, project execution, organization, work breakdown, and other project management areas as well. This book covers the EVM related disciplines and topics. No, you won't see a discussion of human resources, holding effective meetings, or soft skills. But you get the knowledge needed to understand EVM in the context of ANSI 748 and project management.
Part I of the book discusses the "why" of EVM and project management in general. This provides a sound foundation for the rest of the book.
Part II covers the basics of EVM that apply to any implementation of EVM from casual to formal.
Part III through V talk about each of the ANSI 748 thirty-two guidelines. What makes this book so useful is that each guideline is discussed, it's put in the context of related guidelines, and why the guideline is important to EVM and project management. Then the authors describe the tools and methods needed to meet the guideline. For example, guideline one mentions "WBS". Budd and Budd then talk about the value of subdividing the project into meaningful parts and how to create a useful WBS. Guideline 6 talks about schedule. The book then discusses schedule uncertainty, PERT, CPM, and related scheduling topics.
Part VI is about implementing EVM, government contracts, and implementing simplified EVM. Part VII discusses EVM emerging practices such as Performance-Based Earned ValueŽ, Earned Schedule analysis, and EVM and critical chain project management.
There are some areas where Budd and Budd and I don't agree. For example, in several places they discuss work packages as part of the WBS. Since WBSs are also the framework for cost collection it's easy to fall into the trap of collecting costs at the WP level, which is not required for ANSI 748 EVMS. In most cases the WBS can terminate at the Control Account. But this and my other points of departure from the book are minor. These are the topics that foster heated discussion at the bar after EVM conferences instead of sports or politics.
If you are looking for a good book on EVM that will help you understand the "why" of the 32 guidelines and what processes are needed to meet them then this is good book for you.
Oh, and Charles Budd just passed his EVP exam too.
Performance-Based Earned ValueŽ is a registered trademark of Paul Solomon
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| US IRS is Learning, and Looking, for More Earned Value
| Management Technologies is helping the IRS prepare for the EVP exam. An on-site EVPrep workshop will help them learn how to approach the seven hour exam, and likely learn some little known aspects of ANSI 748.
The IRS is also looking for more earned value. Are you an independent contractor or owner of an LLC, LLP, or a sole proprietor? Does your business have more "earned value" at year end than the IRS thinks you have? Read on.
Smaller businesses and independent consultants will have to report more information about their "earned value", as reported on tax returns. Among the recently enacted USA health care laws is a new requirement for business owners to submit a separate 1099 form for every single business-to-business transaction that totals more than $600 in a given year. Currently businesses must report to the IRS payments only made to non-corporate entities, i.e., independent contractors. The health care bill expands that requirement to corporate vendors. This means small business owners will have to provide 1099 forms for basic businesses expenses, including phone and internet service, shipping costs, and office supplies. So your claims of "operating expenses" will likely need to end up on a 1099. |
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Do you have news to share? Send your news item and we'll review it for posting in a future EVM Newsletter. Ray Stratton, PMP, EVP
Management Technologies |
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The EVM Newsletter, EVPrep, The Earned Value Management Maturity Model, EVM3, EzEVM, and The Earned Value Experience are trademarks of Management Technologies. The Earned Value Professional and EVP are trademarks of the Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering, International. (AACEŽ) |
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