"You don't know what to do with the rest of your life, but you know what you don't want to do."

This is true story and why allowing cell phone calls on airliners is a bad idea.

I was onboard awaiting push back with a man sitting next to me on his cell phone. Apparently he wasworking with a proposal team back in the office. The proposal included a bill of materials. (Do you see this coming?) Of course if you have worked on proposals you know we do not call it a "bill of materials", it's just a "B.o.M". And so he's talking about the "BoM". Fortunately I was the only one who heard him and knew from the context that this was not about a bomb but about a BoM. Otherwise it could have caused an evacuation, missed flights, missed connections, and lots of paperwork.

Would you want to hear this conversation at 39,000 feet? You will quickly end up parked in the most remote section of an airport you never thought you would visit.

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ANSI 748 breaks work into three basic categories. Discrete, Level of Effort (LOE), and Apportioned Effort (AE). 

The first is our favorite since it allows EV (BCWP) to be estimated based upon the physical accomplishment of work that meets its expected quality standards. LOE is our least favorite since the EV reported is based on elapsed time, not scheduled and accomplished work. Any use of LOE drives the overall schedule performance toward an on-schedule condition, whether the real status is ahead or behind schedule. It's commonly used for project direct cost support efforts like QA, PM, or engineering support to manufacturing. (Support for indirect cost support is not in the WBS/OB or scope of the PMB other than as the budget and cost of overhead expenses.)

AE is the orphaned earned value technique (EVT) [or work in process (WIP) measure]. It is seldom used but should be used more often. It's applicable when the plan/progress of one task (WP or CA) is paced by the work of one or more other discrete efforts within the project. When work looks like it might be LOE, maybe it should be AE? At least with AE there is some real measure of progress when work is paced by other measured work.

One student in my EVM workshop, having learned of LOE and AE, asked why PM is often LOE.  Shouldn't the EV for the PM be measured using apportioned effort since the schedule performance of all the other work is based on how well PM is done? So if the project is behind schedule so is the PM. Why should be PM look like its on schedule thanks to using LOE? Exactly.

Next month, some ideas on how to use AE on large projects.

Imagine an EVM lead on a project being able to communicate with the engineering team lead? Image a lead engineer understanding what the EVM lead is asking for?  Communication across an abyss. How do you solve this?

Build bridges! That's exactly what Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company is doing according to Sondra Ewing. The engineers enjoy teaching basic systems engineering to the project planning and controls staff, and they also like learning about EVM. After all, EVM is about numbers, formulas, and graphs. Engineers should love it!

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Lockheed Martin has had their EVMS recertified by the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA). I'm sure that a lot of people worked hard to make this happen. 

Do you work in an ANSI 748 compliant EVMS? Sometimes in the rush to get our projects planned, underway, and firefighting problems its easy to short-circuit or bypass the EVMS System Description processes. This exposes the certified EVMS to decertification! If you know how your EVMS is supposed to work you know what to look for in processes, forms, and approvals. To paraphrase the common "If You See Something, Say Something™" campaign.... "If You DON'T See Something, Say Something". Tell your EVM focal point before your EVMS is derailed.

If You See Something, Say Something is a trademark of the New York City's Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 

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EVM Europe 2013

WHEN: 3-4 December 2013 (Changed)

WHERE: University of Ghent, Belgium

MORE INFO: tbd

Construction CPM Conference

WHEN: January 21-24 2014

WHERE: Swan & Dolphin Resort, Walt Disney World, FL

MORE INFO: www.constructioncpm.com

AACE International Annual Meeting
WHEN: 15-18 June 2014

WHERE: New Orleans, LA, USA

MORE INFO: AACE

9th ICEC World Congress

WHEN: 20-22 October 2014

WHERE: Milano Italy

MORE INFO: TBD

PMI Global Congress 2014 - EMEA

WHEN: 5-7 May 2014

WHERE: Dubai, United Arab Emirates

WHEN: 26-28 October 2014

WHEN: 12-13 November 2014 (Yes 2014)

WHERE: Bangkok Thailand

WHEN:16-19 November 2014

WHERE: Miami, Florida, USA

MORE INFO:  TBD

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EVPrep Exam Prep Workshop (14 PDUs)

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).

"Ray, your course is excellent preparation for the EVP Certification test. Your questions were comprehensive like the test and somewhat harder (more complex) than the real test. Your preparation course especially helped with the memo."

Jeff Kottmyer

NASA

Do you have an  EVP FAQ?  

Does our EVPrep workshop and/or EVP Study Guide really help with the EVP exam?

Using these data and data from AACE regarding yearly totals of EVP exams taken and exams passed we did some statistical analysis.

Yes, our EVPrep products are effective in increasing the likelihood of passing the EVP exam.

Earned Value Experience (CAM) Workshop (14 PDUs)

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 fourth quarterly 2013 Measureable News is available to members of the LinkedIn "Earned Value Management" group. The Group is affiliated with the College of Performance Management (CPM). CPM offers many other benefits directly to the Group's members. If you are not a member of this group maybe you should be? There are at least eight or more EVM Groups on LinkedIn. Be sure to join the "Earned Value Management" group.

This issue includes articles on Applying Earned Value to Overcome Challenges in Oil and Gas Industry Surface Projects, PARCA: The Next Generation of Earned Value Management, Measuring Schedule Adherence, and Taking the Guessing out of When to Rebaseline.

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Sometimes the ROI on an investment is not economic. But in the end there is the value of good will. Priceless. (Five minute video)

Creating Goodwill