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EVPM Earned Value Performance Management (EVPM) is designed to give senior management an accurate overview of Corporate/Project performance. It builds on information provided by traditional scheduling techniques to plan and measure the overall productivity of a system or project.
Do most projects succeed?
On an industry wide basis, there are many “project management” successes reported. Unfortunately, most serious studies indicate there are significantly more failures than successes. Some industries (software, electronics, administration, etc.) experience project failure rates as high as 90% (ie projects completed late and/or over budget or failing to meet client expectations or requirements).
So the answer is a resounding NO most projects don’t succeed.
How can EVPM help to turn this around?
The foundation of EVPM was the Cost / Schedule Control Systems Criteria (C/SCSC) originally defined in the USA in 1967. EVPM has traditionally been used in Defence Projects with budgets in excess of $100 M. A recent change in Defence standards has pushed the threshold down to $40 M. Private industry is now implementing EVPM for major projects, which are large, complex or geographically dispersed.
To facilitate responsible decision-making by providing a valid, timely and auditable control system which is capable of:
There are three reasons to use EVPM.
Is EVPM a mandatory requirement for your project/customer?
Is the project you are working on a large or complex one for your organisation?
Do you have difficulty with management buy-in based on project status reporting?
Are there quality issues associated with project deliverables?
If the answer to any of the above questions is YES then you qualify to look seriously at implementing EVPM.
The bottom line is that to move from the failed project category to the successful category something has to change. Do you want a successful project?
EVPM is a proven approach to achieving successful project completions.
Getting started with EVPM is no different than implementing any new management process in an organisation. There is a formal methodology to follow to ensure that all stakeholders and participants are informed, willing and able to achieve the benefits of EVPM.
There are 11 key steps to implementing EVPM. They involve establishing a capability and culture to support EVPM. Each of these steps is critical to the overall success of an EVPM implementation as they form a progressive foundation to reap the benefits of on-time, on-budget and to-specification projects.
The first step as with any project is to develop a plan to describe the who, what, when, where, why and how of EVPM in the organisation. It should be aligned with the strategic direction of the organisation to ensure that it has long-term visibility.
The plan should define the approach and structure to support the implementation and ongoing operation of EVPM. The plan should also have linkages with IT plans as there will be a need for IT based support services to facilitate EVPM.
Finally the EVPM plan review and update process needs to be defined.
This step involves developing the IT architecture necessary to support EVPM across the organisation. The focus of this aspect is the process, functional, data and technology architectures necessary to ensure that the EVPM repository can be implemented and accessed. Security requirements are also established to ensure appropriate clearances internally and externally based on specific customer requirements (e.g. Defence).
This step involves planning the establishment of the infrastructure necessary for the ongoing support of EVPM. The aim is to establish capability to monitor future trends and practices, develop contingency plans, define EVPM software acquisition plans and how standards will be established and maintained.
The key functional group to establish, champion and monitor EVPM implementation is the Project Office. This group will provide support to project teams for the implementation and on-going operation of the EVPM process.
Defining the services to be provided, establishing the EVPM repository, staff development programs for project and line management staff. Key relationships internally (i.e steering and management committees) and externally (i.e. standards bodies) need to be defined and processes for management established.
Having defined the scope, objectives, services, organisation structure, roles and responsibilities of the Project Office the operating budget and financial reporting systems can be established.
Key performance indicators and benchmarks for measurement of Project Office achievement can be formalised.
The Project Office has been established and has a mandate from senior management. The implementation of its role in the organisation is undertaken and communicated throughout the organisation. The initial project office team starts working with selected projects to establish EVPM capability and ensure compliance.
The staff of the Project Office is established through a recruitment and training program. Performance evaluation, promotion and clearance programs are established for the Project Office staff and selected project staff.
Compliance with external requirements is a significant component of some projects, especially where the end product is standards driven. In other cases it may be simply regulatory compliance for such issues as safety and ergonomics. To achieve this external compliance, requirements have to be defined and procedures established.
Business risk associated with projects must be assessed using a consistent approach to enable their identification and the potential impact measured. Once risk is identified specific action plans can be developed to either mitigate or manage the situation. This step focuses on establishing the risk assessment and management processes for the Project Office.
Step 10 is where the visibility of EVPM is elevated across the organisation. Project Office staff are now visibly supporting qualifying projects across the organisation.
Through EVPM, formalised planning and reporting processes are established as part of the project management infrastructure. EVPM project definition and approval processes are implemented. Quality, test, training and risk management plans are established for EVPM projects.
Post implementation reviews are formalised to feed back lessons learned to the Project Office.
The quality objective of EVPM is to build quality in. To this end the quality plan creates the opportunity to reduce project risk and cost by assessing quality thoughout the project life cycle.
In this step quality plans and the approach to quality assurance come into play. Project deliverable’s and process are reviewed for adherence to standards and formally reported to management.
The next question is how to get started? There are a number of different ways to implement EVPM, the two most popular are the hard way and the easy way.
The hard way involves doing all the research, development, training and implementation yourself. This is a time consuming, difficult and resource intensive process. After all EVPM is about delivering projects on time, within budget and to specification. The sooner EVPM is up and running the sooner the benefits are realised.
If this is the road you want to take we genuinely wish you the best of luck and recommend you get as much material as you can from our web site to assist you.
The easy way involves leveraging the capability, experience and intellectual property of those who have gone before you. This will get you up and running quickly and able to realise the benefits of EVPM as soon as possible.
If you want to find out more about the easy road call or email us.
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