Ariba Med-X Case Solution

Ariba Med-X Case:

1. Which of the two components are underperforming according to the plan? How do you know this?

Software customization were performing as planned or even exceeding plan while technical infrastructure was underperforming. By analyzing the earned value of the two components and comparing the earned value with their planned value and actual cost, I will show some plots ranging from May to Sep, to explain my answer.

• For Software customization:

• In cost performance plot, the earned value was always higher than actual cost, which means the component was under budget all the time.

[pic 1]

• In schedule performance plot, the earned value was always higher than planned cost, which means the component was ahead of schedule all the time.

[pic 2]

• In SPI and CPI plot, both CPI and SPI were over 100%, which means the component was performing well both in schedule and cost.

[pic 3]

• From above analysis, it is clear that software customization was going well. And it seems that this component was almost completed on September because the earned value of $1005,250 on September surpassed the planned value of $948,000 on October.

• For Software customization:

• In cost performance plot, the earned value was always lower than actual cost, which means the component was over budget all the time.

[pic 4]

• In schedule performance plot, the earned value was always lower than planned cost, which means the component was behind schedule all the time.

[pic 5]

• In SV and CV plot, both schedule variance and cost variance were negative, which means the component was underperforming both in schedule and cost.

[pic 6]

• From above analysis, it is clear that technical infrastructure performed badly. The earned value of $838.000 on September didn’t reach the planned value of $888,000. And this component costed $75,500 beyond the budget.

In conclusion of above analysis, technical infrastructure underperformed from May to September because it never catches up with the plan, while software customization performed well all the time.

1. Are the components of the project within budget? How do you know?

Software customization was under budget all the time, but technical infrastructure was not within budget. As we can see in the below plots, the earned value was always higher than actual cost in software customization, nevertheless the earned value was always lower than actual cost in technical infrastructure.

[pic 7][pic 8]

1. What can you conclude by looking at the combined earned value data for the entire project?

In addition to analyzing earned value data of combined project, project managers should also analyze each component to make sure every component met planned budget or schedule. Otherwise they would be misled, because just as the project showed, positive influence from some outperforming component would cover the negative impacts from some underperforming components. Next, I will explain it by using Ariba project as example.