Qso 440 - Topics in Project Management

11 Feb 2018

Christopher Summers

Module Six Short Paper

QSO-440; Topics in Project Management

Southern New Hampshire University

        An Earned Value Analysis (EVA) is a method that a project manager can use to evaluate the amount of work that has actually been completed on a project.  This allows the project manager to evaluate beyond the basic review of simple cost and schedule.  Using the progress that has been achieved, the project manager can project the project’s total cost and date of completion based on a trend analysis.

        Often times comparing the amount of work completed to the budgeted time/money is called the burn rate.  The burn rate allows the manager to gain a snapshot to show how well the project doing staying on budget.  Using this snapshot allows the manager to make adjustments as necessary to help ensure project completion on time/budget.  This essentially acts as an early warning system.  It provides an objective measurement of the current status and projected completion status.

        There are four methods that can be used to estimate the percentage completion of a project: 1.) the 50-50 Rule, 2.) the 0-100 rule, 3.) critical input use rule, and 4.) the proportionality rule.

        The 50-50 rule is the easiest and most commonly used method.  This method gives immediate credit for the first half completion and is more conservative for the second half.

        The 0-100 rule allows no instant credit for the first half for work, instead credit is only allowed when the task is 100% completed.  The difficulty with this method is there is no way to know if the project is going to be completed on time until it is finalized.  This method doesn’t allow for adjustments to made if the task is behind.

        The critical input use rule bases completion on the critical task completion.  The criticality is based on how important each specific task is to the completion of the project.  The more important a task is the more

        The final method used is the proportionality rule.  This rule is similar to the critical importance rule, but it involves using time or cost as the driver of importance.  Each task is divided up by the amount of time or money that it absorbs out of the budget.  Each task completed correlates to a certain percentage of the task completion.