You are 4 months into a 6 month project. The project is linear, which means that the progress and spending occurs at a constant rate. Our crack project team of highly skilled associates has worked diligently and put in extra hours to keep the project going. Our accounting department has provided the following data at the end of month 4:
Actual cost to date = $88,800
Planned expenditures to date = $101,000
The CFO is excited and has sent you an email congratulating you for being 12.07% under budget. However, is it really time to hold a team celebration? That would be fun but your project manager mentality kicks in. Those numbers look good but how are we ‘really' doing? To understand the true project performance, we need to apply earned value techniques.
The missing piece we need is Earned Value (i.e. what we have actually accomplished so far). You meet with your team and find that only 6 of the 7 tasks scheduled to be complete by the end of month 4 have actually been completed. Task 7 isn't even started! This information gives you the final data you need to apply ‘Earned Value' and develop an objective analysis.
1. What are the PV, EV, and AC for the project at the end of month 4?
2. What are the SV, CV, SPI, and CPI for the project?
3. Assess the project performance to date? Do you get to have the celebration?