Presented By: David Tennant, PE, PMP, President, Windward Consulting Group, LLC, 770-846-0828, www.windward.ws.

Written By: Sateria H. Tinsley, PMP, SSGB

David Tennant is the President and founder of Windward Consulting Group, LLC, which is located in the metro Atlanta area. Windward provides training and consulting services. Mr. Tennant’s expertise includes executive management, engineering and project management; rescue of high-visibility projects, management coaching, and company turnarounds.

Mr. Tennant has managed over $3.5-billion in programs and personally rescued over $1-billion in errant projects. Mr. Tennant is an acknowledged leader in the energy and power generation field; has held engagements in Finland, New Zealand, the Caribbean, Czech Republic, Germany, and the United Arab Emirates. Most recently, he developed two large energy generation projects in NY and Canada.

This was a keynote presentation not to be missed. From those preparing for the rigors of the PMP examination to seasoned PMP professionals; all found significant value in today’s presenter. David demonstrated real world usage of the Earned Value model and its derivative calculations along with practice opportunities.  Today’s session became a mini-training allowing those in attendance the opportunity to refine their project management skillset.  There were sighs of gratitude and appreciation throughout the reserved meeting facility.

For projects in derailment, as a result of scope creep, better described as continuous, unauthorized, changes that result in expansion/addition to the project’s scope that generally increases costs and schedule time.  One edit of projects is that they will always change. The key is to receive authorization, manage, and document changes before implementation as an organized means of controlling project scope creep.

The project plan, as developed by the team and approved by management, must be the baseline by which to measure future progress.  Cash flow comparison is one such measure.

There are key project questions that every PM should ask regarding their project status:

   • How much work has been done?
   • Are we on schedule?
   • Are we on budget?
   • What do we expect as the final completion cost?
   • Where do we stand?

Earned value calculations can answer each of these questions!

Earned value analysis is useful in spotting trends over time.  It can signal early detection of issues/concerns in the project when it’s going off course. Thus, allowing for corrective action(s) to be taken.  These calculations allow everyone to get a feel for where the project is headed.  It also requires that expenditures-to-date are accurate and timely.

One month’s measures are only a point in time or snapshot of where the project is on that specific day and should not be relied on in isolation. The real value lies in spotting trends: are you consistently showing up behind schedule and over budget or is this an isolated event?

Trends start to develop by the time a project is 20% through.

Mr. Tennant help those in attendance understand active and useful management techniques of these trends in real world practice using noted Earned Value Formulas as listed below:

Earned Value Formulas

Variance
Cost variance = EV - AC
Schedule Variance = EV - PV

Performance Indices
CPI = EV
AC
SPI = EV
PV

Estimate at Completion
EAC = $ Amount Budgeted/CPI

Footnote:
PV = Budgeted cost of work scheduled
EV = Budgeted cost of work performed
AC = Actual cost of work performed
EAC = Estimate at completion
CPI = Cost performance index
SPI = Schedule performance index
It is desired to have CPI and SPI equal to or greater than 1.0

ABOUT PMI

PMI Atlanta serves project managers in Metro Atlanta, and we’re an active resource to corporations, community and government agencies throughout north Georgia. With over 4,600 members, PMI Atlanta is the fourth largest chapter in the US and fifth largest in the world. Our professional expertise span across industries; we’re the professionals building healthcare information technology systems, the engineers developing smarter public transportation, and the planners growing our communities more efficiently. 

PMI Atlanta Chapter  | 3522 Ashford Dunwoody Road, Suite 348  | Atlanta, GA 30319 |  (678) 318-1805 | memberquestions@pmiatlanta.org

For more information on PMI Atlanta Chapter please visit: http://www.pmiatlanta.org