Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
$60,000
$50,000
$40,000
Actual cost
Earned value
$30,000
Planned value
$20,000
$10,000
$0
Time (in months)
Figure ... Complete earned value chart for the project depicting actual cost,
earned value, and planned value.
in the project and what appropriate actions can be taken to remedy this situation.
For instance, using EVM, it is possible to know which task in the project is getting
delayed and what impact it can have on the entire project as well as on other tasks
in the project. At the same time it will also give information as to how much impact
it can have on the project.
EVM is also extremely useful in providing status reports to stakeholders of the proj-
ect. It provides information such as when the project will finish given the current status,
how much it will cost to finish the project, how the project performance fares against
similar projects, how much it is costing to earn each unit of forecasted value, and so on.
EVM has good capability for reporting at program and portfolio levels. With
many software service providers executing a lot of projects simultaneously, this
becomes a handy tool to make reports at the program level for individual customers
(having many projects being outsourced to the service provider) and make reports at
the portfolio level for projects being executed at the departmental level.
7.1. 2
EVM Implementation for Software Projects
Some of the assumptions that are needed before we move on to discussing imple-
menting EVM for software test projects are as follows:
1. The project is not on a time-and-material basis: If this is the case, then required
information necessary for calculating earned values will not be available for
the project.
2. The project has relevant values available for baseline and actual information
at any given time when a status report has to be made.
The primary requirement for implementing EVM is that you create a base-
line schedule, budget, and resource requirement for your project. That means, at
