Using%20Earned%20Value%20(EV)%20for%20better%20management%20of%20software%20projects

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Using Earned Value (EV) for better management of
software projects

• Tathagat Varma
• Engineering Manager,
• Huawei Technologies India Pvt. Ltd.
• Bangalore, India

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Disclaimer

• The views represented in this presentation are
  authors own personal views and do not
  necessarily represent the views of his employers
• All facts, data, research material referenced
  from the Internet web sites is gratefully
  acknowledged to the site addresses to highlight
  its ownership

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Metrics for Project Management

• By and large, everyone agrees that we need to
  measure !
• There is a plethora of software metrics
• The general tendency for a organization starting
  to use metrics is to collect as much as
  possible
• This leads to confusion and loss of mission /
  purpose no one knows for whom the metrics are
  meant to be
• The key is to use as few metrics as possible, but
  put them in closed-loop management

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Major Parameters to track

• Schedule
• Productivity
• Effort / Cost
• Review Effort
• Review Efficiency
• Rework Effort
• Test Effort
• Pre-release Defect Density
• Post-release Defect Density
• ...

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Problems

• Schedule Tracking
• In conventional methods, we track the schedule in
  WBS / Gantt chart
• The Schedule Tracking give information on the
  amount of schedule that has been spent, but can
  never correctly predict the remaining amount of
  schedule really needed to complete the project
• The task granularity is often very large
  resulting in ineffective scheduling and tracking
• Effort / Cost Tracking
• Often, this is tracked separately - there is no
  real correlation with the traditional schedule
  tracking
• Often, the effort already spent can not be
  well-utilised to predict the effort remaining for
  remaining tasks

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Proposal Solution

• Use Earned Value as the metrics for tracking
  schedule and cost
• Earned Value is a derived metrics that needs
  basic project measurements that are normally
  collected planned and actual schedule, planned
  and actual effort / cost, etc.
• However, it is the predictive capability of
  Earned Value metric that really helps us improve
  the visibility and control of a software project

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Earned Value

• From www.earnedvalue.com
• Earned Value is a program management technique
  that uses "work in progress" to indicate what
  will happen to work in the future. Research shows
  that projects that are over budget when only 15
  percent finished usually post overruns at
  completion. Similarly, research shows that actual
  completion costs will not improve by more that 10
  of the current percentage overrun. This
  statistic highlights the need for early and
  disciplined review of current project status
  throughout the life of a project.

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Earned Value Graph

• http//www.projectmagazine.com/nov00/evm1.html

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Benefits of Earned Value

• More granular estimation, planning, scheduling
  and tracking gt Improved project performance
• Get the difference between effort and
  progress very clear
• Focus on big picture gt Management by exception
• Prediction of Cost and Schedule variance at the
  completion

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Disadvantages / Cost of Earned Value

• Difficult concept takes a higher order of
  project management capabilities to effectively
  deploy an EVM system
• May not be very suited for very small projects

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Conclusions

• Earned Value system does not suffer from the
  problems that traditional schedule tracking has
• The very usage of Earned Value in projects
  improves the quality of planning, scheduling,
  tracking and reporting
• Earned Value is a standard concept in
  multi-site / global projects, it is uniquely
  understood irrespective of the geographic
  location of the site
• Earned Value chart is very simple and effective
  way to inform the Senior Management on the
  project progress

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Web References

• NASA Website on Earned Value Management
  (http//evm.nasa.gov/)
• Earned Value Calculations in Microsoft Project 98
  (support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid/support/
  project/content/prj98/EValCalcs.asp)
• Earned Value for RD-Type Projects
  (evm.larc.nasa.gov/EV_Overview.ppt)
• Using Earned Value to Manage Successful Software
  Projects, Paul J. Solomon (http//www.qaiindia.com
  /SEPG_minisite/Past_papers/pdf_files/Northrop_USIN
  G_EARNED_VALUE.pdf)
• Earned Value Management Maturity Model
  (http//www.mgmt-technologies.com/evmtech.html)

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Questions ?
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Thank you !!!