INF337 Assignment Project Cost and Value Management

Project Management—Cost and Value Management
Kimberly V. Adams
INF337: Integrated Cost & Schedule Control
InstructorRodney Greer
January 16, 2017
Project Management--Cost and Value Management
Introduction
Feedback remains a vital aspect to the success of a project. Targeted and timely feedback enables project managers to determine the problems within a project in a bid to make early adjustments that ensure a project is completed on time and in accordance with the budget. Earned Value Management (EVM) has therefore proven to be an effective performance measurement and feedback tool in the management of projects. EVM enables managers to close the loop of a plan management cycle. According to Fleming& Koppelman (2011),EVM is referred to as a management approach with lights on since it can objectively help in illuminating where a project is and where it is headed through the use of fundamental principles that trends and patterns project prospects as good predictors for the future. Given this, it is imperative to consider that this paper seeks to establish mythologies that are required in a bid to integrate cost and schedule performance measurement baseline into the prospects of a project.
Determining a Cost and Schedule Performance Measurement Baseline
EVM as established by Kemps (2014),provides organizations with procedures required in integrating the management of a project's scope, costs, and schedules. EVM plays a critical role in answering several management questions that are essential in establishing the success of a project. The application of EVM in a project reveals the state of the projects, an aspect that determines if the project is behind schedule or over budget (Venkataraman & Pinto, 2008). This, therefore, enables a project manager to identify some of the challenges that a project encounters, whether these difficulties are critical or not, and what it would take to ensure that the project gets back on the right track. Visitacion (2007), clearly points out that EVM scales towards project success, this is evident in this tools capacity to enable managers to pinpoint challenges exhibited in a project such as costs and schedules early in a bid to make adjustments.
EVM and the Project Management Process
An efficient use of EVM in the project management process requires its inclusion of projects that adhere to the procedures of good project management. During the project planning process, EVM, managers have an obligation to establish a performance management baseline (PMB) inclusively. This, therefore, amplifies the essence of project planning principles, especially those that are related to scope, cost, and schedule. EVM, in this case, elevates the need for project work to be manageable and executable, hence making it possible to have the managers and employees held responsible and accountable for the performance of the project(Visitacion, 2007). The inclusion of EVM in project management process requires the breaking down of project work, with this necessitating the use of a work breakdown structure (WBS) that allows the execution of tasks into manageable elements often referred to as control accounts. These “work packages are the elemental tasks at the lowest level in the...