bcwp calculation
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From: DJ Huff on 6 Apr 2010 01:41 I cannot seem to figure out how MSP calculates BCWS and BCWP. I know what Help says and I know how the calculations should be done, but when I try to use the EV elements to calculate BCWS and BCWP on even a single task, I cannot make it match. I know % Complete is calculated as Actual Duration / Duration, right? And BCWS = % Complete * BAC, right? But BCWP is also calculated using % Complete * BAC. But I am sure it is not the same % Complete element. Isn't there a % Complete that uses the number of days of duration since the task began? When I try to "back" into the BCWP, I cannot get the figures to reconcile. e.g. If I calculate BCWP /BAC, I would think I would get the % Complete that is used for the BCWP calculation, but I cannot find the resultant % figure anywhere in the EV elements for that task. And, wouldn't % Work Complete have some bearing on BCWP? But I cannot find anything that says there is a connection between the work being done and BCWP. This is critical as I need to know how to correct some plans that were baselined without the proper planned hours (so the EV figures are whacked). I do not want to re-baseline, so I have been trying to figure out a strategy to bring the EV figures back in line in some fashion. Sorry for the long questions! Please advise! -- Regards, DJ Huff, PhD, PMP, CISA, ITIL
From: Trevor Rabey on 6 Apr 2010 05:52
DJ, perhaps the best way to approach this is to work with a MSP file with just one task, plus one resource. Or perhaps two resources, one Work Type and one Material Type. But it can even be done without getting the cost to the task via the resources' costs, by using Fixed Cost which is a cost that the task incurs without resources. This means that you can get the hang of it without even considering Work (in "man-hours"). Are you Baselining? Are you setting a Status Date? Atre you up-dating and re-estimating properly, ie using the Tracking Table and the Tracking Toolbar (describe how you update)? Be aware of the existence of: Cost Table Work Table Tracking Table Earned Value Table % Complete is, as you say, Actual Duration/Duration. The denominator is the total duration, which is Actual Duration + Remaining Duration The Actual Duration is a fact, but the Remaining Duration is an estimate. So you could have a task that was originally estimated to take 10 days, but perhaps before the task started or after it started, you re-estimated it to be a 20 day task. The Baseline duration will be whatever it is on the day that you baselined it. Hopefully, that was the day before the project started. While the task is a 10 Day task, % Complete = Actual Duration/Total Duration, and if the Actual Duration is 6 Days, then 60%. Suppose you re-estimate the duration of the task to be 20 days on (ie at the end of) day 6 of the task. That 20 days consists of the 6 days of actual duration that have happened, plus 14 days of Remaining Duration. The numerator has not changed but the denominator has, and % Complete = 30%. "% Complete" should not be used to express anything else, such as an estimate of the progress of the Task. It is not that you have laid 3000 bricks out of 10000, or that you have shot 40% of the pigeons. BCWS is the budgeted (or originally estimated) cost what was expected/planned/estimated to be done up to the Status Date (comes from the Baseline). BCWP is the budgeted (or originally estimated) cost what was actually done up to the Status Date (comes from the Baseline). ACWP is the actual cost what was what was actually done up to the Status Date. If you have your tasks decomposed to a sufficiently fine degree of detail, you can ignore partly complete tasks, and only consider tasks not yet started and those finished. Hope this helps, for a start. -- Trevor Rabey 0407213955 61 8 92727485 PERFECT PROJECT PLANNING www.perfectproject.com.au "DJ Huff" <DJHuff(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:6535FC82-D6E1-49EB-BCC7-8DEDF4370C05(a)microsoft.com... >I cannot seem to figure out how MSP calculates BCWS and BCWP. I know what > Help says and I know how the calculations should be done, but when I try > to > use the EV elements to calculate BCWS and BCWP on even a single task, I > cannot make it match. I know % Complete is calculated as Actual Duration > / > Duration, right? And BCWS = % Complete * BAC, right? But BCWP is also > calculated using % Complete * BAC. But I am sure it is not the same % > Complete element. Isn't there a % Complete that uses the number of days > of > duration since the task began? When I try to "back" into the BCWP, I > cannot > get the figures to reconcile. e.g. If I calculate BCWP /BAC, I would > think I > would get the % Complete that is used for the BCWP calculation, but I > cannot > find the resultant % figure anywhere in the EV elements for that task. > And, > wouldn't % Work Complete have some bearing on BCWP? But I cannot find > anything that says there is a connection between the work being done and > BCWP. > > This is critical as I need to know how to correct some plans that were > baselined without the proper planned hours (so the EV figures are > whacked). > I do not want to re-baseline, so I have been trying to figure out a > strategy > to bring the EV figures back in line in some fashion. > > Sorry for the long questions! > > Please advise! > > -- > Regards, > > DJ Huff, PhD, PMP, CISA, ITIL |