Earned value (EV) helps project managers to monitor and evaluate the level of work completed on a project against the plan. It tells whether the project is over, on, or below cost and schedule. The benefit of EV is realized by completing cost and schedule variances (Ray, 2022). For example, after five days, 33.3% of the work is complete, meaning the EV is $9,990. This field is estimated to have 24000 trees and so far 8000 have been planned. Therefore, the cost variance CV = (EV – Actual Cost (AC)); which comes to CV = ($9,900 – $8000), so Ty’s CV is $1,900. It indicates that Ty has so far spent below the budget. However, it is difficult to determine whether the project is behind schedule since there is no information about its timeline, when it started, and when it was expected to be completed.
To set a schedule variance, Ty must have a specific project timeline, say 20 days, and then divide them into 4 batches of 5 days each. In this case, the tree trimming has taken one-quarter of the planned time to complete one-third of the work, meaning it is ahead of schedule by 6.7 days. This is a favorable SV because the actual schedule is less than the planned schedule. Based on this schedule, Ty is expecting that 1, 200 trees must be trimmed per day for the next 20 days to complete all the 24, 000 trees. Thus, after batches 5, 10, 15, and 20 days; 6, 000, 12, 000, 18, 000, and 24, 000 trees should have been planned, respectively. The scheduled variance figure 1 below shows how Ty should arrange his chart.
A Priority Matrix for Selecting between Projects A or B
A priority matrix tool assists managers to identify, selecting, and prioritizing projects within their organizations. In this case, there are projects A and B in which the manager of an Engineering Department at a small college must choose which one to proceed with first. The manager decided to use a scoring model matrix with set criteria derived from two variables namely urgency (high, moderate, and low) and impact (business need, strategic fit, and return on investment) (Eby, 2022). Time for both projects is constrained to be about 12 weeks each, but it can still be reduced. On the other hand, the manager accepts that the costs involved in both could be big. Additionally, all the projects could be enhanced in terms of scope or performance to increase the benefits to the college. The scores were as displayed on the chart below.
Project A scores 60% in terms of urgency because there is no alternative lab on the campus, while B got 10% since the college already has a power system in place. On the other hand, project A scores 100% as far as impact is concerned because it will increase students’ enrollment, might enhance the publication of innovative papers, and even the invention of new vaccines or drugs. For, project B, the effect could be 60% because it has the potential to reduce the cost of electricity as well as be friendlier to the environment. Therefore, Mary should aim to complete project A which scored 60% on urgency and 100% on impact first because it could benefit the engineering department and the entire college more in terms of increased revenue.
References
Eby, K. (2022). Comprehensive guide to understanding and using priority matrices. Smartsheet. Web.
Ray, S. (2022). Using earned value management to measure project performance.Project Manager (PM). Web.