CREATESPACE Earned Value Management For Project Management: Using Microsoft Office Project

Schedule and cost management are the most essential parts of a project’s lifecycle. Many projects fail due to ineffectively managing these essential components of the project. The most commonly used tool for schedule management is Microsoft® Project, and the most commonly used technique for cost management is earned value management or EVM. There is a myth among project managers that EVM can or should be used for only large projects and that it will be effective only if the project is large enough. However, earned value management is mandated for most of the government projects in the United States of America. And soon other countries will follow suit. This book will bust this myth and show the readers how earned value management can be effectively applied to any kind of project, small or big, and with the same rigor as that of a large and critical project. This book is intended for all project managers, budding and experienced, in a sense that it will bring out the understanding of the entire concept of schedule and cost management through earned value management. This book and the tool that comes along with this book will help project managers manage their projects more effectively and take necessary action before their projects fail. The most important aspect of this book is that it is a practical guide to complete end-to-end schedule and cost management using the Microsoft® Project and the EVM reporting tools with some exciting tips. Along with this book, the readers will get the free version of the EVM template for projects, which is a tool to track and report status and progress of projects using the EVM technique. I wish to see that the readers of this book benefit from it in their day-to-day project-management activities and spread the word to use EVM for any type of project to ensure success. As this book is the second version of my previous book, Earned Value Management Using Microsoft Project, I delve into other subjects where the EVM technique can be applied effectively. I introduce the readers to various other metrics that can be used to better manage their projects, such as human resource management and financials management. And most importantly, an introduction to the "What-if Analysis" using the EVM tool is presented in a complete chapter. What-if Analysis using the EVM metrics is completely a new concept developed by the author and is very handy in giving details of what to expect from the project should the course of the project alter in future. What if analysis in the tool takes a lot of inputs from the project managers and provides near accurate prediction of the future course of the project with respect to Schedule and Cost implications. Explore the book for complete details.