Implementing an Earned Value Management System (EVMS) Training Program

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A previous blog titled “Retaining EVMS Talent” provided a list of essential components of a successful training and retention program. This blog elaborates on establishing a defined training program as part of a mentoring process. The intent is to guide employees in the technical, schedule, cost estimating, cost analysis, or risk disciplines to become skilled control account managers (CAMs) as a stepping stone to become a project manager or high level manager. This reinforces a commitment to excellence in project management and helps to ensure a high level of EVMS proficiency. 

As noted in the Retaining EVMS Talent blog, a good approach is to chart a path for someone starting with a planning and scheduling role on a smaller project and then advancing them through various project types, different project control roles, and then on to larger more complex projects. The objective is to help employees broaden their experience and knowledge base, mature their skill sets, and build an internal professional network. This is illustrated in the following image from the Retaining EVMS Talent blog.

The goal for establishing a training program is to support this process of guiding and mentoring personnel as well as maturing their expertise to maintain a level of excellence in EVMS. Like any other training or education program, there should be a foundation of basic training courses that progress to more advanced and targeted training.

What is the Challenge?

A common situation H&A earned value consultants encounter is that companies often lack the internal resources to produce and maintain a library of training courses, especially for clients that are new to earned value management. Creating a training program appears to be a daunting task; they need help figuring out a training program. They also need help producing their training materials.

For other clients, as noted in another blog titled “Earned Value Management (EVM): How Much is Enough?”, DCMA may have pointed out that their EVMS project control practices have atrophied. DCMA is questioning whether their EVMS is providing timely, accurate, reliable, and auditable data. Maintaining the EVMS status quo often regresses toward non-compliance. These clients often request H&A earned value consultants to review their training materials and provide recommendations. A frequent finding is that the training content is limited to a few days of training, woefully out of date, or ineffective.

Begin with Defining the Training Program

Whether for a company that is new to EVM or needs to revamp their current approach, a good place to start is to develop and implement a formal training program. This training should focus not only on excellence in planning, scheduling, and EVM practices, but also how to effectively implement the EVMS on a project. Project personnel should have a good understanding of how to use the applicable schedule, cost, analysis, and risk tools to manage a project in alignment with their EVM System Description requirements.

Companies with an EVMS self-governance process in place are also better informed about areas where targeted training may be needed. The training program should be routinely updated to quickly address recent internal findings. For example, perhaps the internal team is finding that project control teams are having difficulty producing their Variance Analysis Reports (VARs). They could add a hands-on training workshop on how to perform in-depth analysis and produce useful narrative content for these reports using the project control tools of choice. Project personnel should know how to concisely describe the issue, the root cause, the potential scope and impact of the problem, and best options for corrective actions to mitigate the issue. They should have the knowledge base to substantiate their analysis and corrective action.

We also recommend including a path for project personnel to become certified to demonstrate they have the experience and expertise to successfully handle various project control issues.

The following table provides a basic training program framework. 

Basic Advanced Example Training Workshops
EVMS Concepts Advanced Earned Value Techniques*
  • Performing EVM Data Quality Assessments*
  • Completing VARs*
  • Developing an Estimate to Complete (ETC) and Estimate at Completion (EAC)*
Scheduling* Advanced Scheduling Techniques*
  • Performing Schedule Data Quality Assessments*
  • Performing Schedule Risk Assessments (SRA)*
  Additional workshops tailored to environment or event preparation
  • Agile and EVM Integration*
  • CAM Mentoring with Data Traces*
  • IBR Preparation*
  • Surveillance or Compliance Review Preparation*
  Discipline Certifications
  • Control Account Manager (CAM)
  • Project Controls/Analyst (PC/A)

* Where possible, the training should incorporate the schedule, cost, analysis, data quality assessment, or risk tools and artifacts (inputs or outputs) as part of the hands-on workshop case studies or exercises. Project personnel should know how to use the tools to view, sort, filter, and analyze data. 

Quick Start Options for Producing and Maintaining Training Content

A quick start option we offer companies setting up or updating their training content is to license the H&A training materials for use as part of their EVMS training curriculum. The license includes all files associated with the workshop including PowerPoint files with speaker notes, case study files in various formats, Desired Learning Objectives, Agenda, Table of Contents, and a hard copy of the workshop. Commonly licensed workshops include the H&A Three-Day EVMS and Three-Day Project Scheduling for Primavera P6 or Microsoft Project courses as a foundation. Companies typically tailor these source materials to include artifacts used in their business environment. 

Licensing H&A training materials reduces the time needed to produce and maintain quality training materials. H&A earned value consultants actively maintain our training materials to reflect current industry best practices, DCMA Business Practices or DOE EVMS Compliance Review Standard Operating Procedures as well as DoD or DOE EVM policy, guides, and requirements. The annual license fee includes updates to the H&A training materials.

To ensure companies licensing our materials are able to conduct the training on demand internally, we recommend completing at least one Train the Trainer session for each workshop with the company’s training team. These sessions provide insight into the intent and training objective of each slide. The H&A instructors work with the company’s training team to review the instructor notes as well as to provide feedback and mentoring as needed highlighting key concepts as the training team learns to present the material. Where applicable, this session also identifies where the standard H&A training material may need to be tailored to reflect the company’s EVMS.

Another option is to leverage the H&A online EVMS Virtual Learning Lab (VLL) or Scheduling VLL. These VLLs provide an intensive 21 hours of instruction. The VLLs cover the principles of earned value management or project scheduling along with case studies, exercises, and examples. The student’s knowledge is tested so they obtain immediate feedback with scored quizzes, case studies, and exams. The courses can be used as a refresher or for personnel who want to learn the basics at their own pace. The VLLs can also be part of an overall training initiative to track course progress with certificates for completion. A number of H&A clients use this feature of the H&A online training to track a student’s progress or level of knowledge. Other clients have incorporated the H&A VLLs into their standard internal training curriculum as the following A&D contractor did. 

“Several years ago, we made the strategic decision to invest in the H&A Scheduling and EVMS Virtual Learning Lab modules, which have since become the cornerstone of our in-house training program. These modules offer a comprehensive and exhaustive guide to Program Management, catering to a wide range of professions involved in the development and maintenance of Integrated Master Schedules (IMSs) and using Earned Value to plan, track, analyze, and report program performance. This audience includes Program Managers, Finance Analysts, Scheduling Analysts, Business Managers, and Control Account Managers (CAMs).”
— Director, Program Process & Services, A&D Contractor

Discipline Certifications

Another component of successful training programs is encouraging employees to pursue industry professional certifications. Common project control related professional certifications include the Project Management Institute (PMI) Project Management Professional (PMP) or the Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering (AACE) International Certified Cost Professional (CCP) and Earned Value Professional (EVP). PMI and ACCE International encourage those who have earned their certifications to actively maintain them by completing additional training or attending conference sessions to earn Continuing Education Units (CEUs) or Professional Development Units (PDUs).

A number of our clients also incorporate the H&A CAM Certification or Project Controls/Analyst (PC/A) Certification into their advanced training curriculum to ensure they have highly proficient project personnel. Both certification workshops culminate with an in-person examination similar to PMI or AACE International. Either the client or H&A proctors and grades the exam. H&A is an Authorized Training Partner (ATP) for PMI and an approved education provider for AACE International.  H&A is also registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of Continuing Professional Education (CPE).

The H&A Five Day CAM Certification course is ideal for anyone already a part of a project management team. The course work spans the five EVMS guideline process areas in the EIA-748-D Standard for EVMS: 1) Organization, 2) Planning, Scheduling and Budgeting, 3) Accounting Considerations, 4) Analysis and Management Reports, and 5) Revisions and Data Maintenance. Risk and opportunity management topics are also incorporated with an emphasis on data quality, integrity, and traceability. EVM best practices and the use of EVMS data are highlighted along with insights, methods, and approaches that result in better management and decision making.

The H&A Five Day Project Controls/Analyst (PC/A) Certification course is an intensive workshop that focuses on analyzing problems and determining appropriate actions to resolve them. It is intended to build upon a student’s basic EVM skills with wide-ranging advanced EVM and project analysis coursework to develop insightful analytical skills in various areas of project controls.

Next Steps

Need help developing an EVMS training program or producing effective training content? As the preeminent leader in EVMS training, H&A actively maintains a vast library of materials and offers various course options that can help shorten the time to implement an EVMS training program. Our professional instructors have extensive experience in evaluating training requirements, designing comprehensive training plans, developing client-specific instructional material using our library of training materials, and presenting training workshops. Call us today at (714) 685-1730 to get started.

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Strategy for Implementing an Earned Value Management System (EVMS) on a New Project

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H&A is often called in to help our clients resolve a myriad of issues with the design or implementation of their EVMS on a project. This is typically during the project’s execution phase when they belatedly realize the project work organization and planning approach was not adequately defined. Project personnel often lack sufficient direction during the project definition and start-up phase. The root cause was the lack of an integrated program/project plan produced immediately following contract award that would have provided the necessary guidance to the project team on how to implement the EVMS using the project control tools of choice to fit the unique requirements of the project.

The advantage of working with a wide range of clients for over four decades is that H&A has the benefit of observing strategies that companies with a commitment to excellence in project management have implemented. The goal of these companies is to ensure project teams have the necessary guidance they need immediately following contract award or authorization to proceed.

Common Components

One of the best strategies H&A earned value consultants have observed at client sites included establishing a core support team whose charter was to ensure the efficient implementation of standard integrated project management practices and tools on all projects. This began with the decision to bid on a contract and flowed through the processes of producing the proposal, initiating the start up activities immediately following contract award, transitioning to the execution phase, supporting the execution phase business rhythm, and conducting self-surveillance. This core team eliminated the functional, process, resource, and data silos that typically exist between new business development, bid and proposal, and project execution. They provided the single focus on the underlying project management approach to ensure project success and a happy customer as well as to meet target profit goals. They also ensured the EVMS was actively maintained to reflect advances in processes, managing data, and software tools. 

There are a few common attributes to this approach. For example, these companies:

  1. Have a proven and established standard, repeatable processes in place. Project personnel are continuously trained on these processes and standard practices using a standard set of schedule, cost, analysis, and risk tools. This may also include standard Agile tools.
  2. Have established a cross-functional core team whose roles and responsibilities are focused on providing targeted support to proposal and project teams when needed. The composition of the core team reflected the products or services unique to the client. The core team members included subject matter experts (SMEs) from systems engineering, technical disciplines, risk management, finance, contracts, scheduling, cost estimating, EVMS, material management, manufacturing, and Agile. They provide the consistency in approach for the entire project life cycle as well as across projects. 
  3. Have templates and other assets available for project teams. This saves time and helps to establish a common framework for organizing and planning project work effort. This included schedule and cost software tool configuration templates to ensure new projects are set up properly in the tools for integrating data and producing data deliverables. Common utilities or automated interfaces were in place to extract data from business systems such as accounting or the M/ERP system for use in the EVMS.
  4. Established a “hand-off” process between the proposal team and the project team after contract award with the objective of establishing the performance measurement baseline (PMB) as quickly as possible. The project team could start with the source data and other content from the proposal submission and modify the source content as needed to reflect the negotiated contract. This typically included the WBS, technical and management approach, functional organization requirements (staffing plan), integrated master plan (IMP), integrated master schedule (IMS), cost basis of estimates, risks and assumptions, as well as subcontractor and material requirements. This significantly reduces the time required to produce the PMB and increases the quality of the schedule and cost data.
  5. Conducted internal and external kick-off meetings with the government customer to ensure everyone on the project team had a clear understanding of the scope of work, deliverables/components, major milestones, major assumptions, required resources, roles and responsibilities of the organizations involved, identified risks, timing and sequence of activities, time frame to complete the work effort, and target budget. Many contracts include the requirement for a post-award conference for just this exact purpose.

Time and Cost Benefits

The time and cost benefits of this approach aligns with H&A observations. The following images illustrate the results from informal surveys H&A earned value consultants have routinely conducted over the years. A “big bang” or accelerated approach to implementing an EVMS is better way to go – get it done and move on. The objective is to get the PMB in place as soon as possible and quickly settle into the execution phase. It may take more personnel up front; however, the time frame is shortened. Figure 1 illustrates where there is a short burst of dedicated personnel for three months to get the project team off and running. The support team then moves on to the next project.

Figure 1: Accelerated EVMS Implementation

Figure 1: Accelerated EVMS Implementation

As Figure 2 illustrates, it often takes twice as long with a slow ramp-up. In this example, six people are supporting the project for the foreseeable future instead of enabling the project team to function on their own. The project team is continually in a catch-up mode because they haven’t committed to a standard process. It takes longer to get the PMB in place. Data quality is often compromised when the team lacks clear direction on how to proceed or is struggling with how to use the software tools. The support team must remain in place for an extended duration to provide direction to the team on a multitude of levels which limits their ability to help other project teams.

Figure 2: Incremental EVMS Implementation

Things to Consider

Granted it takes time and resources to establish a core team, define all the components, and execute this approach at the corporate level. This is dependent upon management’s commitment to a given level of program/project control excellence and their desire to ensure they have reliable and useful data on all projects for management visibility and control regardless of EVM reporting or EVMS contractual requirements. Usually an internal return on investment (ROI) analysis provided the fact-based information needed to determine it was more cost effective to establish common repeatable processes and standard tools with a cross-discipline core support team. It was a much better alternative than ad-hoc project control implementations or unrealistic schedule/cost baselines that resulted in ugly surprises in the forecasted completion date and estimated cost at completion or contractual penalties that ate into the company’s profit margins.

How do you get started?

You may or may not be in a position to establish a cross-functional project management core support team. An option is to incorporate some of the elements these core support teams use to improve your company’s project management practices. Target areas that can help the project teams to be more efficient or to implement repeatable processes and eliminate ad-hoc approaches where possible. Examples include:

  • Establishing a set of templates for new projects that reflect the requirements identified in your EVM System Description. This could include common artifacts such as a WBS Dictionary, forms such as a work authorization document or baseline change request, or outputs such as a variance analysis report. Include these templates and examples on how to use them in your scheduling and EVM training courses.
  • Establishing a standard new project configuration template in the schedule and cost software tools of choice that provides a common coding structure foundation with options to incorporate project specific requirements. There could be one or more templates depending upon the work scope or type of contract. The objective is to ensure the tools are properly configured to enable schedule and cost integration and there is a standard base framework for organizing and coding the data. An established base framework also makes it easier to perform cross-project or portfolio analysis using business intelligence tools and generative AI tools. 
  • Conducting a project kick-off meeting with the customer immediately following contract award to ensure the project team has a common understanding of the contact scope of work, requirements, and objectives. This helps to establish open communications with the customer from the beginning to clarify assumptions and expectations, confirm roles and responsibilities, and identify likely risks as well as risk mitigation strategies.

H&A earned value consultants routinely assist clients to define successful strategies and tactics for designing and implementing a best in class EVMS in a variety of business environments regardless of the client’s point of departure. One of the best opportunities for establishing a best in class EVMS occurs with clients who are new to EVM and are beginning to sort out what they need to do. Other clients often need to do a refresh of their EVMS and how they train their project personnel to improve the effectiveness of their system. As noted in a recent blog “Earned Value Management (EVM): How Much is Enough? ”, maintaining the status quo is a myth – an EVMS requires constant improvement in areas critical to success.

We can help you determine the right strategy for your situation. Call us today at (714) 685-1730 to get started.

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Earned Value Management (EVM): How Much is Enough?

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I took the scenic route to selecting the theme of this blog. First, it was suggested that I write a blog on the benefits and costs of the earned value process as it applies to program management. Next it was suggested that I describe the harm of not using any of the elements of the earned value process.

This blog summarizes my observations of how companies have chosen “how much EVM is enough” for them and share my observations of the results of these decisions. Each company has selected an EVM implementation strategy and each company’s strategy falls along a bounded continuum.

Two Goal Posts and a Cross Bar

There are as many strategies for implementing earned value management as there are companies using EVM to manage their programs and projects.

I will describe this continuum of company EVM strategies as a left goal post and a right goal post with the space between as a cross bar. The “left goal post” represents companies that elect to be very poor at EVM or to not use EVM at all. The “right goal post” represents companies that have committed to being “best-in-class” practitioners of the EVM process and are the polar opposite of the companies at the left goal post. There are few companies at either the left or right goal posts. The “cross bar” represents the vast majority of companies that have selected an EVM strategy somewhere between the left and right goal posts.

Left Goal Post: The Unwilling

I have firsthand experience with a company that at the time I initially joined them, had decided to ignore earned value management even though it was a requirement in several of its contracts. After many painful years of attempting to maintain this EVM resistant strategy, this company decided that a better strategy would be to become an “efficiently expert” at EVM.

Cross Bar: Merely Compliant at EVM

It has been my experience that most companies desire to become “EVM compliant,” which generally means being compliant with the EIA-748 Standard for EVMS 32 guidelines and to avoid failing to comply with those guidelines that could result in losing their approved or certified EVMS status. This is the vast middle ground between the two goal posts. I have five observations regarding companies in the “cross bar” majority.

Observation #1: Compliance as a Goal

Compliance should be a given or a pre-condition, not a goal. Remaining merely compliant implies a status quo or static posture.

I will use the game of golf as an analogy. Golf is a game of honor and compliance to well established rules. All PGA professional tour golfers “comply” with the rules that govern golf. Although all PGA tour pro golfers comply with these rules, their performance on tour differs dramatically.

Ninety percent of all PGA golf pros, past and present, have no tour wins. That means only 10% of all PGA tour golf pros have won at least a single PGA tour. There are seven players in the history of the PGA that have fifty or more tour wins. If the bar is lowered to forty or more wins, only three players are added to the list. If the bar is lowered yet again to thirty or more tour wins, only eight more players are added to the list. Only 18 golfers have won 30 or more PGA tournaments.

Professional golfers do not confuse compliance with performance, nor do these professionals assume that “being compliant” will improve their performance.

Observation #2: The Tyranny of the Status Quo

With apologies to Milton Friedman and his book of the same name, companies that attempt to maintain mere guideline compliance will do no better than the status quo, and often regress toward non-compliance. Maintaining status quo is a myth – you either improve or regress.

All professionals, companies included, must compete in their markets and selected fields. To succeed in this competition requires constant improvement in areas critical to success. A company, organization, or individual without the means or the desire to improve will eventually fail and perhaps perish.

Observation #3: Blaming the Scoreboard

As a program manager, I considered EVM as my scoreboard. I reacted to the EVM data – the scoreboard – and made decisions based on that data (Guideline 26: Implement managerial actions taken as the result of earned value information).

I recall the 2024 Super Bowl’s final score: Chiefs 25, 49ers 22. Did the scoreboard cause the 49ers to lose the game or did a poor decision by their coach cause the loss?  Imagine a coach that cannot see the scoreboard. That coach does not know the score or how much time remains. That coach cannot react to the realities of the game.

Observation #4: EVM Causes Poor Program Performance

I have witnessed several company leaders assert that the use of EVM on a poorly performing program is the cause of that program’s poor cost and schedule performance. A correlation between two variables, or a sequence of two variables (use of EVM and poor performance), does not imply that one caused the other. This is the logical fallacy known as “X happened, then Y happened, therefore X caused Y.”  Night follows day, but day does not cause night. Use of EVM does not cause poor program performance. Not reacting to EVM data and promptly taking corrective action with your program’s cost and schedule performance often leads to poor outcomes.

Observation #5: It Takes More Energy to be Poor at EVM than to be an Expert

Returning to the earlier golf analogy, professional golfers make very difficult shots appear easy. I played in a pro/am tournament years ago. The pro I was teamed with took me to the range hours before our tee time. He asked me how many balls I hit before each round. I told him sometimes none and sometimes 50. He hit 1,000 balls before our round. When we finished our round, he was ready for another 18 holes. I was not. Both of us “complied” with the rules of golf. His score was significantly lower than mine. His game was effortless and produced a below par score. My game was labored and produced a poor result.

It is the same with EVM or any other process. The better you are at a skill, the easier it becomes. Experts consume far fewer calories at their craft than ambivalent amateurs.

Right Goal Post: Efficiently Expert at EVM

The polar opposite of a resistant EVM strategy is a strategy to become “efficiently expert.”  As I mentioned earlier, I joined a company that attempted to sustain an EVM resistant strategy. Their EVM strategy led to de-certification, large dollar withholdings, and significant damage to their corporate reputation.

After the most ardent EVM opponents in this company sought employment elsewhere, a new strategy was adopted. This company embraced a strategy to become “best-in-class” as expert practitioners of EVM. This company’s goal was EVM perfection. EVM perfection is an impossible ambition, but wiser than “mere compliance.”  And as with the PGA tour golf pro, EVM became nearly effortless.

Which EVM strategy will your company choose?

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Mr. Kenney is a senior business executive with over 35 years of experience in the aerospace industry as well as over 10 years as a consultant to industry. He is an experienced practitioner of program management best practices as an Executive Vice President of Government Programs, Vice President of Naval Programs, and Program Manager at various aerospace and defense contractors. He is also a retired U.S. Marine Corps Colonel with 27 years of active and reserve duty.

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Why Expert Planning and Scheduling Resources Matter

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Why Expert Planning and Scheduling Resources Matter

At Humphreys & Associates, conducting a requirements analysis of a contractor’s current integrated program management or earned value management (EVM) practices is one of our most frequently requested services. We are also the “911” call that contractors make when they need to quickly solve an Earned Value Management System (EVMS) compliance issue. When we reviewed our findings and observations from the past year, a common issue that stood out was the lack of sufficient scheduling expertise.

As many project managers, project control teams, and control account managers (CAMs) recognize, a well-planned and constructed schedule provides a model of when work will be performed and what resources are required to perform the work. A well-planned and constructed schedule must be realistic, challenging, and achievable, and be based on a well-thought-out execution plan. It also provides an overall view of performance to date and displays the forecast schedule for remaining work.

Equally important, a well-planned and constructed schedule becomes the principal communication tool for the project team. It shows when major events are planned to occur as well as the completion dates for all activities preceding them along with the resources required to support the scheduled activities. Ensuring resources are available to execute the schedule and performing a schedule risk assessment (SRA) also help to ensure the schedule is realistic and achievable.

A well-constructed and maintained schedule facilitates project performance analysis and to assess how changes affect project objectives. It provides an early warning of potential issues for effective and timely management corrective action.

Scheduling Best Practice Guidance

Several industry and government documents discuss scheduling principles and best practices for major projects within the US Federal Government acquisition environment. Two frequently referenced documents include the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) Integrated Program Management Division (IPMD) Planning and Scheduling Excellence Guide (PASEG) and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) Schedule Assessment Guide: Best Practices for Project Schedules. These guides define what is considered a “good schedule.”

Some of our recent blogs have highlighted the nuances of producing a well-constructed integrated master schedule (IMS) that reflects the work to be performed and communicates that plan to everyone on the project. This includes Improving Integrated Master Schedule (IMS) Task Duration Estimates, Including Level of Effort (LOE) in the Integrated Master Schedule (IMS), and Establishing Milestones in the Integrated Master Schedule (IMS) Appropriately.

What’s the Problem?

A project’s integrated master schedule (IMS) is only as good as the team that built it and the master planner/scheduler that assembled it. Scheduling is a combination of art, science, and discipline. A master planner/scheduler ensures there is clear communication on what needs to be done when along with defining how to handle day-to-day issues. They translate all of the inputs and organize the puzzle pieces into a coherent road map for the entire project team to understand and to use. The experience and schedule maturity level of the planner/scheduler is a key ingredient.

When our earned value consultants identify issues with the construction or content of an IMS, a common discovery was that the client’s scheduling team needed help with basic scheduling techniques.

Here is a sample of common findings in the past year where the client’s scheduling team and/or the master planner/scheduler, could not provide satisfactory answers to schedules under review. They needed more mature scheduling expertise.

  • Invalid critical path. The team could not display the critical path from “time now” through the end of the project. When asked to push an activity on the critical path by 300 days, they could not explain why the successor activities and end date did not move by the same 300 days.
  • Lacked awareness of the scope of work. During scheduling reviews, we ask the team how they know all requirements have been accounted for in the IMS. A common response is they rely on the individual CAMs to identify their scope of work requirements. In many instances, the entire team did not read the required contractual documents such as the statement of work, systems engineering management plan, CDRL requirements (DIDs), or the program management plan that affects them. Some did not understand the work breakdown structure (WBS) or the purpose of the WBS and how important it is for integration with the cost tool.
  • Improper baseline management. We have found that team members and/or the planner/scheduler simply insert the new baseline dates instead of updating the baseline task by task. A separate baseline IMS file should be maintained monthly and approved baseline changes should be incorporated into the revised baseline IMS, and then updated in the current IMS file.
  • Change management was lacking. The team could not explain or identify the changes incorporated into the IMS. Many planners/schedulers do not realize they are the “historians” for the project. The planner/scheduler should understand the impact of every change order or delay on the schedule. A big part of this is documenting who (customer or project team) caused the delay or whether it was caused by both parties. All changes during a reporting period should be assessed for delays and documented in the monthly schedule status report. If a change order causes a delay, it must be documented in the monthly report. Why is this important? Project records should document what and who caused the delay.
  • Ah-hoc integration of major procurement items and subcontract management. Without a documented approach for how material is incorporated into the IMS, it can be a daunting task to identify impacts when delays occur. The planner/scheduler should understand how purchase order line items are structured and should include tasks for each within the IMS. For subcontracts that have EVM and IMS requirements, it is important that the subcontractor’s schedule is modeled within the IMS at the appropriate level of detail. As a result, delays can be clearly demonstrated.

Meeting the Challenge

Planning and scheduling are critical to the success of all projects. Having a strategy to develop competent planners/schedulers ensures you have the resources with the necessary creative talent, skill set, discipline, and communication skills needed to produce quality schedules. Strategies to help scheduling personnel to improve their level of expertise include:

  • Establishing a corporate training program for planners/schedulers. This could be an internal set of courses or public training courses could be leveraged as part of that training program. The goal is to ensure the planners/schedulers and other project team members have the knowledge base to successfully develop and maintain schedules for your business environment. H&A offers a range of project scheduling training workshops that can help schedulers to implement industry best practices in an EVM environment tailored to common tools such as Microsoft Project (MSP) or Primavera P6. These workshops include hands-on exercises that help the students learn how to apply what they are learning in a real-world environment.
  • Hands-on mentoring. Our clients are often aware of the limitations of their scheduling personnel particularly when it comes to incorporating more advanced scheduling techniques such as SRAs. H&A provides planning/scheduling and risk management subject matter experts (SMEs) to help clients establish a repeatable process as well as to conduct a series of hands-on workshops with the client’s project planners/schedulers. These workshops help them to gain the experience they need to routinely conduct SRAs, to use the schedule and risk tool outputs wisely, and to use that information to produce more realistic schedules.
  • Producing schedule procedures or guidance to ensure the scheduling team is following a consistent repeatable process. Consistency helps to ensure that project personnel have the necessary knowledge base to develop and maintain an IMS in an EVM environment. This includes integrating the IMS with the cost tool as well as other systems such as an M/ERP system in production environments or integrating subcontractor scheduling data.

In situations where it is necessary to bring in outside scheduling personnel to supplement a project team, it is important to verify the scheduler’s skill set and level of expertise in an EVM environment. Just because someone states they know how to use a given scheduling tool it doesn’t mean they know how to plan and schedule. The company you choose to support you matters.

H&A routinely provides expert scheduling staff augmentation services for clients that need to fill short or long term planning/scheduling resource needs. Some clients need surge support to develop a baseline schedule for a new contract award and/or to get them through the initial work definition and planning process. H&A planners/schedulers frequently help project teams to establish and execute the weekly or monthly business rhythm until the client’s project control team is ready to take over.

Another common request is for H&A master planner/scheduler hands-on expertise to resolve a variety of schedule issues. H&A planners/schedulers often provide one-on-one mentoring to client project personnel to work through perceived or identified deficiencies. This can range from helping to configure the scheduling tool appropriately, teaching how to use the software effectively, and showing how to fix schedule construction issues as well as establishing a disciplined process that improves the quality of the schedule.

We know the planning/scheduling resources we provide to clients have the necessary level of planning, scheduling, and EVM expertise. The people we hire are required to complete a scheduling exam to verify their knowledge level; they are also known resources that other H&A consultants have worked with.

Interested in learning more? 

Whether you need training, hands-on mentoring, or staff augmentation, H&A has the support services and solutions to fit your needs. Call us today at (714) 685-1730 to get started.

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Establishing Milestones in the Integrated Master Schedule (IMS) Appropriately

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The purpose of the Integrated Master Schedule (IMS) is to model and communicate the plan to accomplish a project’s objectives. A key part of that model is the identification of key events that are represented as milestones. The selection of these milestones should be done with consideration for its purpose – what does the milestone represent and communicate? You should be aware of the intent of each milestone that is entered into the IMS. The IMS is a critical communication tool to ensure everyone on the project has a common understanding of the project’s work flow. Too many times I have witnessed a scheduler slam a milestone into the IMS without regard to how it impacts the schedule logic. This could be due to haste but, in my experience, it is often due to a lack of understanding of the purpose of the milestone.

Figure 1 illustrates a common diagram for a milestone. 

Gate Review Milestone. C may not proceed until the Gate Review has been completed.
Figure 1 Example of a Gate Milestone

As illustrated in Figure 1, the milestone is a gate and will hold up work in task C until the milestone is claimed as finished.

If the intent is to have the milestone act as an indicator instead of a gate, then the diagram in Figure 2 could satisfy that intent. If a successor is needed for the indicator milestone, something like the “End of Project” milestone could be added.

Indicator Milestone - C may proceed as soon as A is completed. Until the Milestone is claimed finished, it will move along with the data date leaving its baseline behind and indicating it has not been claimed.
Figure 2 Example of an Indicator Milestone

An accomplished scheduler knows the dangers of a Merge in the IMS. The Merge introduces schedule risk. Imagine the damage to the schedule risk assessment (SRA) if a Merge were entered as illustrated in Figure 3.

MERGE in the IMS - Neither C no D may proceed until the Gate Review has been completed. Does C really depend on B or does D really depend on A?
Figure 3 Example of Merge Risk in the IMS

In addition to adding risk, as the question indicates in Figure 3, the situation portrayed may not be true.

Is the purpose of a milestone clear to everyone?

What is the real purpose of the milestone? That must be defined first so the diagram can be entered properly into the schedule, and the IMS can model the correct steps for the project. Along with the definition of the purpose, the completion criteria should be defined and documented.

Unfortunately, this problem often extends to others on the project and even to those most responsible for the project – the Program/Project Managers (PMs). A case in point. Some years ago, a high-level customer PM challenged me, in my role as the contractor IMS architect, after the PM’s schedule subject matter expert (SME) expressed their concern that milestones in the IMS were being input incorrectly.

The milestone in dispute was the Preliminary Design Review (PDR). The PM and the PM’s schedule SME said the review was a gate and therefore should be modeled as illustrated in Figure 4. Note: In the real schedule, there were many more predecessors and successors to the milestone. Figure 4 simplifies the schedule content for clarity.

MERGE in the IMS - Neither C nor D may proceed until the Gate Review has been completed. Does C really depend on B or does D really depend on A?
Figure 4 Impact of a Gate Review Milestone

They both agreed that Tasks A and B were tasks to be done during the review itself and that the Milestone was to represent the satisfactory completion of the review. According to the definition of the PDR in the Integrated Master Plan (IMP) entrance/exit criteria, the review would lead to a letter of acceptance. The letter of acceptance was the definition of done in this case. When asked how long it would take from the time the review in A and B (and all predecessors) would be held until the letter was received, the answer was something in the order of weeks.

A literal reading of the IMS would go like this: “Hold the review in tasks A and B (and all predecessors) then wait for the approval letter before starting any other work.”

When asked if it was the PM’s intent for the several hundred engineers and others working on the project to put down their pencils after the review and wait for the letter while doing nothing as shown in PM’s desired version of the milestone in the IMS, the immediate reaction of the PM was shocked silence. Of course not. The project could not go on hold for even one week waiting for a letter. The teams would disband, and the workforce would be gone. Work would stop.

I then told the PM it was not the contractor’s intention to go parade rest and wait for the letter even if he had thought that was what was supposed to happen. If the review in A and B was deemed successful with some reasonable set of action items, then the teams would proceed. It might be that they would proceed on risk, but they would proceed anyway. I then showed the PM and the PM’s schedule SME how we would model the review in the IMS to show proceeding on risk. It would look like the example in Figure 5 if we implemented the milestone as an indicator milestone.

Review as Indicator Milestone - C and D may proceed when their respective predecessor is completed. The milestone is not a gate.
Figure 5 Review as an Indicator Milestone

The PM thought that could work but was concerned there was no gate review aspect to this diagram and PM control of the project would be weakened or lost. I then showed him how we could put the review into the IMS as an indicator with a delayed gate effect. In other words, work would proceed while the letter was being prepared but would stop at some point if the letter was not received. That diagram looked like the example in Figure 6. 

Review as Indicator Milestone but also a Gate - C and D may proceed on risk when their respective predecessor is completed. E and F however may not proceed until their immediate predecessor (C or D) and the Gate Milestone are finished.
Figure 6 Review as Indicator and as a Gate

The letter could be prepared while the teams worked on tasks C and D. If issues arose then the teams would be compelled to stop after tasks C and D individually. In this case an issue with task C might not hold up task D and conversely, an issue with task D might not hold up task C. This was a measure of control the PM thought would be adequate when the need for the approval letter in the milestone was also added.

Talking Through the IMS to Verify the Intent of Milestones

The point is that the IMS is a model of the project that should define exactly what is supposed to happen. What exactly is the IMS telling us to do? Is the review a gate? Is it just an indicator? What do the documents and agreements say about the milestone? This is definitely not the time to quickly slam a milestone into the schedule logic without taking the time to think about its purpose or what you want to communicate to someone else on the project.

This story also highlights the importance of ‘reading’ or ‘talking through’ the IMS. When it was explicitly stated that the project would be put on hold if the schedule depicted in Figure 4 were followed, the team quickly realized the need for a better approach, leading to the development of a more effective plan.

Interested in Learning More?

There is an art and skill that is honed over time for creating integrated master schedules that accurately reflect the work to be performed and clearly communicates that plan to everyone on the project. There is always more to learn. H&A offers basic and advanced scheduling workshops taught by senior master schedulers with decades of experiences in all types of scheduling environments that can be tailored for the scheduling tools you are using. Give us a call today to get started.

Establishing Milestones in the Integrated Master Schedule (IMS) Appropriately Read Post »

Including Level of Effort (LOE) in the Integrated Master Schedule (IMS)

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A recent H&A blog titled “Level of Effort (LOE) Best Practice Tips” discussed different approaches for handling LOE to avoid generating false variances. That discussion did not elaborate on including the LOE tasks in the integrated master schedule (IMS). This blog is a follow on to that earlier discussion with a focus on options for including LOE in the IMS along with notes on best practices, tips, and customer expectations.

In the general sense of an earned value management system (EVMS), the LOE scope of work is contained in summary level planning packages (SLPPs) or control accounts as subordinate planning packages or work packages. The budget values for those elements will most likely come from a resource loaded IMS or a resource loading mechanism aligned with the IMS. Not all organizations resource load the IMS activities but instead extract time buckets from the IMS for resource loading using other mechanisms. Resource loading the IMS activities is the recommended practice because it assures cost/schedule integration, but it can be difficult.

LOE work might not appear in the IMS since it is considered optional by some customers such as the Department of Defense (DoD). The Department of Energy (DOE) requires LOE tasks to be included so you can expect it to be in the IMS when DOE is the customer.

Before we talk about LOE in the IMS we must think about the type of work the LOE tasks represent. LOE might be a general task such as “Control Account Management” that is not directly related to other work except perhaps in the time frame in which they happen. But some LOE tasks such as support tasks are related to other discrete work. Modeling the LOE in the IMS starts by understanding what type of effort is involved and can help to determine the approach for linking activities. 

LOE Best Practice Tips Related to the IMS

The Level of Effort (LOE) Best Practice Tips blog included these points related to the IMS:

  • “When LOE activities are included in the schedule, they should not drive the date calculations of discrete activities in the integrated master schedule (IMS). They should also not appear on the critical path.”
  • “LOE must be segregated from discrete work effort. In practice, this means a work package can only be assigned a single earned value method.”
  • “Consider shorter durations for the LOE when that LOE is supporting discrete effort. Should the first occurrence of the LOE trigger a data anomaly test metric, it can be proactively handled along with any future replanning. The remaining LOE would already be in one or more separate work packages so there won’t be any criticism for changing open work packages.”

Government Agency and Industry Guidance on LOE on the IMS

Is there any guidance that can help clarify how best to handle LOE tasks in the IMS? Let’s take a look at three of the guidance documents that may be useful for your environment.

  1. The Integrated Program Management Data and Analysis Report (IPMDAR) Data Item Description (DID), DI-MGMT-81861C (August 2021). This DID is typically placed on contracts with the DoD or NASA that exceed the contract value threshold for EVM reporting or EVMS compliance. Relevant mentions of the data requirements for the IMS in the DID are as follows.

“2.4.1.1 Content. The Schedule consists of horizontally and vertically integrated discrete tasks/activities, consistent with all authorized work, and relationships necessary for successful contract completion.”

Note: This is where the option to exclude LOE from the IMS appears since this requires only discrete tasks/activities. The following sections provide additional guidance when LOE is included in the IMS.

“2.4.2.7 Level of Effort (LOE) Identification. If tasks/activities within an LOE work package are included in the Schedule, clearly identify them.”

“2.4.2.9 Earned Value Technique (EVT). Identify the EVT (e.g., apportioned effort, level of effort, milestone).”

  1. National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) Integrated Program Management Division (IPMD) Planning and Scheduling Excellence Guide (PASEG) (Version 5.0). The PASEG is a widely recognized industry guide on scheduling best practices in government contracting environments. Section 5.8, Level of Effort (LOE) provides a discussion on the topic including things to promote and things to avoid. Excerpts from the PAGEG follow.

“There are pros and cons around including or excluding LOE tasks in the IMS. Including LOE tasks in the IMS allows for a more inclusive total program look at resource distribution, which aids in the maintenance and analysis of program resource distribution. However, if modeled incorrectly, including LOE tasking in the IMS can cause inaccurate total float and critical path calculations.”

“Tasks planned as LOE in the IMS should be easily and accurately identifiable. This includes populating the appropriate Earned Value Technique field (as applicable) and possibly even identifying the task as LOE in the task description.”

“Consider adding an LOE Completion Milestone to tie all LOE tasking to the end of the program.”

“LOE tasks should not be networked so that they impact discrete tasks. Incorrect logic application on LOE can lead to invalid impacts to the program critical path.”

“Level of Effort tasks should have no discrete successors and should therefore never appear on critical/driving paths.”

  1. DOE Guide 413.3-24 Planning and Scheduling (April 2022). This document provides guidance for acceptable practices in a DOE contractual environment. The discussion on LOE can be found in Section 7 Planning and Scheduling Special Topics, 7.2 Level of Effort, and 7.3 Inclusion of Level of Effort in the Integrated Master Schedule. Excerpts and image from the Guide follow. 

“Overview: Activity-based methods either cannot, or impracticably can measure the performance of LOE WPs and activities. Include all activities, both discrete and LOE, in the IMS.”

“LOE is planned in the IMS so that it does not impact discrete work. Figure 6 shows the recommended linkages in the IMS for planning level of effort.”

Interpreting this DOE Guide diagram for the recommended modeling of LOE in the IMS, notice the inclusion of a “LOE Complete” milestone following the Critical Decision (CD) 4 milestone with no constraint. CD4 in this diagram represents the end of contract effort. The purpose of this LOE-complete milestone, with no constraint, is to provide a successor for all LOE tasks where one is needed. That will prevent generating issues where tasks have no successors.

This recommended modeling is done so that the LOE tasks are not linked to the end of the contract work and thus will not push it. The LOE tasks will also not appear on the critical path since they are not in the path that established the end date.

Also note that the LOE tasks in green are linked as successors to discrete work which is a logic linking approach intended to keep the LOE work aligned with the discrete work but off the critical path. Study the logic and you see that a movement to the right of a discrete task will drag along its related LOE task.

DOE requires the use of Primavera schedule tools so the relationships shown here can be accomplished in that tool. That may not be true of all tools. Know how your tools work before you generate any guidance.

Additional Relevant Guidance Search

H&A earned value consultants recently conducted a survey of the various government and non-government documents regarding the IMS and collected relevant guidance related to LOE among other things. The table below lists the results from a search for “LOE” wording. Note: this is a representative sample of typical government agency and industry IMS references. You should verify current references before you generate your own internal IMS guidance.

Source DocumentGuidance for Capturing all Activities, LOE in IMS
DCMA EVMS Compliance Metrics (DECM) Checks (version 6.0)
  • 06A210a: Do LOE tasks/activities have discrete successors? (0% threshold)
  • 12A101a: Are the contractor’s Level of Effort (LOE) WPs supportive in nature and/or do not produce technical content leading to an end item or product? (≤ 15% threshold)
  • 12A301a: Does the time-phasing of LOE WP budgets properly reflect when the work will be accomplished? (≤ 10% threshold)
IPMDAR DID DI-MGMT 81816CIf tasks/activities within an LOE work package are included in the Schedule, clearly identify them.
DOE Guide 413.3-24 Planning and Scheduling, Appendix A Schedule Assessment PrinciplesPrinciple 20. No LOE on critical path.
GAO Schedule Assessment Guide: Best Practices for Project Schedules (December 2015)Selected excerpts:
  • LOE activities should be clearly marked in the schedule and should never appear on a critical path.
  • LOE activities … derive their durations from other discrete work.
  • Best Practices for confirming the critical path is valid: Does not include LOE activities, summary activities, or other unusually long activities, except for future planning packages.
NDIA IPMD PASEG (version 5.0) (as noted above)
  • Tasks planned as LOE in the IMS should be easily and accurately identifiable.
  • LOE tasks should not be networked so that they impact discrete tasks.
  • Level of effort tasks should have no discrete successors and should therefore never appear on critical/driving paths.
PMI Practice Standard for Scheduling (Second Edition)Since an LOE activity is not itself a work item directly associated with accomplishing the final project product, service, or results, but rather one that supports such work, its duration is based on the duration of the discrete work activities that it is supporting.

Conclusion

Based on the various sources of guidance, it is possible to structure the IMS to include LOE in a way that provides cost/schedule integration and keeps all work correctly aligned yet does not cause issues with the critical path and the driving paths. From this guidance, it should be a straightforward effort to generate your own internal scheduling procedure defining how to handle LOE in the IMS if you choose to include it or if you are required to include it.

Need help producing a clear and concise scheduling procedure or tool specific work instructions? H&A earned value consultants and scheduling subject matter experts have worked with numerous clients to create easy to follow guides that help to ensure schedulers are following your company’s best practices using the scheduling tools of choice. Call us today at (714) 685-1730 to get started. 

Including Level of Effort (LOE) in the Integrated Master Schedule (IMS) Read Post »

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