BCWP inconsistency

[DJ Huff]

I cannot figure out how BCWP is calculated. I have a consistent set up with
% Complete as the EV method. Is % Complete the Actual Duration / Duration?
I have one task where the BCWS seems to use % Work Complete rather than %
Complete while others use a % I cannot find nor figure out. MS Project Help
does not give enough information to allow me to consistently calculate BCWP.
I have some errors after baselining and I need to find how the core elements
are truly calculated so I can tell what I have to do to get the indexes
correct (SPI, CPI). I know how those are calculated, but don't know what to
adjust to get the indexes back in line.

Your advice is appreciated.

 

[Jim Aksel]

BCWS is the timephased value of costs (work, fixed costs, costs, etc). You
can see this in the Task Usage or Resoucre Usage view by inserting the BCWS
and BCWP rows on the right side (Right Click on the right side of the sheet
and select Detail Styles, add what you wish).

BCWS is spread to the status date found under Project/Project Information
and represents the amount of budget that should have been spent to that date.
In MS Project, BCWS does not spread past the status date. If a task
straddles the status date, the value of BCWS is prorated depending on how the
work is spread in the task. Most folks linearly load resources so it is
usually a straight ratio... but that is not always the case -- someone could
rear load a task with all the effort closer to the end.

BCWP is %Complete x Baseline Cost. %C is always duration based...
Personally, we use Physical%Complete and rely on other objective measures to
determine the value to key for Physcial%Complete. This is usually by edict
of management; "You get 25% complete when we get to Perliminary Design
Review". Not necessarily good, but it works.

To use %C as your EV method, it is best to focus on remaining work,
remaining cost, and remaining duration. Let Project calculate %C for you.
Unfortunately, in many instances you get %C "running down hill" if the
remaining duration and remaining work increase. This angers the Earned Value
Gods, but it is consistent. Many programs (such as Deltek COBRA) have
selectable parameters that will not allow %C to regress in their program if
MS Proejct indicates %C went down.

I have some white papers on my blog about percent complete; they may be of
some help.
--
If this post was helpful, please consider rating it.

Jim Aksel, MVP

Check out my blog for more information:
http://www.msprojectblog.com

 

[Steve House]

As the others have said but a further note. The % Complete method
translates the % Complete into the number of hours worked If the task goes
over the baselined duration the BCWP stops accumulatiing at the planned
value while the ACWP continues to increase reflecting the actual time it
took. Lets say a task was budgeted for 80 hours @ $10 per hour. The status
date is halfway through the task and everything is on schedule - BCWS=400,
BCWP=400, ACWP=400. Now a couple of weeks passes by so the status date is
10 days later - the task should have finished a week ago but it shows no new
progress. We're 5 days past due but we're only showing a total of 5 days of
progress has been achieved to date. BCWS=800 (we were scheduled to do 80
hours by now), BCWP = 400 (we only did 40), and ACWP=400. We now receive an
late-breaking update that tells us it really is finished after all but it
took 15 days to do it. We update to 100% complete by setting the Actual
Duration of 15 days. BCWS=800, BCWP=800 (we earned 80 hours worth of work
output), ACWP=1200 (and we had to pay for 15 hours worth of work in order to
do it).