BCWP and BCWS

[Anna]

I saved a baseline and I entered my planned cost in BAC field and enetered %
complete and the BCWP field still shows 0 value. What am I doing wrong?

 

[Andrew Lavinsky]

Might be a couple of things:

1) Set the Status Date in Project > Project Information
2) Make sure that the task Earned Value calculation is set to % Complete
(which is the default). I think that's Tools > Options > Calculations, but
on existing tasks, you have to expose the field, which is Earned Value Method
3) If you're using Project 2007, make sure that you have the Service Pack
installed. There were apparently some issues w/ exporting EVMS data before
that was released.

Probably the first one will work though.

-A

 

[Anna]

I have Service Pack 1 installed. I tried Steps 1 and 2 and then I went to
tables/more tables/earned value to check and see if the BCWP and BCWS
calculated and it didn't. I know that I'm doing something wrong, but I don't
know what. Do I need to save another baseline in order for this to work?

Do you have any material that can walk me through the step by step process
of entering lump sum costs into a task and then being able to generate an
Earned Value report by exporting to excel?

 

[Andrew Lavinsky]

1) Create a new project
2) Add Task 1 w/ the following values: Duration = 10d; Fixed Cost = $100;
Earned Value Method = % Complete; Fixed Cost Acctrual = Prorated (you will
need to display the fields as needed)
3) Save a baseline (Tools > Tracking > Set Baseline). Save to Baseline 0
4) Go to the Task Usage View (Right click on the blue bar on the left)
5) Right click on the chart on the right of the Task Usage View, and get rid
of the details currently showing, insert the BCWS field (also known as PV)
6) You should shee the cumulative BCWS/PV for today
7) Set the Status Date 4 days in the future (Project > Project Information >
Status Date)
8) Look at the change in the BCWS field on the Task Usage View

Let me know if that works.

-A

 

[Anna]

I will try this out .. Thank you!

1) Create a new project
2) Add Task 1 w/ the following values: Duration = 10d; Fixed Cost = $100;
Earned Value Method = % Complete; Fixed Cost Acctrual = Prorated (you will
need to display the fields as needed)
3) Save a baseline (Tools > Tracking > Set Baseline). Save to Baseline 0
4) Go to the Task Usage View (Right click on the blue bar on the left)
5) Right click on the chart on the right of the Task Usage View, and get rid
of the details currently showing, insert the BCWS field (also known as PV)
6) You should shee the cumulative BCWS/PV for today
7) Set the Status Date 4 days in the future (Project > Project Information >
Status Date)
8) Look at the change in the BCWS field on the Task Usage View

Let me know if that works.

-A

 

[JulieS]

Hello Anna,

Pardon me for bumping in. In order for Project to calculate BCWP and
BCWS you need:

1) Resources with standard rates assigned to tasks to create work.
2) Saved a baseline.
3) Set a status date
4) Applied tracking information

As you don't say specifically that you've assigned resources, my guess
is you haven't. Therefore no work scheduled, therefore no BCWP. When
you save a baseline it will populate BAC for you - no need to enter it
in manually.

See the help topic "Analyze project performance with earned value
analysis".

I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional information
about Microsoft Project

 

[Anna]

Hi Julie,

Yes, Resources were loaded. What do you mean by standard rates? If it's an
hourly rate that I need to include for a resource, then it's no good because
all that is provided to me is a lump sum cost from the contractor for that
task.

Thats why I assumed that I had to put the lump sum in the BAC field.

 

[JulieS]

Hi Anna,

Yes, I do mean a standard rate. If you use fixed costs as Andrew
suggests it should also work. Assign the fixed costs, save a baseline
and it should populate BAC (baseline cost).

Julie

 

[Anna]

I hope this is the last question. Each week I will go in and track the
progress by entering % complete, do I need to save the baseline to a new
baseline every week and will this generate an Earned Value Over Time Report
through visual reports?

 

[JulieS]

Hi Anna,

Don't worry about asking questions, that's what the newsgroup is here
for

No you shouldn't save a new baseline. You should be able to run the
report with the existing baseline.

Just a quick comment on % complete. Most of the regular posters here
do not recommend % complete as a method of tracking. I suggest
tracking actual and remaining duration which will calculate and update
% complete. For most people it's more accurate than % complete.

I hope this helps.
Julie
Project MVP

 

[Anna]

If I go with tracking actual against remaining durations, do I still keep the
Earned Value Method = % Complete in the field like Andrew suggested? Does
Project automatically calculate acutual and remaining durations?

 

[JulieS]

Hi Anna,

Yes. By using actual and remaining duration, Project calculates %
complete.
Percent complete = actual duration/duration * 100

From help:
"If you type a value in the % Complete field, Project automatically
calculates actual duration and remaining duration. Likewise, entering
a value in the Actual Duration or Remaining Duration field
automatically recalculates the other fields."

Julie

 

[Anna]

Awesome! I will play around with this tomorrow and see how everything works
out. I really appreciate all your help and suggestions. I'll let you know how
it all worked out. Thanks again and take care.

 

[Anna]

Hey Andrew!

I didn't mean to leave you out of the conversation. You too offered a lot of
help and suggestions. I just wanted to say Thank You and I really appreciate
it!

 

[JulieS]

You're most welcome Anna and thanks for the feedback.

Best,
Julie

 

[Rod Gill]

As Julie said % complete is not accurate. I would go further and say that
earned value reporting when you only use % complete is not all all accurate
and will likely be misleading. The only way to get accurate earned value
reports is by accurate scheduling of resources and actual hours per day
updating (usually via a timesheet system).

--

Rod Gill
Microsoft MVP for Project

Author of the only book on Project VBA, see:
http://www.projectvbabook.com

 

[Anna]

Thanks! I will try it out and let everyone know.

As Julie said % complete is not accurate. I would go further and say that
earned value reporting when you only use % complete is not all all accurate
and will likely be misleading. The only way to get accurate earned value
reports is by accurate scheduling of resources and actual hours per day
updating (usually via a timesheet system).

--

Rod Gill
Microsoft MVP for Project

Author of the only book on Project VBA, see:
http://www.projectvbabook.com

 

[Anna]

Thanks to all of you, all Fields are adding up correctly! You have no clue as
to how happy I am right now because I have been battling this for weeks all
on my own. Talk about stubborn! I just have one small problem ....

Now that everything is adding up correctly, when I try to generate an earned
value over time report by going to reports/visual reports/excel/earned value
over time report/view, then clicking on Assignment Usage with EV tab, I am
receiving 0 values. If I double click the Q2 it will drop down the weeks. If
I double click the items listed under type in the Pivot table field list, the
only value showing is under costs.

How do you get the values to read under the planned, earned and actuals
columns.

P.S. I'm working in MS Project 2007 and the service pack is installed.

 

[JulieS]

Hi Anna,

Sorry for the delay in replying. I haven't had a great deal of time
to experiment, but I believe the reason you are not seeing values is
because your resources do not have any costs associated with them.
You are using solely fixed costs and as such, your assignments do not
have costs associated.

If you view the Resource Usage view and show BCWS, BWCP, ACWP in the
timescaled portion (left side) you'll see zeros. I can't experiment
right now, but you may be able to get what you want by modifying one
of the task reports to add those fields.

I'll work on this later and see what I can come up with and post back

Julie

 

[Anna]

I did some reading of past comments and saw resources that were assigned need
a value in it even $1/hr would work. I tried that and it didn't work.

I'll wait and see what you come up with. In the mean time I will contnue to
try out your suggestion to see if that will fix the problem.