Prevent Showing costs from EVM Measurements

[shazadtr]

Hi,

I am trying to track Earned Value using MS project for internal purposes.
However I do not want to show costs to the client. Is there an easier way
that I can achieve this rather than maintaining 2 versions of the plan - one
cost loaded and the other not?

Any help will be appreciated
Thanks

 

[shazadtr]

Thanks - I will try this out.

 

[John]

Hi,

I am trying to track Earned Value using MS project for internal purposes.
However I do not want to show costs to the client. Is there an easier way
that I can achieve this rather than maintaining 2 versions of the plan - one
cost loaded and the other not?

Any help will be appreciated
Thanks

shazadtr,
If the client insists on an electronic copy you will need to employ some
"tricks" to keep the sensitive data from him (see below). A better
method would be to give the client a hardcopy or the file saved as a
..pdf. Then you can control what he has access to.

If an electronic copy is the only acceptable means then you could try a
couple of things. First, change all resource rates to some generic value
(e.g. $1/hr). All the EVM stuff will still calculate properly but the
absolute cost values will be meaningless. Don't forget to tweak the
Baseline Cost if you use this method.

A variation on the above would be to write a VBA macro that applies the
"scaling" before sending to the client. You can then save the resulting
file under a different name and provide the special version to the
client. You will still have the original with the correct values.

Hope this helps.
John

 

[RTucker]

Can you define "tweak"?

If I have two resources (one at $150/hour, the other is $3/hr) and I reset
them to $1, the PMB will get trashed! And the Actuals will be meaningless.

When faced with this issue on a fixed price engagement, we focused on work
effort, not dollars. Using Work/Baseline Work, % Work Complete and Actual
Work, your SV, CV and all other EVM formulas will serve you fine. You just
can't rely on MS Project to perform the calculations. A pricey solution is
wInsight, which will export the raw data, and crunch all your hours into very
useful charts and reports. If you can't afford the $5-6k for that, export to
Excel and go into manual mode.

BOL,
RTucker, PMP