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he planned value method (Anbari, 2003) and Consequently, the cumulative value for the ES is
the earned duration method (Jacob, 2003) are found by using the EV to identify in which time in-
two well-known methods that rely on the tra- crement t of PV the cost value for EV occurs. ES is
ditional schedule performance indicator SPI then equal to the cumulative time t to the beginning
(= EV/PV) and can be used to predict a project’s final of that time increment, plus a fraction (EV – PVt) /
duration. Lipke (2003) has criticized these approaches (PVt+1 – PVt) of it. The fraction equals the portion of
and has presented a straightforward extension, known EV extending into the incomplete time increment di-
as the earned schedule technique, which claims to vided by the total PV planned for that same time peri-
overcome some drawbacks of the traditional earned od, which is simply calculated as a linear interpolation
value methods when predicting a project’s final du- between the time-span of time increment t and t + 1.
ration. More precisely, the earned schedule method Since the introduction of the earned schedule
has been developed as a criticism on the use of the concept by Lipke (2003), other authors have inves-
classic SV and SPI metrics since they give false and tigated the potential of the new method in various
unreliable time forecasts near the end of the project. ways. Henderson (2003) has shown the validity of
Instead, Lipke (2003) provided a time-based measure the ES concepts on a portfolio of six projects. We
to overcome the quirky behavior of the SV and SPI (Vandevoorde & Vanhoucke, 2006) were the first au-
indicators, and calculates two alternative schedule thors to compare the three methods and test them to
performance measures (referred to as SV(t) and SPI(t)) a simple one activity project and a real-life data set.
that are directly expressed in time units. This novel Moreover, we summarized the often confusing ter-
method relies on similar principles of the earned value minology used in the earned value literature, which
method, and can be calculated as follows: will be used throughout this paper.
Find t such that EV ≥ PVt and EV< PVt+1 In Vanhoucke and Vandevoorde (2007), we argue
ES = t + (EV – PVt)/( PVt+1 – PVt) that the promising results of these various research
with efforts need be taken with a critical eye. Inspired
ES Earned Schedule by the shortcomings of the limited set of real-life
EV Earned Value at the actual time projects, we started a research project in 2005 that
PVt Planned Value at time instance t. aims at the validation of various earned value based
1
Ghent University, Tweekerkenstraat 2, 9000 Gent (Belgium) and the Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School, Reep 1, 9000 Gent
(Belgium), mario.vanhoucke@ugent.be
2
Fabricom GTI Suez, Rue Gatti de Gammond 254, 1180 Brussel (Belgium), stephan.vandevoorde@fabricom-gti.com
Winter 2007–2008
The Measurable News 27
forecasting methods on a very large and diverse precedence relations exist. The set of projects in the
set of fictive projects. We performed this research simulation study contains 4,100 project networks.
project and aimed at tightening the bridge between Each project network has 30 activities but contains
academic knowledge and current practice by gener- a different amount of precedence relations between
alizing case-specific results to a large and diverse set the activities leading to a wide variety of different
of project settings. Since simulation studies require network structures.
computer power, in 2007, the Belgian Chapter of the Each project is simulated by changing the original
Project Management Institute decided to fund part of planned duration for each activity under a controlled
the research. design, leading to a final project duration that might
In this article, we test the performance of the three differ from its planned duration. Both projects, that
project duration forecasting methods in an objective finish ahead of schedule and finish with a delay, have
way by simulating a large dataset containing projects been simulated. Each project is the subject of 100 simu-
of moderate size and calculating the forecast accuracy lation runs to guarantee simulation convergence.
of each method. The outline of this manuscript is as
Forecasting Methods
follows:
• In section two, the design of the simulation study To the best of our knowledge, only three project du-
is presented in detail. The set of fictive projects ration forecasting methods have been presented in
is presented, and the simulation methodology is literature. In the remainder of this paper, we refer to
briefly outlined. these methods as the planned value method (Anbari,
• In section 3, an overview of the basic results is 2003), the earned duration method (Jacob, 2003),
presented. These results clearly show that the and the earned schedule method (Lipke, 2003). The
new earned schedule forecasting methods outper- first two methods rely on the traditional EV metrics
form, on average, the existing earned value based (SV and SPI) while the latter makes use of the novel
predictors. ES metrics (and SV(t) and SPI(t)). We use the ab-
• In section 4, we give a conclusion and sketch a breviation EAC(t) for time forecasting (similar to the
brief summary of the future articles. abbreviation EAC — without the t between brackets
— for cost forecasting). The simulation study simu-
Test Design lates and compares three forecasting methods, each
In this section, the test design of the simulation of which can be considered under three scenarios,
study is outlined. The set of simulated projects is according to the future expected performance, as
described in detail, followed by the presentation of given in Table 1.4 The expected future performance
three project duration forecasting methods. In a last determines the calculations of the project duration
subsection, the mathematical approach to measure forecast and is a choice the project manager has to
the forecast accuracy is discussed. make depending on the current project situation
(EAC(t) with subscripts PV1,2,3, ED1,2,3 and ES1,2,3). If
Set of Simulated Projects
past performance is not a good predictor of future
The set of projects has been generated under a con- performance, the expected future performance can
trolled design by carefully controlling the structure be done according to the plan. Problems/opportuni-
of each project network. The generator RanGen ties of the past will not affect the future, and the
(Vanhoucke et al., 2007; Demeulemeester et al., remaining work will be done according to plan.
2003) generates activity-on-the-node3 networks with If past performance is a good predictor of future
a predefined number of activities between which performance (realistic!), the expected future per-
3
Alternatively, one could model a project network as an activity-on-the-arc network where arcs represent the project activities and
nodes represent project events to implicitly model the precedence constraints. Since most commercial software use the activity-on-the-
node representation, we do not rely on this alternative project network representation.
4
Details about the mathematical formulas of each method can be found in Vandevoorde and Vanhoucke (2006).
28
The Measurable News Winter 2007–2008
formance is likely to follow the current SPI trend. (see Table 1). The second part measures the accuracy
Problems/opportunities of the past will affect future along the stages of completion for each project.
performance, and the remaining work will be cor- Overall Accuracy of the Three Methods
rected for the observed efficiencies or inefficiencies. Figure 1 shows the average overall forecast accu-
If past cost and schedule problems are good indica- racy as the average percentage deviation between the
tors for future performance (i.e., cost and schedule planned duration and the average predicted duration
management are inseparable), the expected future over all review periods (see earlier) of the three meth-
performance is likely to follow the SCI trend. The ods for early and late projects (note that the EAC(t)
SCI = SPI * CPI (schedule cost ratio) is often called measures have been abbreviated to PV, ED, and ES).
the critical ratio index The figure clearly reveals that the earned schedule
Forecast Accuracy method outperforms, on average, the two other fore-
casting methods (planned value method and earned
The accuracy of the forecast is measured for each duration method), both for projects that finish ahead
project under an early and late performance. During of schedule and projects with a delay. Moreover, the
the simulation, the final project duration is forecast figure also shows that the forecasting method that as-
by means of the three EAC(t) methods (where each sumes that the expected future performance follows
method can be calculated according to three scenar- the current SPI or SPI(t) trend (i.e., EAC(t)ES2) out-
ios, see Table 1). After the simulation run, the final performs the other methods.
real project duration is compared with the average
forecast value (i.e., the average of all EAC(t) values Accuracy Along the Stages of Completion
measuredstudy
The simulation during the life and
simulates of the project).three
compares Moreforecasting
pre- In this part,
methods, eachthe forecast accuracy is reported along
of which
can becisely, the accuracy
considered is measured
under three as the average
different scenarios, of theto thethe
according stageexpected
future of the project
per- completion for projects ahead
absolute
formence, values
as given of all1deviations
in table 2
between
. The expected the performance
future various of schedule the
determines or for projects with a delay. The early
calcu-
lationsforecasts
of the project duration forecast, and is a choice
measured along the life of the project and the project manager has to make
stage is defined as the first 30% of the project com-
depending on the current project situation (EAC(t) with subscripts PV1,2,3, ED1,2,3
the real project duration. This accuracy is expressed pletion, the middle stage is defined as the interval
and ES1,2,3). If past performance is not a good predictor of future performance, the
as a percentage deviation, with lower values denot- between 30% and 70% completion, and the late stage
expected future performance can be done according to the plan. Problems/opportunities
of pasting
willa not
better forecast
affect accuracy.
the future, and the remaining work will be done equals the lastto30%
according plan.completion of the project. Table
If past performance is a good predictor of future performance (realistic!), 2 displaysthe theexpected
accuracy for the early, middle, and late
Computational Experiments stage of the project of
future performance is likely to follow the current SPI trend. Problems/opportunities for all forecasting methods.
the past
In this affect future
will section, performance,
the main results ofand the remaining work will
the simulation Theberesults
corrected
fromforthe table confirm the previously
the observed efficiencies or inefficiencies. If
study are presented. The first part compares the past cost and schedule problems are good
found results and show that the earned schedule
indicators for future performance (i.e. cost and schedule management are inseparable),
overall accuracy of early and late projects for the method outperforms, on average, the other forecast-
the expected future performance is likely to follow the SCI trend. The SCI = SPI * CPI
threecost
(schedule forecasting methods
ratio) is often calledunder the three
the critical scenarios
ratio index ing methods. The results also illustrate the quirky
behavior of the SPI indicator
TABLE 1: FORECASTING MEASURES (SOURCE: VANDEVOORDE AND (used in the planned value and
VANHOUCKE (2006))
Table 1: Forecasting measures (Source: Vandevoorde and Vanhoucke (2006)) earned duration methods) at the
Forecasting method late stage of the project. Indeed,
Expected future Anbari (2003) Jacob (2003) Lipke (2003) the late stage forecast accuracy
performance is much better for the ES method
According to plan EAC(t)PV1 EAC(t)ED1 EAC(t)ES1
compared to the PV and ED
Follows current SPI EAC(t)PV2 EAC(t)ED2 -
or SPI(t) trend - - EAC(t)ES2
methods. The SPI(t) indicator of
Follows current SCI EAC(t)PV3 EAC(t)ED3 - the earned schedule method is de-
or SCI(t) trend - - EAC(t)ES3 veloped to overcome this quirky
= = = behavior, leading to an improved
Planned Earned Earned forecast accuracy at the end of
Value Duration Schedule the project.
Winter 2007–2008
The Measurable News 29
Lipke, W. (2003). Schedule is Different. The Measurable the health-care sector. He is advisor to various PhD
News, Summer 2003. projects, in collaboration with different university
Lipke, W. (2004). Connecting Earned Value to the hospitals. He has articles published in international
Schedule. Crosstalk, June 2005. journals, such as Annals of Operations Research,
Vandevoorde, S. and Vanhoucke, M. (2006). A Management Science, Operations Research, The
Comparison of Different Project Duration Accounting Review, International Journal of Pro-
Forecasting Methods Using Earned Value Metrics.
International Journal of Project Management, duction Research, Journal of the Operational Re-
24:289–302. search Society, Journal of Scheduling, International
Vanhoucke, M., Coelho, J.S., Debels, D., Maenhout, Journal of Project Management, Project Manage-
B. and Tavares, L.V., 2007, An evaluation of the ment Journal, European Journal of Operational Re-
adequacy of project network generators with search, and Lecture Notes on Computer Science.
systematically sampled networks, European Journal
of Operational Research, 187, 511524 Stephan Vandevoorde is a division
Vanhoucke, M. and Vandevoorde, S. (2007). A manager in Fabricom GTI Suez, for
Simulation and Evaluation of Earned Value Metrics airport baggage handling systems.
to Forecast the Project Duration. Journal of the
He has an industrial engineer diplo-
Operational Research Society, 58:1361–1374.
ma and is a member of PMI, Project
Management Belgium, PMI College
Author Biographies
of Performance Management, and
Dr. Mario Vanhoucke is an associ- director of programs of the PMI Belgium Chapter.
ate professor at the Ghent Univer- He has been working on a number of large-scale
sity and the Vlerick Leuven Gent international projects (Europe, Asia) across many
Management School (Belgium). industries, including construction, retail, automo-
He teaches Project Management, tive, and airline. Stephan has extensive experience
Business Statistics, and Applied in using EVM techniques to assist in evaluating and
Operations Research. He is the predicting project performance, including the newly
program director of the Commercial Engineers and developed earned schedule concept. On several occa-
the advanced Master in Operations and Technology sions, he has given presentations on different project
Management. He is partner of the company OR-AS management topics for V.I.K., Vlerick Management
(www.or-as.be), where he is involved in the devel- School, Ghent University, and Boston University,
opment of a project scheduling software package Brussels. In collaboration with the Institute for Busi-
with earned schedule tracking capabilities. His main ness Development, Stephan is docent for the courses
research interest lies in simulation and optimiza- Earned Value Management and Project Management
tion models in project scheduling and scheduling in for the Construction industry.
™
EVM World 2008
CREATING THE ENVIRONMENT FOR EARNED VALUE MANAGEMENT
PMI-CPM 24th Annual International Conference
Clearwater Beach Resort
May 14–16, 2008 • Clearwater Beach, FL
Call for papers and more information at www.pmi-cpm.org