Why PMP certified professionals earn 16% more than their counterparts?

Projects are considered as successful, if they are completed on time, within budget, met the scope and achieved the business objectives of the project. How do we really achieve Poject sucess?

Initiation

  • Right Project Selection – If the project does not have a strong business case, it will fail eventually

Planning

  • Right project execution strategy (Agile, Waterfall, Hybrid) – A wrong project execution strategy can fail a project. For example, projects where scope is not clear, techno;ogy is new calls for agile / iterative development, till there is clarity. Once clarity is established, the rest of the project can follow waterfall or hybrid.
  • Right tools & techniques (Scheduling, Estimation, Project Management Information Systems) – On many occassions projects fail becuase the right tools are not used effectively.
  • Developing the subsidiary plans – Generally speaking, nothing good happens in projects without proper planning. For project success, one need to plan the following;
    • Quality management plan
    • Communications management plan
    • Procurement management plan
    • Resource management plan
    • Risk management plan
    • Schedule management plan
    • Stakeholder management plan
    • Change management plan
    • Configuration management plan
  • Developing the integrated project plan – For monitoring and controlling at a project level, all the subsidiary plans and the various other lower level plans must be integrated into a cohesive integrated project plan.

Execution

  • Executing the project as per the plan
  • Corrective and preventive actions

Monitoring & Controlling

  • Lag indicators
    • Schedule variance
    • Schedule performance index
    • Cost variance
    • Cost performance index
    • Scope variance
    • Quality issues
    • Risks occured
  • Lead indicators
    • Estmated date of completion (work package, milestone, project)
    • Estimated cost at completion
    • Anticipated risks

Closing

  • Closing phase
  • Closing project
  • Project Management Professional (PMP) is the most popular project management certification in the world. Right now, there are more than 1400000 PMP certfied professionals across the World. According to PMI Survey, PMP certified project professionals earn 16% more than their counterparts who are not PMP Certified.
  • The PMP certification is based on the Project Management Body Of Knowledge (PMBOK) by Project Management Institute (PMI,USA) . The PMBOK covers;
    • Predictive Project Management (Waterfall)
    • Agile Project Management (Adaptive)
    • Hybrid Project Management
  • Before applying for the PMP Certification, it is mandatory to attend 35 hours of formal project management training based on PMBOK.

Eligibility

OR

Exam content

People (42%)

  • Manage conflict
  • Lead a team
  • Support team performance
  • Empower team members and stakeholders
  • Build a team
  • Address and remove impediments
  • Negotiate
  • Collaborate with stakeholders
  • Build shared understanding
  • Engage and support virtual teams
  • Define team ground rules
  • Mentor relevant stakeholders
  • Application of emotional intelligence to improve team performance

Process (50%)

  • Execute project with the urgency required to deliver business value
  • Manage communications
  • Assess and manage project risks
  • Engage stakeholders
  • Plan and manage budget and resources
  • Plan and manage schedule
  • Plan and manage quality
  • Plan and manage scope
  • Integrate project planning activities
  • Manage project changes
  • Plan and manage procurements
  • Manage project artifacts
  • Determine appropriate project methodology
  • Establisg project governance structure
  • Manage project issues
  • Ensure knowledge transfer
  • Plan and manage project/phase closure or transitions

Business environment (8%)

  • Plan and manage project compliance (EHS)
  • Evaluate and deliver project benefits and value
  • Evaluate and address external business environment changes for impact on scope
  • Support organizational change
  • They understand the critical parameters that must be monitored and controlled for project success
  • They understand the building blocks and their inter-relationships for monitoring and controlling the lead and lag indicators
  • They understand the need for Project Management Information Systems
  • They understand the globally accepted project management vocabulary, hence can communicate better
  • PMP certification is an endorsement for minimum viable professional project management knowledge to be effective in larger projects

Preperation for PMP with a right balance of theory and practice will tremendously crash the learning curve to master professional project management based on a globally recognized standard (PMBOK).

To learn more about the PMdistilled PMP Preperation Program, Click here

Project Cost and Schedule forecasting

Schedule and Cost forecasting explained in detail.

  • Are we progressing as planned?
  • Are we completing the work within budget?
  • When will we complete the project?

These are the key questions we hear most of the time in project review meetings. Well implemented earned value management systems, provide answers to these questions at the press of a button.

Earned Value Management (EVM) is based on the analysis of the earned value of the project and comparing it with the planned value of the project. Earned value management is used to monitor and control both the schedule and cost. Earned value management (EVM) comprises of;

  1. Earned Value Analysis
  2. Variance Analysis
  3. Trend Analysis
  4. Reserve Analysis
  5. Corrective / Preventive actions
1. Earned Value Analysis :

The basic building blocks of earned value management are;

  • As on date, how much work we were supposed to complete? – Planned Value (PV)  – Also known as Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled (BCWS) 
  • Out of that how much work did we complete? – Earned Value (EV) – Also known as Budgeted Cost of Work Performed (BCWP)
  • For the completed work how much did we spend? – Actual Cost (AC) – Actual Cost of Work Performed (ACWP)
2. Variance Analysis

Once we have the basic values of Planned Value (PV), which is also known as Budgeted Cost Of Work Scheduled (BCWS), Earned Value (EV), which is also known as the Budgeted Cost Of Work Performed (BCWP) and the Actual Cost (AC), which is also known as the Actual Cost Of Work Performed (ACWP), it is time to do the performance analysis.

  • Schedule Variance (SV) = EV – PV
  • Cost Variance (CV) = EV – AC
  • Schedule Performance Index (SPI) = EV/PV
  • Cost Performance Index (CPI) = EV/AC

As we can see in the diagram above, as on the review date, the Earned Value (EV) is lower than the Planned Value (PV). That means, the work has not progressed as planned. The actual cost (AC) is higher than the Earned Value (EV) and even the Planned Value (PV). That means, there is a big cost overrun. In an ideal situation, all the three lines should have intersected at the Planned Value (PV). In that scenario EV = PV = AC

  • Schedule Variance (SV) = EV – PV = 0
  • Cost Variance (CV) = EV – AC = 0
  • Schedule Performance Index (SPI) = EV / PV = 1
  • Cost Performance Index (CPI) = EV / AC = 1
  • If the SPI=1, then we can infer that the project is progressing as per the agreed upon schedule.
  • If the SPI >1, then the project is progressing at a rate which is more than planned.
  • If the SPI <1, then the project is lagging behind schedule wise.
  • Similarly. If the Cost Performance Index (CPI)=1, then we can infer that the work is getting completed as per the budget.
  • If the CPI <1, then the that indicates budget overrun.
  • If the CPI>1, then more work is getting accomplished than planned, with the same amount of money.
  • As a general rule of thumb, if the SPI and CPI is 1 or above 1, then the project is doing well schedule wise and cost wise.

As project managers, if we know the schedule variance (SV), Cost Variance (CV), almost real time, then we can monitor and control our projects effectively.

3. Trend Analysis

The variance analysis provides us with the current snapshot of the project. One can become more pro-active in managing and controlling the project, if the future trends of the project performance can be predicted with the present progress information. We use graphs and charts to do this.

At this stage, let me introduce these three additional terminologies;

1) Budget At Completion (BAC) – is the total approved budget of the project from the beginning of the project till the end of the project.

2) Estimate to Complete (ETC) – is the budget required to complete the balance work of the project. ETC = (BAC – EV).

In some cases, ETC is calculated as a bottom up re-estimate for the balance activities to be completed.

3) Estimate at Completion (EAC)

  • If all the future work can be expected to be completed as planned, then how much will it cost when we complete the project. EAC = AC + ETC = AC + (BAC-EV).
  • If the current trend is going to continue in the future as well, then EAC = AC+(BAC-EV) / CPI.
  • In some projects, where the schedule has an impact on the cost, for example, a delay in schedule incurs additional cost, then EAC = AC + (BAC-EV) / (CPI x SPI). In this case, CPI and SPI are given weightages like (80/20, 50/50 or some other based on the judgment of the project team).
4. Reserve analysis

While performing the cost control of the project, the reserve analysis of the contingency and management reserves monitored. This will help in utilising these reserves elsewhere is the project progress is satisfactory or in organizing additional reserves proactively.

5. Corrective and Preventive actions based on the to Complete Performance Index (TCPI)

What should be the target CPI, to be maintained for the balance work, in order to complete the project within budget.

TCPI = Work remaining / Funds remaining

(BAC-EV) / (BAC–AC) or it can be,

(BAC-EV) / (EAC-AC) if the EAC is approved by the management.

Earned Value Management brings in more visibility into the project, and helps us to be more pro-active.

So far our focus was on forecasting the Estimate At Completion (EAC). What about forecasting the Estimated Date Of Completion of the project?. The following seven minutes video explains schedule forecasting;

Abrachan Pudussery, Domain expert, Wrench Solutions

Reference – Project Management Body Of Knowledge by PMI, USA

Rules of Credit

Introduction

Defining rules of credit during the contracting / planning stages is one of the most important steps for effective monitoring and controlling based on ‘S’ curves and Earned Value Management. Without proper definition of rules of credit measuring planned value of work and earned value of work is not possible.

Rules of credit are used to measure the progress of work completed against the planned work. The most commonly used rules of credit are;

  • 0/100 – Work is considered as earned (completed) when it is 100% completed.
  • 50/50 – 50% of the work is considered as earned as soon as the work starts. The remaining 50% will be considered as earned only when the remaining 50% is fully completed.
  • 25/75 – 25% of the work is considered as earned as soon as the work starts. The remaining 75% is considered as completed only when 100% of the work is completed.
  • 20/80 – 20% of the work is considered as earned as soon as the work starts. The remaining 80% is considered as completed only when 100% of the work is completed.
  • When none is defined, we apply % completed based on actual measurement or expert judgment.

Rules of Credit – Examples

Let us see how the progress is reported based on the various rules of credits discussed above. The orange arrow indicates the review point.

0-100
ActivityEarned Value
A0
B0
C0
D500
Total500
50-50
ActivityEarned Value
A500
B400
C500
D500
Total1900

Summary

Defining rules of credit at the activity level during project planning is key to progress monitoring and control. This helps to roll up the project progress information in the activity, work package, milestone, project sequence. The commonly used rules of credit are 0/100, 50/50, 25/75, 20/80 and percentage completion based on actual progress made.

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