Earned Value For Claims

You may wish to have a look at PowerProject Teamplan v7. It has all the tokens for EVA built-in and I hear on the grapvine that there may be an EV Wizard coming out soon.

You know about the APM EV SIG of course?

Of course the problem with EVA is that it is only as good as the plan. Very recently I attempted to use my clients EVA control system for design. The data illustrated a consistent level of only working 60% efficiently, but there were at intervals some big flucuations, as when they ran out of man hours.

They had just increased the base without any justification, and so the final man hours expended could only be deemed to be the what was required in the first place, and so production against that was down to 30%.

Basically they still have to justify the increased man hour effort.

Clive, I think you highlight one of the major problems with EV - implementation. EV is great in theory but is very difficult to apply without significant resources. We have used it pro-actively on a number of major projects but have often had to de-scope the exercise and run it alongside traditional performance measurement techniques.

I used to be one of Asta's biggest fans and thought PowerProject was great but since using Primavera products I realised they had missed the mark. I have a demo version of Teamplan but am still nervous of their products. Are my fears still justified?, is it more stable? (I remember my system would regularly crash with PowerProject, especially when using tokens)

I was taught right at the start of my career by Laings that it is most important to record when the labour force are working on things that are not budgeted for. So each gang would records hours worked each week and also record the hours spent on work that was not part of the original scope.

EG, a steelfixing gang wants to fix steel all week an would have pride in achieving more than what was expected of them, and so be rewarded via a incentive scheme. If the gang continually had to carry out variations, re-work details that have been changed, abortive work, weather delays, etc. Then it is these hours that need to be recorded.

Daryl...

Thanks for the reply.

Personally I have never had any problems with Powerproject. I am currently using Teamplan v7.

I know the advocates of P3 have their fans but at this level of maturity of the market there is probably very little to choose between any of the top systems (as far as funtionality goes).

A long time ago, when Powerproject was first introduced using GEM as it was thought as a bit ’Micky Mouse’ by those using Primavera so some of that feeling may have unjustifiabley stuck.

Trouble is, and I think this is still the case, Primavera products are comparatively expensive and training is also expensive (at least here in the UK). Whereas Powerproject can be picked up and used within an hour and, of course, it was the first system to use ’linked bar charts’ which I believe has almost universally taken over as the method for illustrating critical path.

I have to admit a vested interest here. When I was researching methods for assessing construction project delays I surveyed the UK construction industry. One of the biggest surveys of it’s type and covering the whole spectrum from Architects to Contractors. The results were overwhelming in that Powerproject was considered to be the most used and the most useful PM/planning software.

The results of that survey were published in ’Chartered Builder’ in the summer of ’98 (I think). I could send you a copy if you wish.

You might also like to have a look at my paper ’A Metodology for assessing construction project delays’ (David W Bordoli & Andrew N Baldwin, Construction Management & Economics, [1998] 16, 327-337). That will give a bit of guidence on how to do things and might also enlighten a few people who believe that the SCL protocol is something new!

Daryl... I'll have a go, I'll try to get our people to convert it to a .pdf Regards

Thanks for that David, I think you are right on target. I actually came from a PowerProject background and used it for 6 years with a Contractor in the UK. Once we purchased Primavera I was disappointed with the interface and printing functions but enjoyed reliability.

I have now moved into the delay/disruption analysis arena and find P3 offers great filtering and analysis functions, That said I’m always looking for alternatives and may consider Teamplan. I would be interested to see your paper etc., could you e-mail them to me?

Thanks again.

Daryl,

I use powerproject teamplan V6 and have had no problems with crashes. I have just received teamplan V7 from the Hong Kong agent for ASTA who is Bob Meakin of York Consulting http://www.yorkconsult.com.hk/.

You can get a fully functioning version of teamplan V7 FOC from York. It ceases to function after 30 days unless you decide to register and pay the license fee

David, PP isn't as widely used here - no user group that I know of, perhaps we should start one ... Steve ?? I must see a demo of the EVA tokens - if they are effective it could be the answer to our prayers! Primavera is definitely lacking now - even with P3e

Thanks Steve... I am currently using v7. EVA data output is simple (lots of new tokens) and previously I have been exporting the data (now just cut & paste) to excel for further processing. At the last PP User Group meeting (do they have them in HK) the guy from Asta demonstrated a neat EVA wizzard they are developing... really cool and good graphics for the output. Not sure if it is available yet as an add-in.

I am in the UK (as you know?) so I can't help with the User Group... but speak with your sales guy he should do something for you, I'll also mention it to Richard Ormerod when I see him next. You might like to contact Clive Holloway, when he was in the UK he was a Powerproject user and, if I remember corectly, used to chair the Midlands User Group.

Yes I have been a PowerProject user since it's launch 12 or so years ago. And yes I was involved in the Midlands User Group when I was based in the UK. It looks like I should contact Bob Meakin and see if we can set up a user group in HK.

Clive... I mentioned EVA and PPUG in HK (bloody hell... acronym overdose!) to Dick and he said he would have a word too. You might get your old job back! David

David,

Just to keep you informed that Primavera and Powerproject are not the only PM tools in the EVA market. CS Project has been used in successful claims over the last 10 years.

There are over 30 fields available to enable the Project Manager to identify cost over-runs before they become too serious.

Please refer to http://www.planningplanet.com/misc/search_results.asp for further details.

Hi PPers,

Following some lively interest in the ’Powerproject’ subject we have now created a new Forum Category especially for you Powerproject Guru’s.

We hope that this will be of interest to you? Perhaps we have scope for some special "Earned Value" area for discussion?

Regards.