The Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) 14-point assessment prefers certain types of schedule relationships. The preferred relationship is finish-to-start (FS) for defining the interface between activities. Let’s take a look in more detail. The DCMA 14-point assessment was developed to support inspecting the quality of schedules. Project schedules that conform to the DCMA 14-point assessment […]
The DCMA 14-Point Assessment and Negative Lag (Lead)
Negative lags are not recommended by the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) 14-point assessment because at best they can interrupt the forward flow of activities from beginning to end. And, if used improperly, negative lags can easily generate unrealistic network logic. This article examines why the DCMA lead criteria forbids the use of negative lag and looks […]
Writing a Good Variance Analysis
If you’re a Control Account Manager (CAM), you’re least favorite time of the monthly reporting cycle is when your analysts send you EV reports and variances and ask you to write an analysis for each variance that trips the threshold. This may be one of the most frustrating and time consuming aspects of earned value […]
The DCMA 14-Point Assessment and The Schedule Lag Inspection
Schedule lag inspection and the DCMA. One quality of good schedules is that they are clear and understandable. This is at the heart of the Defense Contract Management Agency’s (DCMA) assessment guidelines concerning the use of schedule lag. Let’s take a look at this in more detail. The DCMA 14-point assessment helps evaluate schedule quality. […]
The 14-Point Assessment and Schedule ‘Missing Logic’ Inspection
Schedules are meant to be dynamic: they should have the flexibility to adjust to the changing project scenarios. Schedule logic is the driver that determines how dynamic and flexible a schedule is. Let’s explore an assessment to confirm your schedule is not ‘missing logic’. A helpful measure of the effectiveness of project schedules is the […]
The 14-Point Schedule Assessment and the Baseline Execution Index (BEI)
Many project managers look to Earned Value Management (EVM) values to predict whether or not their project will complete on time. Recently, the Baseline Execution Index (BEI) has been popularized as a schedule completion early warning metric. Let’s discuss. The Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) developed a 14-point assessment for gauging the quality or soundness […]
What is an Earned Value System Description?
One of the terms you will hear when learning about Earned Value Management is the need for an Earned Value System Description. Have you ever wondered what the Earned Value Management System Description (EVMSD) is and why you need one? Maybe more importantly, what does it have to have in it? The EVMSD is something […]
What are the Possible Reasons for a TCPI vs. CPI Variance?
TCPI vs. CPI Understanding TCPI vs. CPI Variance. In Earned Value Management, a typical part of the monthly cycle is to perform an analysis on the realism of the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) forecasts. A quick way of judging how realistic the forecast is to perform a TCPI to cumulative CPI analysis at the WBS […]
The Statement of Work and Lessons Learned
Learning lessons form the Statement of Work (SOW). If your company have ever been involved in a project contract dispute, learning from that experience is critical to avoiding future contract disagreements. One area that is often reviewed in these situations is the Statement Of Work, which is an important agreement between customer and subcontractor. The […]
The 4 Building Blocks of Earned Value Analysis
Earned Value analysis has a reputation for being complex with a lot of different metrics, calculations and acronyms but, in reality, at its core Earned Value analysis is a pretty simple concept. In fact, all the calculations for the standard indexes, variances and forecasting methods can be built using four simple data points. These four […]