A Corrective Action Plan (CAP) is simply a step-by-step plan you put together to address any causes of concern in your current project plans. It’s a way of documenting issues and agreeing a shared approach to addressing them in order to bring a project back into a situation that feels in control. In this article […]
Earned Value
IPMR Format Reports Explained
I’ll start with a little background and history to give you some perspective about the IPMR Format Report formats for earned value metrics. And this discussion focuses largely on the formal reports that are a contractual requirement for Department of Defense when you win projects that are above a certain value. In short, there are […]
What’s So Hard About Earned Value?
Earned Value is pretty much a 5th Grade Math problem. To put it in the simplest terms, we are adding one number to the usual planned vs actual cost for a project. The number we are adding is earned value: a procedure that dollarizes the progress (percent complete) of a project. Why then does the […]
Changing the Terminology Used in Deltek Cobra
Want to change the project terminology in Deltek Cobra? In the world of earned value, the term ‘Progress’ might more generally be associated with activities in the schedule and not immediately thought of as an alternative to the term Earned Value. So what’s up with all this progress language we are seeing in new versions […]
What is an Over Target Baseline (OTB)?
The Electronic Industries Alliance Standard 748 (EIA-748), Earned Value Management Systems (EVMS), defines Over Target Baseline (OTB) as “a new baseline for management when the original objectives cannot be met and new goals are needed for management purposes.” In other words an over target baseline is an agreement between the customer and the contractor to […]
What is Authorized Unpriced Work (AUW)
Authorized Unpriced Work or AUW means that a contractor has been authorized by the customer to start work on new contract scope but the budgetary details of which have not yet been negotiated. Authorized Unpriced Work Details and Examples You can think of Authorized Unpriced Work as a change management tool that is designed to mitigate […]
Deltek Cobra – Delete or Purge?
I was asked the other day, what is the difference between the Delete option and the Purge option in Deltek Cobra. The answer is quite simple and you may find one far more preferable over another depending on what you want to do. First, this option pertains only to the act of deleting projects: not anything […]
Deltek Cobra – Quick Access Toolbar Tricks
Deltek Cobra 8.1 is a gift that just keeps on giving. The ribbon based interface has borrowed some nice convenient features from similar tools in the Windows environment. Today, I’m going to take a closer look at the Quick Access Toolbar. Located to the right of the Deltek Cobra start button, the Quick Access Toolbar […]
A Brief Introduction to EVM
A Brief Introduction to EVM Earned Value Management is the key to unlocking the door to a plethora of project status metrics is earned value, which is a way of placing a value on the progress of work achieved. But how is earned value specified? Much in Earned Value Management (EVM) hinges on the monetized […]
5 Pre-Requisites for Earned Value On Projects
If you’re considering Earned Value (EV) as a way to develop better project governance, then you’ll know what an undertaking it is to shift the organizational mindset towards that way of working. Even when you have buy-in at the top levels, you still need to embed a different way of managing projects in the teams […]