Implementing Earned Value Management System Lessons Learned from the Life and Death of the Progress Tracking System Michael Hatfield PMP, CCC & Toby Lovato Los Alamos National Laboratory

What was the Progress Tracking System? PTS was an early, basic Earned Value Management System that tracked US DOE Environmental Projects Written in a dBaseIII+ compiler, Clipper® Contained data for each approved Activity Data Sheet (BO, BA, remaining ceiling, etc.) Time-Phased Budget, Earned Value, Actual Costs collected monthly

PTS Capability Significant Milestone Due Date and Forecast Date Cost and Schedule Variances Funding Profile Brief description of the ADS’s scope It also included a Variance Analysis Report capability

The PTS Story in the Context of the Capability Maturity Model© The SEI-CMM© has five phases: Phase I, Initial Phase II, Managed Phase III, Defined Phase IV, Quantitatively Managed Phase V, Optimizing

At the time PTS was introduced... Each site (and sometimes different projects within the same site) collected, processed, and reported PM information differently DOE Guidance had loosened D to to Phased Approach leading to Escape Hatch Isolated pockets of advanced PM existed Therefore, the EM Program was in Phase I.

How to Move from Phase I to Phase II Stress consistency & universality of practices and terminology Avoid integrating more advanced concepts or practices at this point Collect the data, process it into information, and deliver the information regularly, and in standard formats Don’t allow any projects to “option out” of system participation

Whether or not PTS’s Heroes knew it at the time... PTS implementation brought EM work across the complex to CMM© Phase II: Data entry fields standardized the data being collected Training on the PTS led to a common vernacular Early managerial support prevented EM projects from opting out Management information was collected on a regular basis, and “rolled up” in repeatable formats

Whether or not PTS’s Heroes knew it at the time... With PTS as the EVMS minimum standard, all EM work was being tracked in a like manner, allowing legitimate comparisons of performance across organizations and sites A symbiosis developed between PM capability maturity and PTS’s capability maturity -- each helped drive the other

What NOT to do in advancing CMM© Phases: Skip Phases, or attempt to incorporate more advanced capability before the organization is ready or sufficiently mature Allow Projects to opt out of the system Compromise on the requirements for regular, timely, accurate information collection Fail to manage end-user expectations of system ability

A funny thing happened on the way to Phase III... PTS began its decline when the advances in capability were not managed in accordance with the CMM: Funding versus Budget information Basic misunderstandings about performance information Some work was allowed to option out Timeliness and regularity of reporting cycles were impinged

And before you knew it... Managers’ use of (and need for) PTS information began to wane As the demand decreased, so did supply -- the laws of supply and demand “For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled.”

Recommendations for Future EVMS Implementation Conduct an honest assessment of the organization’s current capability Document its place within the SEI-CMM© Define the approach and tactics needed to attain the next phase only Obtain managerial support for furthering the PM and EVMS capability

Recommendations for Future EVMS Implementation (cont’d) Communicate the technical agenda to the stakeholders, and manage their expectations Stress consistent, universal implementation -- prevent projects from opting out Demonstrate the system’s end products -- make them attractive, but don’t oversell the system

Recommendations for Future EVMS Implementation (cont’d) Write and deliver a training program, to not only teach the EVMS’s operations, but to establish a common vernacular Once the previous steps have been taken, initiate another honest review, and document the organization’s place within the SEI-CMM© Define the approach and tactics needed to attain the next phase only

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