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Project Management Metrics

In this article, we will discuss the following project management metrics

Scenario

Consider the following scenario where project is planned according to the following table

Activity	Days	Cost per day (in Indian rupees)	Planned Cost (Days * Cost per day)
Requirement Gathering	3	800	2400
Design	2	600	1200
Development	4	900	3600
Testing	4	700	2800
Production deployment	3	500	1500
		Total budget	11500

But after 8 days, the actual work completed is

Planned value is how much cost should incur to the project as per the plan. The formula of calculating the planned value is

Planned days * Cost per day

Activity	Days	Cost per day (in Indian rupees)	Planned value	Comments
Requirement Gathering	3	800	2400	3 days are allocated to this task. So, this task must be 100% completed
Design	2	600	1200	2 days are allocated to this task. So, this task must be 100% completed
Development	4	900	2700	On the 8th day, this task should be 75% completed as per the plan.
Testing	4	700	0
Production deployment	3	500	0

The Earned Value is

Planned Cost * Actual percentage Completed

Activity	Actual % complete	Planned Cost	Earned Value
Requirement Gathering	100%	2400	2400
Design	100%	1200	1200
Development	50%	3600	1800
Testing	0%	2800	0
Production deployment	0%	1500	0

Actual cost is how much is the cost incurred to the project. The formula is

Actual number of  days * Cost per day

Activity	Days	Cost per day	Actual cost (After 8 days)
Requirement Gathering	3	800	2400
Design	2	600	1200
Development	4	900	2700
Testing	4	700	0
Production deployment	3	500	0

Cost variance is

Earned Value - Actual Cost

Activity	Days	Cost per day	Actual cost (After 8 days)	Earned Value(After 8 days)
Requirement Gathering	3	800	2400	2400
Design	2	600	1200	1200
Development	4	900	2700	1800
Testing	4	700	0	0
Production deployment	3	500	0	0
Total			6300	5400

Cost variance = 5400 - 6300 = -900

The formula of schedule variance is

Earned Value - Planned Value

Activity	Days	Cost per day	Earned Value(After 8 days)	Planned value
Requirement Gathering	3	800	2400	2400
Design	2	600	1200	1200
Development	4	900	1800	2700
Testing	4	700	0	0
Production deployment	3	500	0	0
			5400	6300

So, the schedule variance is (5400 - 6300) = -900.

The formula is

Earned Value/Actual Cost

Activity	Days	Cost per day	Actual cost (After 8 days)	Earned Value(After 8 days)	Cost Performance Index
Requirement Gathering	3	800	2400	2400
Design	2	600	1200	1200
Development	4	900	2700	1800
Testing	4	700	0	0
Production deployment	3	500	0	0
			6300	5400	0.86

The formula is

Earned Value/Planned Value

Activity	Days	Cost per day	Earned Value	Planned Value
Requirement Gathering	3	800	2400	2400
Design	2	600	1200	1200
Development	4	900	1800	2700
Testing	4	700	0	0
Production deployment	3	500	0	0
Total	5400	6300

Schedule Performance Index is 5400/6300 = 0.8571428571

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