If you’re not using this one key ability, you’re truly wasting your time

One of the greatest, and often overlooked, advantages of Earned Value Software is the ability to automate the monthly statusing and reporting processes.  Forget for now, about all the other bells and whistles of any Earned Value Management Software. If you’re not using this key ability, you’re truly wasting your time.

How many times have you run into a situation where you had to enter data in more than one location because one software package did not talk to another?  I recently worked for a firm that required the Project Managers to enter their earned value and forecast data from the scheduling software into their cost processor every week. Literally, each PM had to enter hours or cost for each period for the duration of the project.  Periods were weekly, detailed for each day.  Each PM had 5-10 projects that could last for several years.  With 40+ Project Managers, it’s easy to see how many data entry mistakes were made each week, causing the department manager to blow a gasket.  Shall I even mention the huge waste of time spent on this effort?  Sounds insane, right?

Yet I’ve seen this practice in too many companies.  There is a tendency to minimize the effort required to maintain this practice, all in the name of saving a buck, because changing the software or design of the EVMS is too expensive in the minds of company management.  And besides, if the data isn’t entered correctly, it’s another excuse to yell at a Project Manager right?  Let’s not forget to yell at the Project Controls folks too!

What these companies are missing is the impact of this practice on the time, effort, and especially the morale of their employees!  Project Managers are supposed to be managing their projects.  Automation reduces the human error factor in these situations and reduces the number of steps required for processing.  EV software is specifically designed to integrate cost and schedule information.  Let it do its job.  Design your system with the thought of “How can this data be transferred automatically?” in the forefront of your mind.  If you find yourself entering data from one system into another, you’ve hit the automation opportunity jackpot and just need to find a common language.  In our next blog we’ll look at THE FIVE KEY INGREDIENTS FOR SUCCESSFUL AUTOMATION OF EV.  In the meantime, post your comments if you’ve had an experience where automation would have made your work easier.

- Melissa Duncan (About Melissa)