Question 1:

Project Milestones: A Project Managers earned value

In addition to being concerned with the earned value of project tasks, you are also concerned about your (i.e. the project manager's) earned value. As PM, you sometimes work on discrete activities, such as reviewing updated schedules and running meetings, that have well-defined durations and concrete deliverables. However, there are days when you run around managing multitudes of unplanned activities and overseeing other project team members' efforts.

Discuss the following questions:

• What may be the best way to measure the project manager's earned value during the project? (Hint: consider discrete activities versus "level of effort" activities)
• What may be the pros and cons for using discrete versus level of effort earned value measurements?
• Comment on two of your colleagues' responses and challenge the quality of their pros and cons. Don't forget to be respectful and professional when critiquing others' work.

Question2

Project Milestones

Project milestones mark significant points in time during the project and serve as convenient places for "checking in" on project status. They can but do not have to be tied to specific deliverables or durations. Select or create five milestones for your project and explain why you chose them.

Hint: Review the definition and concept of a "milestone." Reaching milestone 5 means that you have met or cleared the final hurdle to completing your project.

Make use of the template attached to answer

Scenario Jake has organized a hiking trip in the local mountains for all the project managers from the local chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI}. The project managers come from many industries such as nance, accounting. government (federal. state & local), aerospace. education. and more. As good professionals, they like to apply their "tools of the trade\" (Le. project management} to their daily lives and consider the hike to be a "project." Question 1 1 pts At the start of the hike, near the base of the mountain. the group warms up with stretcha and calisthenic exercises. Nobody has yet stepped on the trail. Since they all use earned value management in their proiects. they can agree that nobodyI has 1.ret earned any value from the hiking trip. [The assumption is that the start of the hike occurs with the rst step on the trail and the completion occurs with the rst step on the base area at the trailhead.] What is the earned value for the hiking trip at the base of the tail? (Hint: The base is the start and the nish of the hike] Select the most appropriate option. 010% 090% 050% 01% 00% Question 2 1 pts One of the participants on the hike. Jack. exprEses his appreciation to Jake for organizing the event. Indeed, Jake did a lot of work by contacting the chapter's members. sending out directions and packing lists, etc. Jack belie'u'E thatth did all the work while he and the other participants are simply executing Jake's plan [they weren't involved in the initiating and planning of the hike IIprl:uiect\"]. The participants are I'earning value\" by executingJake's plan. Aocording to Jack, the minimal amount of earned value was \"earned" during which project phasEi'stages? (Hint: Which phase or stage required the least amount of rEources'.' You may want to think about the number of resources required for each phasefstage] Select the most appropriate option. 0 Initiating O Execution 0 Planning 0 Monitoring Er Controlling O chartering Question 3 1 pts Paul is one of the hikers and is an excellent earned value management professional. He observes that Jake set up a perfect plan for completing the hike in two hours [one hour up and one hour down} and collecting $10 per person for lunch at the summit (total: $10 x 30 - $3001.10 account for the hiking enjoyment value of two hours per person, Paul made an assumption that everyone earned a IIalue of $5 per hour l$5fhour 1: 30 members it 2 hours I $300}. Once the team reaches the summit, has their lunch. and is readyr to hike down. how much earned value remains [to be earned]? Select the most appropriate option. 0 $150 0 $450 0 $000 0 $0 0 $300 Question 4 1 pts Jane is a scheduler and has been tracking the time for the hike. Jane inion'ns the group that they are on target and have a schedule performance index of one. She also comments that the planned value for reaching the summit and nishing lunch is one hour and that the group needs to keep moving. Although the trip down is likely to be quicker, there are many opportunities for team building and taking photos along the way. which may introduce delays. She says. \"We'd better get started going down if we want to avoid a and maintain the current SPI of 1.0. Which specic variance is Jane trying to avoid [ll in the blank]? Select the most appropriate option. 0 Schedule perfomnanceindex 0 Cost performance index 0 Tocornpleteperformance index 0 Costvariance 0 Schedule variance Question 5 1 pts A second hiking team with the same two-hour plan, expected lunch costs [slfperson]. and number of people {30 individuals} delivered the same performance at the summit of the mountain. However, because the group didn't arrive until 3 PM and their leader didn't realize that the \"lunch special\" hours ended at 2 PM. each hiker wou nd up paying $20 for lunch instead of $10. Fortunately, theyr all had extra cash'.] Given the performance results below, what is the hiking project cost variance (CW? W ' $450 $300 ($10 valuex'perspn for lunch 1 30 members] 1-5150 ($5 valuefhour x 1 hour 1: 30 members) EV . $450 $300 [total value For lunch} !- 5150 [total value for 30 members enjoying their hike up] AC I $350 $600 total for lunch (because cost twice as much or $20 I 30 Members] !- 5150 [total value for 30 members enjoying their hike up] Select the most appropriate option. 0 $1200 0 -$?50 moo $300 000 $450 Question 6 1 pts Jean is a project manager for an aerospace manufacturing company. As the group begins to hike down the mountain, she and another project manager, Patty,oliscuss Jean's project Jean mentions that installing a machine for stamping a critical part is 50% complete. Given the following performance results for the installation project, what is the schedule variance {EV}? W $120,000 EV $115 .000 AC $330,000 Select the most appropriate option. 0 05000 0 0205.000 0 $5000 0 $150,000 0 $205,000 Question '3" 1 pts In the scenario prEented in Question #6. a have, what is the Cost Va riance {CV}? Select the most appropriate option. 0 05000 0 $250,000 0 $5,000 0 0205000 0 $205,000 Question 8 1 pts In the scenario presented in Question #6, what is the SPI? Select the most appropriate option. O 3.30 O 0.30 O 1.04 0 3.16 O 0.96 Question 9 1 pts In the scenario presented in Question #6, what is the CPI? Select the most appropriate option. O 3.30 0 0.30 O 0.96 O 3.16 O 1.04Question 10 1 pts In the scenario presented in Question 6, what Jean's project status? Select the most appropriate option. O Ahead of schedule and over budget/cost O Behind schedule and over budget/cost O Ahead of schedule and under budget/cost O On schedule and on budget O Behind schedule and under budget/costIntroduction Providing status on project performance is a key function of the project manager. The project team and stakeholders should be kept well-informed on project status at regular intervals throughout the project. Many project attributes can be included in the Project Performance Report. Some of these include status of project performance to scope, schedule, cost, risk and other indicators. [text here] Status, Risks and Issues Provide a status of project to include work accomplished, challenges ahead, risk and ways to manage them, and any issues encountered. [text here] Project Status Summary Percent Complete: xx* Scope Cost Schedule Resources Risks Quality Use the traffic light chart with green as "on-track" yellow as "monitoring", and red as "needs correction" to show status of project scope, schedule, cost, risks, and quality. Provide a short summary supporting the rating provided for each of the five parameters. [text here] Key Performance Indicators (KPI's) Use Schedule Variance, Cost Variance, Schedule Performance Index, and Cost Performance Index as the KPI's. (See Earn Value Worksheet in next section) Schedule - Project is Ahead/Behind of Schedule Schedule Variance (SV):Schedule Performance Index (SPI):