Project Management: Using Earned Value Analysis (EVA) to Monitor a Project's Progress (Notes) (Case Study‪)‬

CASE DESCRIPTION This case illustrates one of several important project monitoring and controlling techniques available for project manager use in construction and other related fields. The case highlights that the lack of proper project monitoring could lead to cost and schedule run-ups that eventually could result in complete failure of a project and financial loss. The case illustrates how a project manager could use variance analysis as an effective tool for project monitoring and controlling. The problem presented originated from a real-life situation of an actual federal building contractor. In this particular scenario, the contractor had incurred losses as a result of project delays due to multiple business factors. The issue became problematic since the responsible project manager lacked knowledge of sophisticated project control and monitoring tools, and relied primarily on his memory and intuition-based physical assessments of activities. The case is an attempt to show that if an appropriate project monitoring technique, earned value analysis (EVA), had been used, this contractor potentially could have avoided losses or even made some profit. This case is appropriate for senior or graduate level courses in project management or operations management. The case will require an estimated 2-3 hours of classroom lecture time. Students might have to spend 4-6 hours of time depending upon their prior experience and knowledge of the project management environment.