Unit – 3

Software Project
Planning, Scheduling &
Tracking
BE Sem – 7 SE – 3173213

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

Software Project Estimation
To achieve reliable cost and effort estimates, a
number of options arise:
• Delay estimation until late in the project (obviously, we
can achieve 100 percent accurate estimates after the
project is complete!)
• Base estimates on similar projects that have already
been completed
• Use relatively simple decomposition techniques to
generate project cost and effort estimates
• Use one or more empirical models for software cost and
effort estimation.

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

Software Project Estimation cont.
• Software project estimation is just similar to
problem solving.
• Problem to be solved is too complex in software
engineering.
• Hence for solving such problems, we decompose
the given problem into a set of smaller problems.
• Decomposition can be done using 2 approached –
• Decomposition of problem
• Decomposition of process
• Decomposition Techniques
1. Software Sizing 3. Process based Estimation
2. Problem based Estimation 4. Estimation with Use-cases
LOC (Lines of Code) based,
FP (Function Point) based

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

Software Sizing
Putnam and Myers suggest four different approaches
to the sizing problem
• “Fuzzy logic” sizing - This approach uses the approximate
reasoning techniques that are the cornerstone of fuzzy logic.
• Function Point sizing - The planner develops estimates of the
information domain characteristics
• Standard Component sizing - Estimate the number of occurrences
of each standard component
Use historical project data to determine the delivered LOC size per
standard component.
• Change sizing - Used when changes are being made to existing
software
Estimate the number and type of modifications that must be
accomplished
An effort ratio is then used to estimate each type of change and
the size of the change

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

Problem Based Estimation
• Start with a bounded statement of scope
• Decompose the software into problem functions
that can each be estimated individually
• Compute an LOC or FP value for each function
• Derive cost or effort estimates by applying the LOC
or FP values to your baseline productivity metrics
• Ex., LOC/person-month or FP/person-month
• Combine function estimates to produce an overall
estimate for the entire project
• In general, the LOC/pm and FP/pm metrics should
be computed by project domain
• Important factors are team size, application area and
complexity
Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)
Problem Based Estimation cont.
• LOC and FP estimation differ in the level of detail required for
decomposition with each value
• For LOC, decomposition of functions is essential and should go into
considerable detail (the more detail, the more accurate the estimate)
• For FP, decomposition occurs for the five information domain
characteristics and the 14 adjustment factors
• External Inputs, External Outputs, External Inquiries, Internal
Logical Files, External Interface Files
• For both approaches, the planner uses lessons learned to
estimate,
• An optimistic (Sopt), most likely (Sm), and pessimistic (Spess) estimates
Size (S) value for each function or count
• Then the expected Size value S is computed as
• S = (Sopt + 4 Sm + Spess)/6
Historical LOC or FP data is then compared to S in order to cross-
check it.

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

Process Based Estimation
• Process-based estimation is obtained from “process framework” -
Most commonly used technique
• Identify the set of functions that the software needs to perform as
obtained from the project scope
• Identify the series of framework activities that need to be
performed for each function
• Estimate the effort (in person months) that will be required to
accomplish each software process activity for each function
• Apply average labor rates (i.e., cost/unit effort) to the effort
estimated for each process activity
• Compute the total cost and effort for each function and each
framework activity.
• Compare the resulting values to those obtained by way of the LOC
and FP estimates
• If both sets of estimates agree, then your numbers are highly
reliable
• Otherwise, conduct further investigation and analysis concerning
the function and activity breakdown
Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)
Estimation with Use Cases
Developing an estimation approach with use cases is
problematic for the following reasons:
• Use cases are described using many different formats and
styles—there is no standard form.
• Use cases represent an external view (the user’s view) of
the software and can therefore be written at many
different levels of abstraction
• Use cases do not address the complexity of the functions
and features that are described
• Use cases can describe complex behavior (Ex.,
interactions) that involve many functions and features
• Although a number of investigators have considered use
cases as an estimation input.

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

Empirical Estimation Models

• It is a technique or model in which empirically

derived formulas are used for predicting the data
that are a required & essential part of the software
project planning.
• Techniques are usually based on the data that is
collected previously from a project &U also based
on some guesses, prior experience with the
development of similar types of projects, &
assumptions.
• Uses the size of the software to estimate the
effort.

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

COCOMO

• Boehm proposed COCOMO (Constructive Cost

Model) in 1981.
• One of the most generally used software estimation
model.
• Predicts the efforts & schedule of a software
product based on the size of the software.
• In COCOMO, projects are categorized into 3 types :
• Organic
• Semidetached
• Embedded

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

Software Development Project Classification
• Organic :
o A development project can be treated of organic type, if the project
deals with developing a well understood application program, the size
of the development team is reasonably small, and the team members
are experienced in developing similar methods of projects.
o E.g. simple business systems, data processing systems
• Semidetached
o A development project can be treated with semidetached type, if the
development consists of a mixture of experienced & inexperienced
staff. Team members may have finite experience in related systems but
may be unfamiliar with some aspects of the system being developed.
o E.g. Developing a new OS, DBMS & complex inventory management
system
• Embedded
o A development project is treated to be of an embedded type, if the
software being developed is strongly coupled to complex hardware, or if
the strict regulations on the operational procedures exist
o E.g. ATM, Air Traffic control
Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)
Software Development Project cont.
Model Project Nature of Project Innovation Dead Development
Size Line Environment
Organic Typically Small Size Project, Little Not Familiar &
2-50 Experienced developers in Tight In-house
KLOC the familiar environment,
E.g. Payroll, Inventory
projects etc.

Semi Typically Medium Size Project, Medium Medium Medium Medium

Detached 50-300 Size Team, Average Previous
KLOC Experience, E.g. Utility
Systems like Compilers,
Database Systems, editors
etc.
Embedded Typically Large Project, Real Time Significant Tight Complex
Over 300 Systems, Complex interfaces, Required hardware &
KLOC very little previous customer
Experience. E.g. ATMs, Air Interfaces
Traffic Controls

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

 COCOMO cont.
According to Boehm, software cost estimation should
be done through three stages :

• Basic Model - Small teams

• Intermediate Model – Intermediate deadlines with
innovations in between
• Detailed Model – Very large projects

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

 Basic COCOMO Model
• Can be used for quick & slightly rough calculations of
software costs.
• Gives an approximate estimate of the project parameters
• The basic COCOMO estimation model is given by the
following expressions
• Effort = a1 + (KLOC) PM
• Tdev = b1 * (Effort) Months
• KLOC is the estimated size of the software product expressed
in Kilo Lines of source Code,
• a1, a2, b1, b2 are constants for different categories of
software products,
• Tdev is the estimated time to develop the software in
months,
• Effort is the total effort required to develop the software
product, expressed in person months (PMs).
Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)
 Basic COCOMO Model cont.

Project a1 a2 b1 b2

Organic 2.4 1.05 2.5 0.38

Semidetached 3.0 1.12 2.5 0.35

Embedded 3.6 1.20 2.5 0.32

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

 Basic COCOMO Model cont.
• Insight into the basic COCOMO
model can be obtained by
plotting the estimated
characteristics for different
software sizes
• Figure shows a plot of estimated
effort versus product size
• From fig. we can observe that
the effort is somewhat
superlinear in the size of the
software product
• The effort required to develop a
product increases very rapidly
with project size

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

 Basic COCOMO Model cont.
• The development time versus the
product size in KLOC is plotted in
figure
• From fig., it can be observed that
the development time is a
sublinear function of the size of
the product
• i.e. when the size of the product
increases by two times, the time
to develop the product does not
double but rises moderately
• From fig., it can be observed that
the development time is roughly
the same for all the three
categories of products
Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)
 Example
Assume that the size of an organic type software product
has been estimated to be 32,000 lines of source code. Assume
that the average salary of software engineers be Rs. 15,000/-
per month. Determine the effort required to develop the
software product and the nominal development time

Effort = a1 + (KLOC) PM
= 2.4 + (32)1.05 PM
= 91 PM
Tdev = b1 * (Effort) Months
= 2.5 * (91)0.38 Months
= 14 Months

Cost required to develop the product = 14 *15000

= 2,10,000/- Rs.
Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)
 Disadvantages
• It considers only KLOC to estimate effort
• It can’t be used for modern tools
• It doesn’t consider different parameters

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

 Intermediate COCOMO Model
• The basic COCOMO model assumes that effort & development
time depends on product size alone.
• However, several parameters affect effort & development
time :
o Reliability requirements
o Availability of CASE tools & modern facilities to the
developers
o Size of data to be handled
• Therefore, in order to obtain an accurate estimation of the
effort and project duration, the effect of all relevant
parameters must be considered.
• The intermediate COCOMO model recognizes this fact &
refines the initial estimate obtained by the basic COCOMO by
using a set of 15 cost drivers (multipliers) based on various
attributes of software development
Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)
Intermediate COCOMO Model cont.
• Product attributes - • Personnel attributes -
o Required software reliability o Analyst capability
extent o Software engineering capability
o Size of the application o Applications experience
database o Virtual machine experience
o The complexity of the product o Programming language
experience

• Computer attributes - • Project attributes –

o Run-time performance o Use of software tools
constraints o Application of software
o Memory constraints engineering methods
o The volatility of the virtual o Required development schedule
machine environment
o Required turnabout time

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

Intermediate COCOMO Model cont.
Cost Drivers Very Low Low Nominal High Very High
Product Attributes
RELY 0.75 0.88 1.00 1.15 1.40

DATA - 0.94 1.00 1.08 1.16

CPLX 0.70 0.85 1.00 1.15 1.30

Computer Attributes

TIME - - 1.00 1.11 1.30

STOR - - 1.00 1.06 1.21

VIRT - 0.87 1.00 1.15 1.30

TURN - 0.94 1.00 1.07 1.15

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

Intermediate COCOMO Model cont.
Cost Drivers Very Low Low Nominal High Very High
Personnel attributes

ACAP 1.46 1.19 1.00 0.86 0.71

PCAP 1.42 1.17 1.00 0.86 0.70

AEXP 1.29 1.13 1.00 0.91 0.82

VEXP 1.21 1.10 1.00 0.90 -

LEXP 1.14 1.07 1.00 0.95 -

Project Attributes

MODP 1.24 1.10 1.00 0.91 0.82

TOOL 1.24 1.10 1.00 0.91 0.83

SCED 1.23 1.08 1.00 1.04 1.10

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

 Intermediate COCOMO Model cont.
• Intermediate COCOMO equation :

• E = ai (KLOC) * EAF
• D = ci (E)

Project ai bi ci di
Organic 2.4 1.05 2.5 0.38
Semidetached 3.0 1.12 2.5 0.35
Embedded 3.6 1.20 2.5 0.32

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

 Example
For a given project was estimated with a size of 300 KLOC.
Calculate the Effort, Scheduled time for development by
considering developer having high application experience and
very low experience in programming.

Given the estimated size of the project is: 300 KLOC

Developer having highly application experience: 0.82
Developer having very low experience in programming: 1.14

EAF = 0.82*1.14 = 0.9348

Effort (E) = a*(KLOC)b *EAF
= 3.0*(300)1.12 *0.9348
= 1668.07 MM
Scheduled Time (D) = c*(E)d
= 2.5*(1668.07)0.35
= 33.55 Months(M)

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

 Detailed COCOMO Model
• Detailed COCOMO incorporates all characteristics of the
intermediate version with an assessment of the cost driver’s
impact on each step of the software engineering process.
• The detailed model uses different effort multipliers for each
cost driver attribute.
• In detailed COCOMO, the whole software is divided into
different modules and then we apply COCOMO in different
modules to estimate effort and then sum the effort.
• This approach reduces the margin of error in the final
estimate

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

 Detailed COCOMO Model
The Six phases of detailed COCOMO are:

• Planning and requirements

• System structure
• Complete structure
• Module code and test
• Integration and test
• Cost Constructive model

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

 Example
A Management Information System (MIS) for an
organization having offices at several places across the
country:

• Database part (semi-detached)

• Graphical User Interface (GUI) part (organic)
• Communication part (embedded)

Cost of the components are estimated separately:

• Summed up to give the overall cost of the system.

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

 Software Project Planning
• Project Planning is an aspect of Project Management that
focuses a lot on Project Integration.
• A Software Project is the complete methodology of
programming advancement from requirement gathering to
testing and support, completed by the execution procedures,
in a specified period to achieve intended software product.
• The project plan reflects the current status of all project
activities and is used to monitor and control the project.
• The Project Planning tasks ensure that various elements of the
Project are coordinated and therefore guide the project
execution.
• Project Planning helps in
– Facilitating communication
– Monitoring/measuring the project progress, and
– Provides overall documentation of assumptions/planning
decisions
Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)
 Software Project Planning cont.
• The objective of software project planning is to provide a
framework that enables the manager to make reasonable
estimates of resources, cost, & schedule.
• In addition, estimates should attempt to define best-case &
worst-case scenarios so that project outcomes can be
bounded.
• Although there is an integral degree of uncertainty, the
software team get on a plan that has been established as a
consequence of these tasks.
• Therefore, the plan must be adapted & updated as the project
proceeds.
• Project Planning is an ongoing effort throughout the Project
Lifecycle.

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

 Software Project Planning cont.
• The Project Planning Phases can be broadly classified as
follows:
– Development of the Project Plan
– Execution of the Project Plan
– Change Control and Corrective Actions

• Why is it important?
“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”
- Project planning is crucial to the success of the Project.
- Careful planning right from the beginning of the project
can help to avoid costly mistakes. It provides an assurance that
the project execution will accomplish its goals on schedule and
within budget.

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

 Task set for Project Planning
• Establish project scope
• Determine feasibility
• Analyze risks
• Define required resources
• Determine required human resources
• Define reusable software resources
• Identify environmental resources
• Estimate cost & effort
• Decompose the problem
• Develop two or more estimates using size, function points, process
tasks, or use cases
• Reconcile the estimates
• Develop a project schedule
• Establish a meaningful task set
• Define task network
• Use scheduling tools to develop a time-line chart
• Define schedule tracking mechanisms
Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)
 MS Project Planning tool
• Microsoft has offered a project management tool
named Microsoft Project for project planning
activities.
• It helps the project manager in
• Developing the project plan
• Assigning the resources to the tasks
• Tracking the progress
• Managing budgets
• Analysis of workload

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

 Features
Various features of MS planning tool are :

• It generates variety of reports & templates with industry

standard.
• Themes can be customized & some elements can be
removed.
• The date can be set for the tasks to accomplish.
• It has got the compatibility with other programs such as
Microsoft Word, Excel, Visio & so on.
• It can support for the cloud services to share the work
among the geographically distant developers.

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

 Project Scheduling and Tracking
• Project-task scheduling is a significant project planning
activity.
• It comprises deciding which functions would be taken up
when.
• Project Scheduling in a project refers to roadmap of all
activities to be done with specified order and within time slot
allotted to each activity.
• Project managers tend to define various tasks, and project
milestones and they arrange them keeping various factors in
mind.
• It is an action that distributes estimated effort across the
planned project duration, by allocating the effort to specific
software engineering tasks.

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

 Project Scheduling and Tracking cont.

For scheduling a project, it is necessary to

• Break down the project tasks into smaller, manageable

form
• Find out various tasks and correlate them
• Estimate time frame required for each task
• Divide time into work-units
• Assign adequate number of work-units for each task
• Calculate total time required for the project from start
to finish

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

 Software Project Scheduling Principles
• Compartmentalization - the product and process must be decomposed
into a manageable number of activities and tasks
• Interdependency - tasks that can be completed in parallel must be
separated from those that must completed serially
• Time allocation - every task has start and completion dates that take
the task interdependencies into account
• Effort validation - project manager must ensure that on any given day
there are enough staff members assigned to completed the tasks within
the time estimated in the project plan
• Defined Responsibilities - every scheduled task needs to be assigned to
a specific team member
• Defined outcomes - every task in the schedule needs to have a defined
outcome (usually a work product or deliverable)
• Defined milestones - a milestone is accomplished when one or more
work products from an engineering task have passed quality review

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

 Effort Distribution
The 40-20-40 rule:

• 40% front-end analysis and design

• 20% coding
• 40% back-end testing

Generally accepted guidelines are:

• 02-03 % planning
• 10-25 % requirements analysis
• 20-25 % design
• 15-20 % coding
• 30-40 % testing and debugging

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

 Scheduling
• Task networks (activity networks) are graphic representations can be of
the task interdependencies and can help define a rough schedule for
particular project
• Scheduling tools should be used to schedule any non-trivial project.
• Program evaluation and review technique (PERT) and critical path
method (CPM) are quantitative techniques that allow software planners
to identify the chain of dependent tasks in the project work breakdown
structure (WBS) that determine the project duration time.
• Timeline (Gantt) charts enable software planners to determine what
tasks will be need to be conducted at a given point in time (based on
estimates for effort, start time, and duration for each task).
• The best indicator of progress is the completion and successful review
of a defined software work product.

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

 Time-Line Charts (Gantt Charts)
• A Gantt chart, commonly used in project management, is one of the
most popular and useful ways of showing activities (tasks or events)
displayed against time.
• On the left of the chart is a list of the activities and along the top is a
suitable time scale.
• Each activity is represented by a bar; the position and length of the bar
reflects the start date, duration and end date of the activity. This
allows you to see at a glance:
• What the various activities are
• When each activity begins and ends
• How long each activity is scheduled to last
• Where activities overlap with other activities, and by how
much
• The start and end date of the whole project

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

 Time-Line Charts (Gantt Charts) cont.

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

 Scheduling
• Task networks (activity networks) are graphic representations can be of
the task interdependencies and can help define a rough schedule for
particular project
• Scheduling tools should be used to schedule any non-trivial project.
• Program evaluation and review technique (PERT) and critical path
method (CPM) are quantitative techniques that allow software planners
to identify the chain of dependent tasks in the project work breakdown
structure (WBS) that determine the project duration time.
• Timeline (Gantt) charts enable software planners to determine what
tasks will be need to be conducted at a given point in time (based on
estimates for effort, start time, and duration for each task).
• The best indicator of progress is the completion and successful review
of a defined software work product.

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

 PERT chart
• Program Evaluation Review Technique (PERT) Chart
• It is a project management tool that provides a graphical
representation of a project's timeline.
• PERT breaks down the individual tasks of a project for analysis.
• PERT charts are considered preferable to Gantt charts because they
identify task dependencies, but they're often more difficult to
interpret.
• A PERT chart helps a project manager analyze a project's tasks and
estimate the amount of time required to complete each task in the
project.
• Using this information, the project manager can estimate the minimum
amount of time required to complete the entire project.
• This information also helps the manager develop a project budget and
determine the resources needed to accomplish the project.

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

 PERT chart cont.

• Numbered rectangles are nodes & represent events or milestones.

• Directional arrows represent dependent tasks that must be completed
sequentially.
• Diverging arrow directions (e.g. 1-2 & 1-3) indicate possibly concurrent
tasks.
• Dotted lines indicate dependent tasks that do not require resources.
Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)
 Critical Path Method
• Critical path is the sequential activities from start to the end of a
project. Although many projects have only one critical path, some
projects may have more than one critical paths depending on the flow
logic used in the project.
• If there is a delay in any of the activities under the critical path, there
will be a delay of the project deliverables.
• Most of the times, if such delay is occurred, project acceleration or re-
sequencing is done in order to achieve the deadlines.
• Critical path method is based on mathematical calculations and it is
used for scheduling project activities.
• The initial critical path method was used for managing plant
maintenance projects. Although the original method was developed for
construction work, this method can be used for any project where
there are interdependent activities.
• In the critical path method, the critical activities of a program or a
project are identified. These are the activities that have a direct
impact on the completion date of the project.

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

 Critical Path Method cont.
Key Steps in Critical Path Method

• Step 1: Activity specification

• Step 2: Activity sequence establishment
• Step 3: Network diagram
• Step 4: Estimates for each activity
• Step 5: Identification of the critical path
o Earliest start time (ES) - The earliest time an activity can start
once the previous dependent activities are over.
o Earliest finish time (EF) - ES + activity duration.
o Latest finish time (LF) - The latest time an activity can finish
without delaying the project.
o Latest start time (LS) - LF - activity duration.
• Step 6: Critical path diagram to show project progresses

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

 Critical Path Method cont.

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

 Tracking Project Schedules
• The project schedule provides a road map for a software
project manager defining the tasks and milestones.
• Some ways by which tracking of the project schedule can be
done -
o Periodic project status meetings with each team member
reporting progress and problems
o Evaluation of results of all work product reviews
o Comparing actual milestone completion dates to scheduled
dates
o Comparing actual project task start-dates to scheduled
start-dates
o Informal meeting with practitioners to have them asses
subjectively progress to date and future problems
o Use earned value analysis to assess progress quantitatively

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

 Tracking Project Schedules cont.
Time-Boxing
• Project Scheduling & control technique
• Works with an assumption that product not be delivered
within deadline
• Chooses incremental software development approach
• Adjust the original deadline backward to give incremental
delivery of product

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

 Advantages of PERT
• Very helpful in determine the schedule for a project within
time limit.
• Helps the management to optimum allocation of resources for
the project.
• Helps in taking right decision for the projects at a right time.
• Helpful in determine the expected duration of activities.
• Helps management to handle some uncertainties.
• Reduce the risk element in the project
• Enables use of statistical analysis.
• Coordinating the various activities

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

 Limitations of PERT
• Emphasis only on time. It ignores the cost of project.
• Doesn’t consider the matter of resources required for various
types of activities of a project.
• Application is too complex.
• Not practicable for routine planning of recurring events.

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

 Advantages of CPM
• Useful for scheduling & controlling of large projects.
• Simple concepts & not mathematically complex.
• Applicable to wide variety of projects.
• Useful in monitoring schedules & costs.
• Makes detailed planning.
• Helps at many stages of project planning.
• Critical activities are identified & thus more attention can be
focused to that activities for the successful completion of
project.

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

 Limitations of CPM
• Ignores incorporate statistical analysis in determining the time
estimates.
• The scheduling of personnel is not handled by the CPM.
• In CPM, it is difficult to estimate the completion time of an
activity.
• The critical path is not always clear in CPM.
• For bigger projects, CPM networks can be complicated too.
• It also does not handle the scheduling of the resource
allocation.
• In CPM, critical path needs to be calculated precisely.

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

 Similarities between PERT & CPM
• PERT and CPM Enhances flexibility in having optimum
utilization of resources.
• Both Helps management to pay attention to few activities that
are critical, instead of concentrating on all activities at all
times with equal emphasis.
• Both helps project managers to make timely decisions & take
discerning actions to reduce the probability of project delay.
• It is easy through both techniques to accurately determine the
correct schedule for completion of the project based on the
available resources.
• Through the techniques, it is simple to divide the activities &
events related to a project & make it possible to co-ordinate
the works of different departments involved in the completion
of the project.

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

 Comparison between PERT & CPM
• PERT is a project management technique, whereby planning,
scheduling, organizing, coordinating & controlling uncertain
activities are done. CPM is a statistical technique of project
management in which planning, scheduling, organizing,
coordination & control of well-defined activities take place.
• PERT is a technique of planning & control of time. Unlike CPM,
which is a method to control costs & time.
• While PERT is evolved as a research & development project, CPM
evolved as a construction project.
• PERT is set according to events while CPM is aligned towards
activities.
• PERT technique is best suited for a high precision time estimate,
whereas CPM is appropriate for a reasonable time estimate.
• PERT deals with unpredictable activities, but CPM deals with
predictable activities.

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

 Earned Value Analysis (EVA)
• EVA is one of the key tools & techniques used in project
management, to have an understanding of how the project
is progressing.
• It is an objective method to measure project performance
in terms of scope, time & cost.
• The earned value concept focuses on a relationship
between the actual costs being expended against the
physical work done on the project.
• The focus is on the true cost performance: what we got for
what we spent.
• Use EVA metrics are used to measure project health &
project performance.
• Provides early warnings & trends on any cost, schedule
over runs.

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

 Earned Value Characteristics
• Point in Time Evaluation
• How much work did you PLAN to complete? (Planned
Value)
• How much work did you ACTUALLY complete? (Earned
Value)
• How much did you spend to complete the work? (Actual
Cost)

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

 Calculating Earned Value
Earned Value Management measures progress against a
baseline. It involves calculating three key values for each activity
in the WBS:
• The Planned Value (PV), (formerly known as the budgeted
cost of work scheduled or BCWS)—that portion of the
approved cost estimate planned to be spent on the given
activity during a given period.
• The Actual Cost (AC), (formerly known as the actual cost of
work performed or ACWP)—the total of the costs incurred in
accomplishing work on the activity in a given period. This
Actual Cost must correspond to whatever was budgeted for
the Planned Value and the Earned Value (e.g. all labor,
material, equipment, and indirect costs).
• The Earned Value (EV), (formerly known as the budget cost
of work performed or BCWP)—the value of the work actually
completed.
Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)
 Calculating Earned Value cont.
• These two values can be converted to efficiency indicators to
reflect the cost & schedule performance of the project. The
most commonly used cost-efficiency indicator is the cost
performance index (CPI). It is calculated thus:
CPI = EV / AC
• The sum of all individual EV budgets divided by the sum of all
individual AC's is known as the cumulative CPI, & is generally
used to forecast the cost to complete a project.
• The schedule performance index (SPI), calculated thus:
SPI = EV / PV
is often used with the CPI to forecast overall project
completion estimates.
• A negative schedule variance (SV) calculated at a given point in
time means the project is behind schedule, while a negative
cost variance (CV) means the project is over budget.

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

 EVA Example
A $10,000 software project is scheduled for 4 weeks. At
the end of the third week, the project is 50% complete & the
actual costs to date is $9000.

• Planned Value (PV) = $7,500

• Earned Value (EV) = $5,000
• Actual Cost (AC) = $9,000

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

 What is the project health?
• Schedule Variance (SV) = EV – PV
= $5,000 – $7,500 = - $2,500
• Schedule Performance Index (SPI) = EV/PV
= $5,000 / $7,500 = .66
• Cost Variance (CV) = EV – AC
= $5,000 - $9,000 = - $4,000
• Cost Performance Index (CPI) = EV/AC
= $5,000 / $9,000 = .55

• Objective metrics indicate the project is behind schedule

and over budget.
• On-target projects have an SPI and CPI of 1 or greater

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

 EVM Benefits
EVM contributes to :
• Reducing risk
• Improving communication & visibility with stakeholders
• Profitability analysis
• Better accountability
• Performance tracking
• Project forecasting

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)

Ms. Zarana Gajjar (IT-ICT Department)