EVMS Roles and Responsibilities: Earned Value Analyst

This article is part of a series on the roles and responsibilities involved in performing Integrated Program Management. 

• Control Account Manager (CAM) Roles & Responsibilities
• Master Scheduler Roles & Responsibilities

At the heart of every Earned Value Management System (EVMS) is an Earned Value (EV) Analyst. The EV Analyst is primarily responsible for processing cost and schedule data in order to calculate and analyze program performance. Some organizations may refer to this role as a Program Analyst, Program Controls Analyst, or Cost/Schedule Analyst. Sometimes the duties are performed by a Financial Analyst who has other financial responsibilities for the program or organization as a whole. Regardless of the title, or other responsibilities, the EV Analyst role is typically required to do much of the following to keep the EVMS functioning properly.

System Setup

When setting up a new EVMS, the EV Analyst will provide a lot of input into the initial configuration of the system. If your organization uses an EVMS cost engine, such as Deltek Cobra or EVMS forProject, the EV Analyst is likely to be responsible for maintaining and updating certain configuration elements of the system, such as:

• Data mappings between the EV cost engine and the schedule
• Data mappings and options for financial imports
• Rate tables
• Thresholds for variance reporting
• Program/Contract data
• Custom fields for reporting
• Configuration of data exports
• Other options to ensure accurate and compliant data

Operations

If your organization uses an EVMS cost engine, the EV Analyst will be the primary user of that tool, processing monthly, or weekly in some cases, program performance data. Operating the EVMS cost engine may include:

• Importing schedule data from the IMS (baseline, actual, and forecast dates)
• Importing resources from the IMS (budget and forecasted hours, direct non-labor costs)
• Importing status information from the IMS (Percent Complete)
• Importing, reviewing, and applying actual costs (usually from an accounting system)
• Applying direct and indirect rates to resources and verifying the resulting cost calculations
• Processing approved baseline changes
• Maintaining the Project Budget Log (or CBB Log)
• Performing data quality checks and resolving data errors and anomalies
• Validating Estimates At Complete (EAC) and other critical data
• Producing contract performance reports, such as the IPMR and IPMDAR
• Producing program performance reports for internal management use

Analysis

An EV Analyst is not just the operator of the tools. A good EV Analyst has a deep understanding of program performance KPIs, including earned value data analysis. The EV Analyst assists the Program Manager and Control Account Managers with analyzing and interpreting performance data and understanding what it means for the program.

• Identifying significant variances – especially those which trip reporting thresholds
• Reviewing performance trends and reporting performance forecasts to management
• Helping Control Account Managers and Program Managers understand the sources of performance problems
• Identifying where performance indicates cost or schedule risks

Compliance

The EV Analyst also performs a critical role in ensuring the EVMS is being used in a manner that is compliant with industry best-practices, company standards, and contractual requirements. As the gatekeeper of the official cost and schedule data, the EV Analyst does several things to ensure compliance and adherence to the company’s System Description, such as:

• Ensuring proper approvals are in place for baseline changes, control account authorizations, or other actions requiring approvals
• Validating that actual costs are not recorded for unauthorized or un-started work
• Ensuring material performance and cost are recorded in the correct period
• Making sure CAMs have selected the correct EV Methods for work packages
• Preventing retroactive changes (except for correction of errors as allowed by company policy)
• Maintaining the monthly business rhythm calendar, and ensuring steps are completed on time to produce monthly performance data on schedule
• Using the DCMA Earned Value Compliance Metrics (DECM), or similar tools, to help evaluate compliance to the EIA-748 guidelines
• Identifying compliance risks and issues and raising them to management

A good EV Analyst is a master of analyzing program performance and understanding how to use earned value-based metrics and trends to provide valuable insight about program execution. An EV Analyst should be familiar with the roles and responsibilities of everyone who participates on the program and often orchestrates participation from other team members in providing data for the EVMS. On some smaller programs, an EV Analyst and Master Scheduler roles are performed by the same person – quite an impressive job!

For more information about Earned Value Management, technology or training please contact us.