Pinnacle Insights

Oracle's Primavera Unifier is a cost control, capital planning, and project phase delivery tool. Oracle Construction and Engineering has now enhanced their already great Unifier tool with added Earned Value Management (EVM) capabilities. 

If you are in the market for a cost management tool your short list likely includes Deltek Cobra.  Cobra has a long history of playing a role in both large and small implementations of earned value tools with customers of various sizes.

Recently Pinnacle was offered a sneak peek at the features of the upcoming version 4 upgrade of DCMA Schedule Analyzer forProject™ which is planned for release this October, 2017.

DCMA Schedule Analyzer forProject™ has long offered a simple yet powerful way to assess the health of the schedule based on the DCMA 14-Point Assessment methodology as an add-in to Microsoft Project.  The new version adds significant new capabilities for schedule analysis.

In Part 2 of this series, Schedule Analysis, Part 2: Why Should I Do It?, it was stated that schedule analysis increases confidence in the schedule and its results. It provides information as to where the schedule needs to be improved and how it needs to be improved. 

In Part 1 of this series, Schedule Analysis, Part 1: What Is It?, provided a brief introduction to schedule analysis. This article discusses why a schedule analysis should be performed. But first, a point of clarification. Schedule analysis and Schedule Risk Analysis (SRA) are two different things. 

Update: August 26, 2024.
Please note that the article below refers to the implementation of a DFAR deviation implemented in 2017 that effectively changed the EVMS validation threshold for DOD cost-plus development contracts to $100M, while keeping EVMS reporting threshold at $20M. The 2024 NDAA directs the Dept of Defense to update the DFAR to raise the reporting threshold to $50M, and officially change the validation threshold to $100M. DFARs changes take a long time, and we will post additional information when changes are made.

At the most recent NDIA Integrated Program Management (IPM) Division Meeting, John McGregor, Director of Earned Value Management for OSD Performance Assessment & Root Cause Analysis (PARCA) took the stage to discuss the latest updates related to EVM threshold requirements for DoD contracts. During the presentation, John clarified that DoD Instruction 5000.02 is finalized, signed and in full affect, even though the document looks like it may be in draft form.

A schedule is a time-model of how you as the supplier or manager plan on executing your project. It represents the project scope, resources, assumptions and constraints of the project. Like a cost model, the time model or schedule should respond to changes.

Many of our clients are looking to implement an Earned Value Management System (EVMS) to satisfy reporting requirements for EVM on US federal contracts (FAR 52.234-4, DFAR 252.234-7001, or equivalent), whether they have an existing requirement, or potential future requirement.