Section 1: In This Assignment Your Team Is Managing S 376366

Section 1 In This Assignment Your Team Is Managing A Software Develo

In this assignment, your team is managing a software development project with a total project budget of $178,500. The total work effort is 1,536 hours, to be completed over 24 weeks. By week 12, the planned progress was to have completed 55% of the scope, but actual progress involved 650 hours worth of work completed at an actual cost of 780 hours. You are asked to determine the planned and actual expenditures, evaluate the project’s schedule and budget status, forecast final costs, and understand project performance measures. All relevant formulas should be shown, and calculations explained thoroughly. References must be cited appropriately.

Paper For Above instruction

The analysis of project management performance and forecasting relies on understanding several core concepts such as Planned Value (PV), Earned Value (EV), Actual Cost (AC), and their ratios like Cost Performance Index (CPI) and Schedule Performance Index (SPI). These tools provide a quantitative measure to assess whether a project is on track concerning schedule and budget, enabling managers to make informed decisions for corrective actions.

Calculation of Planned Expenditure at Week 12

The first step is to establish the baseline plan. Given the total budget of $178,500 over 24 weeks for 1,536 hours, the planned expenditure at week 12 corresponds to 50% of the total work or cost, as the project splits evenly over the timeline. Mathematically, the planned percentage of progress at week 12 is 50%, so:

  • Planned Cost at Week 12 (Planned Value, PV) = 50% of Total Budget
  • PV = 0.50 × $178,500 = $89,250

This indicates that, according to the project plan, $89,250 should have been spent by the end of week 12. This aligns with the project being halfway through the timeline and scope.

Actual Performance and Variance Analysis

The actual work completed was valued at 650 hours at an actual cost of 780 hours. To interpret this, we calculate the cost rate per hour:

  • Cost per hour (Rate) = Total Budget / Total Work Hours = $178,500 / 1,536 hours ≈ $116.21/hour

Using this rate, actual cost incurred is:

  • Actual Cost (AC) = 780 hours × $116.21/hour ≈ $90,644

The percentage of work completed is:

  • EV (Earned Value) = 650 hours / 1,536 hours = 0.4232 or 42.32%

Correspondingly, the earned value in dollar terms is:

  • EV = 42.32% × $178,500 ≈ $75,610

The Cost Performance Index (CPI) is a measure of cost efficiency:

  • CPI = EV / AC = $75,610 / $90,644 ≈ 0.834

The Schedule Performance Index (SPI), indicating schedule efficiency, is:

  • SPI = EV / PV = $75,610 / $89,250 ≈ 0.847

A CPI below 1 signifies cost overrun, and an SPI below 1 suggests schedule delay. Since both are less than 1, the project is slightly behind schedule and over budget at this midpoint.

Forecasting Project Completion Costs and Timeline

The Estimate at Completion (EAC) assesses total project costs based on current performance:

  • EAC = Total Budget / CPI = $178,500 / 0.834 ≈ $214,124

This indicates the project is forecasted to exceed its original budget significantly if current trends continue.

To determine whether the project will finish on time, consider the schedule performance:

  • Remaining work percentage = 100% - 42.32% = 57.68%
  • Remaining work in hours = (1 - 0.4232) × 1,536 ≈ 888 hours

Assuming current work efficiency, the required work pace to finish on time would be:

  • Remaining hours / remaining weeks = 888 hours / 12 weeks = 74 hours/week

Given the current efficiency is about 650 hours / 12 weeks ≈ 54 hours/week, this implies a need for increased productivity to meet the deadline. Since current pace is insufficient, on-time completion appears unlikely without acceleration.

Conclusions on Project Status

The project was planned to spend around $89,250 by week 12 but has already spent approximately $90,644, indicating a cost overrun. With a CPI of approximately 0.834, costs are higher than planned, and schedule delays indicated by an SPI of about 0.847 further threaten timely delivery. The forecasted total cost of over $214,000 exceeds the initial budget, emphasizing the need for corrective project management measures now.

References

  • Project Management Institute. (2017). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) (6th ed.). PMI.
  • Haugan, G. (2008). Earned Value Management: A Powerful Tool for Project Control. International Journal of Managing Projects in Business.
  • Heldman, K. (2018). Project Management JumpStart. Wiley.
  • PMI. (2021). Practice Standard for Earned Value Management.

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