Download the files from Eric   Project Management Institute (PMI)® Professional Development Units (PDUs): This Webinar is eligible for 1 PMI® PDUs in the Technical category of the Talent Triangle.   Event Description: There are three forecasts you can make with Microsoft Project: Time, Workload or Cost forecasts: The time forecast will tell you…

By Eric Uyttewaal There are three forecasts you can make with Microsoft Project. They are forecasts for Time, Workload, and Cost in your project schedule: Here is a revolutionary thought—if only project managers had a time machine, we could solve our time stress entirely. Perhaps, we would not even need time forecasts any longer! The…

  Project Management Institute (PMI)® Professional Development Units (PDUs): This Webinar is eligible for 1 PMI® PDU in the Strategic category of the Talent Triangle.   Event Description: All organizations that run large Programs for a living must assemble deep expertise in disciplines including scheduling, cost analysis, risk analysis, and earned value management. Each requires…

If you are an IT Project Manager, you’ve probably faced a moment where you’ve said something like this to yourself, “I’ve been appointed as the PM for this major project. It’s starting soon, but the preliminary budget was created many months ago. I have to do a more detailed budget now, and start the task…

I recently learned something new about Microsoft Project. This new knowledge is an extension of how Project calculates the Cost value for each task. As most of us already know, the software calculates the Cost value for each task as the sum of the Cost values for each resource assigned to the task. For example,…

In this article about resource pools, you’ll learn about a potential danger while swimming around in resource pools and hear about all the known gotchas I have run across in my dealings with resource pools. An Important Note on Pool Safety and Security Pool safety and security is important. After all, you’re sharing data with…

Introduction Over the years, knowing PMBOK® has become imperative in becoming a certified project manager in the technology industry. The processes, procedure, tools and techniques discussed in PMBOK® assists a project manager to deliver positive outcomes.  Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, also focuses on guiding the project manager (“the general”) toward a positive outcome…

What is Earned Value Analysis? žEV is KPIs that measure the Cost and Schedule performance of a project. žIt’s like a traffic light (green, orange and red), but better. Here are the main blocks of the EV calculations: So What? Earned value indicators that are variances or ratios can help you determine if there is enough money left in…

Earned Value Analysis Earned value analysis is like the idea behind that old Smith Barney slogan, “We make money the old fashioned way—we earn it.” Earned value analysis measures progress according to how much of your project’s value (its cost) you’ve earned so far by completing work. Project customers, sponsors, and stakeholders want to know…

A “Master” project is great for modeling a program but takes time to create and refine. (If you do not know about this capability see my other article, “Do’s and Don’ts: Creating Subprojects”) If you are pressed for time and just want a high level initial assessment of resources, work and cost across all the projects, consider a…