QA Certificate in Earned Value Management

Effective project management skills are becoming increasingly important. Organisations need good project managers, at all levels, to successfully deliver the change projects that will enable the business to adapt, grow and achieve its strategic objectives. This course provides an essential overview of the core principles behind the discipline of effective project control through earned value management techniques, required to deliver small-to-medium sized projects and an introduction to key documentation.

This course is suitable for managers, potential project managers, work-stream leaders or team members who wish to gain an insight into Earned Value Management (EVM).

Prerequisites

While there are no formal prerequisites for this course, it is assumed that attendees will have a working knowledge of basic project management, planning, scheduling and control practices.

Pre-Course Reading

Learners are not provided with any formal pre-reading before this course as such. It is recommended that candidates review the course workbook provided with the joining instructions or via the Mimeo link.

The learners will develop a level of project management understanding with focus on the characteristics of effective earned value management.

This course will support project managers/leaders and planners in assessing project performance and forecasting to deliver successful outcomes.

By the end of the course, you will:

• Understand the principles and language of earned value management
• Explain why earned value analysis is used
• Explain planning structures for schedule, costs and organisation
• Understand the principles and practicalities of rolling wave planning
• Describe how to measure progress and cost against plan and produce performance metrics
• Understand the calculations used to determine earned value
• Explain how change in a project plan is managed
• State the benefits and costs of earned value analysis

This highly interactive workshop uses a short case-study to enable learners to gain confidence in the use of proven techniques in the areas listed below.

The course provides a solid foundation for further development of earned value understanding through self-reading, more advanced training and practical hands-on experience.

Earned Value Management (EVM)

• An Introduction – what is earned value, earned value analysis and earned value management
• Basic Requirements for effective earned value application

Foundation for EVM

• EVM Requirements
• Define Scope
• Create WBS
• Other Breakdown Structures
• Combining Breakdown Structures

Measuring Performance

• EV Calculations
• Application Examples

Benefits, Reporting and Change

• EVM Benefits
• Measuring Progress
• EV Reporting
• Change Control
• Rebaselining

Related exercises are applied throughout delivery – these may take the form of individual, paired and/or group formats.

Each learner will have the opportunity to prepare for and then take the QA Earned Value Management exam digitally. This is a one hour (60 minutes), 40 question examination with a required pass mark of 55% or 22/40.

The questions are multiple choice, with one correct answer from four. Learners are advised that, while the exam is closed book, they will need to have a calculator to use for the calculation questions.