A Deliverable-Oriented EVM System Suited to a Large-Scale Project

Abstract

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is under construction at CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics, near Geneva, Switzerland. In 2003, a new earned value management (EVM) system was introduced to improve transparency in LHC project reporting, to allow a clearer distinction between cost differences to the baseline due to overruns versus resulting delays, and to provide the project management team with a more reactive project management information system for better decision-making. EVM has become a de facto standard for the follow-up of cost and schedule and several commercial packages are offered for implementing an EVM system. But because none of these packages fulfilled CERN's requirements, its executive management decided to proceed with an in-house development. In this paper, an overview of what CERN considers to be good requirements for an EVM system suited to large-scale projects is provided: the deliverable-oriented, collaborative and lean management dimensions are enforced. In conclusion, we discuss some of our positive and negative experiences so those who would like to develop or implement similar enterprise-wide project control systems can be more aware of common pitfalls.