There is frequently difficulty in reporting work complete on the project. Many people tend to report that the percent that is complete on an activity is the same as the percent of the time that has elapsed. Thus, if 50 percent of the time to do an activity in the project has passed but only 25 percent of the work is actually done, misleading reports could result.
There are several approaches to solving this problem. The "50-50 rule" is one such approach. In this approach to earned value data collection, 50 percent of the earned value is credited as earned value when the activity begins. The remaining 50 percent of the earned value is not credited until all of the work is completed.
The 50-50 rule encourages the project team to begin working on activities in the project, since they get 50 percent of the earned value for just starting an activity. As time goes by, the actual cost of work performed accumulates, and the project team is motivated to complete the work on the activity so that the additional 50 percent of the earned value can be credited. This creates an incentive to start work and another incentive to finish work that has been started. This solves the problem of reporting percent complete, and there should be few arguments about whether work has actually begun or has been completed on a project activity.
There are many variations of the 50-50 rule. Popular variations include the 20-80 rule and the 0-100 rule. These allow differing percentages of the earned value of the work to be claimed at the start and completion of the work.
Examples
EV is higher than the PV. This means that the project is ahead of schedule. More activities have been completed than were planned to be completed at this time. This can be good. The AC is higher than the PV as well. It is also higher than the EV. This means that we are spending
There are several approaches to solving this problem. The "50-50 rule" is one such approach. In this approach to earned value data collection, 50 percent of the earned value is credited as earned value when the activity begins. The remaining 50 percent of the earned value is not credited until all of the work is completed.
The 50-50 rule encourages the project team to begin working on activities in the project, since they get 50 percent of the earned value for just starting an activity. As time goes by, the actual cost of work performed accumulates, and the project team is motivated to complete the work on the activity so that the additional 50 percent of the earned value can be credited. This creates an incentive to start work and another incentive to finish work that has been started. This solves the problem of reporting percent complete, and there should be few arguments about whether work has actually begun or has been completed on a project activity.
There are many variations of the 50-50 rule. Popular variations include the 20-80 rule and the 0-100 rule. These allow differing percentages of the earned value of the work to be claimed at the start and completion of the work.
Examples
EV is higher than the PV. This means that the project is ahead of schedule. More activities have been completed than were planned to be completed at this time. This can be good. The AC is higher than the PV as well. It is also higher than the EV. This means that we are spending