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BCWS vs BCWP

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rbs4

IS-IT--Management
Jun 15, 2002
1
US
Can anyone tell me in layman's terms the difference between BCWS and BCWP? I am having a tough time understanding what the differences are.

Thanks
 
BCWS= Budget cost of work scheduled.

If you have a project with 5 tasks, each task takes 1 week and will have a planned cost £100 each. At the beginning of your project you can identify what the BCWS will be at any time during the project. It does not change.

For example after three weeks you have scheduled three tasks to have completed = £300 cost budgeted. The BCWS should be set in stone once you baseline (finally agree) the project plan. ie it is what you judge the performance of your project against and does not change.

eg BCWS for above example
Week 1 £100 TASK 1
Week 2 £200 TASK 2
Week 3 £300 TASK 3
Week 4 £400 TASK 4
Week 5 £500 TASK 5



BCWP = budget cost of work produced. This is calculated as you progress through your project. Take the example above again. If everything goes to plan (like that ever happens!!) the BCWP will look just like the BCWS. But say you discover a problem in task 2 and it doubles the time it takes ie it takes weeks 2 and 3 to do task 2 (and maybe an increase in cost.... see below). The table BCWP would look like this....

eg BCWP for above example
Week 1 £100 TASK 1
Week 2 £200 TASK 2
Week 3 £200 TASK 2
Week 4 £300 TASK 3
Week 5 £400 TASK 4
Week 6 £500 TASK 5

In the above example by week three you have completed 2 tasks... your budget for these two tasks was £200 hence BCWP = £200. But the BCWS will not alter..cos it is what you planned!


All you need now is ACWP = Actual cost of work produced. ie how much have you spent at a given time! In the same example it may look like this.

eg ACWP for above example
Week 1 £100 TASK 1
Week 2 £200 TASK 2
Week 3 £300 TASK 2
Week 4 £400 TASK 3
Week 5 £500 TASK 4
Week 6 £600 TASK 5

ie due to the problems with task 2 you end up a week late and £100 over budget! you can work out the cost/schedule/budget variences at any point in a project by subtracting the BCWS ACWP BCWP from each other.

any more questions just let me know.

If you in the UK all job offers welcome ;O)
 
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