Assessment of the Practices and Challenges of Implementing Earned Value Management System in Selected Ethiopian Megaprojects

Abstract

This research explored the practices and challenges of implementing earned value management system in selected Ethiopian megaprojects. It assessed on the benefits realized as a result of both implicit and explicit use and implementation of earned value management system by the megaprojects in Ethiopia. It also attempted to highlight the software solutions available for implementing earned value management system. This research also attempted to discover the extent that earned value management system is implemented in Ethiopian Information Technology projects such as in Ethio telecom projects. To meet these research objectives, both qualitative and quantitative research methods were employed. A structured questionnaire and interviews, a thorough literature review and document analysis were also employed. The simplified version of the 32 earned value management system criteria defined by ANSI/EIA-748 was used to assess the practices of earned value management system in Ethiopian megaprojects. Author’s slightly modified version of Kim’s et.al, (2003) earned value management implementation model was applied to assess the challenges of implementing earned value management system in Ethiopian megaprojects. Literature reviews were applied to design the questionnaire on the benefits that could be realized as a result of implementing EVMS in Ethiopian megaprojects, and the same was employed to find information on currently available software solutions for earned value management system implementation. A total of 50 respondents from 12 selected megaprojects were expected to be participated in completing the questionnaire including four open-ended questions, only 20 respondents from 9 selected megaprojects who also have participated in a number of other road, railway and hydroelectric power generation projects informed this research with Cronbach’s alpha value of 0.944 reliability. The questionnaire designed also collected data from the open-ended questions and a few other interview sessions provided information including from program managers in Ethio telecom multi-site megaprojects. The findings of the research pointed that practices of earned value management system in Ethiopian megaprojects, with the measure of 32 criterion in five categories such as organization, planning, scheduling and budgeting, accounting, analysis, and revision, have a relatively low score in organization and accounting system criteria, and a relatively higher score in planning, scheduling and budgeting, analysis, and revision criterion. This indicated that because of compounding factors on project activity and management issues, the practice is yet poor that it requires comprehensive move towards implementing earned value management system at full scale; however, megaprojects currently have practiced some elements of earned value management system and their current project management practices have features that resemble earned value management system but not as ‘hard facts’. In the same view however, megaprojects through the lens of author’s slightly modified Kim’s et. al., (2003) earned value management system implementation model, faced significant challenges with factors related to the acceptance, performance and use and in that order. Moreover, it was found that Ethiopian megaprojects could be benefited from a full scale and comprehensive implementation of earned value management system and the prominent software solutions currently available for Ethiopian megaprojects to implement EVMS are primavera from Oracle and Microsoft Project and Portfolio Management from Microsoft Inc.