Project Duration Estimation Application

Castor
26/9/2015

Introduction

When implementing a project you always need to know where your project stands. Is it on schedule? On budget?

The application does exactly that. It uses a sample project and the users input to calculate basic project indexes that show how well the project is implemented and gives a prediction on when the project will be completed.

My intention is to extent the app so that the user can enter his project.

The link to the application is: https://castor.shinyapps.io/Dev_Data_Prod_Course_prj

Input

The application uses the planned value, the actual value and the earned value of the project. This data can easily be extracted from any project scheduling software. (Here I use a sample project)

The user just inputs the current project's day, through the slider and chooses the method to be used for the estimation.

width

Output

The application calculates the basic indexes that show how the project is implemented:

  • SPI(t) is an index that shows the current schedule performance.
    • SPI(t) > 1 means that the project is ahead of schedule,
    • SPI(t) < 1 means that the project is behind schedule and
    • SPI(t) = 1 means that the project is on schedule
  • CPI is an index that shows the current cost performance.
    • CPI > 1 means that the project is under budget,
    • CPI < 1 means that the project is over budget and
    • CPI = 1 means that the project is on budget
  • CSI(t) is a composite index for schedule and cost performance. It is the product of SPI(t) and CPI.
  • EAC(t) Is the Estimation At Completion Time, i.e. the estimated duration of the project.

Example

When the project is in its 6th day and the estimation method is PF = CSI(t). ie:

AD <- 6

PF <- SPIt

Then:

  • SPI(t) equals 0.933
  • CPI equals 1.034
  • CSI(t) equals 0.965

And Estimation At Completion (EAC) equals 9.642