Using charts in status reports

A few months ago, I started including an Earned Value chart into my status report and have had very positive feedback about it from every single client. People love it, as charts can provide a quick visual representation of where the project is at a given point of time and can also show a trend.




The chart I am using is very straightforward and looks something like this:


















The chart compares the actual spend on the project vs. the Earned Value - the budgeted cost of the work completed.

In the example above, you see that the Earned Value consistently exceeded the actual cost. My job as a PM is to be able to explain as to what's causing the difference, as many factors are in play here. Here are some examples:

1. We may have overestimated the effort and/or scope. On a fixed price project, that's actually your profit. On T&M engagements, this creates an additional buffer for you. This actually happened on one of my projects; we communicated the delta to the client on a weekly basis and were able to use the buffer to significantly enhance the visual design of the application.
2. We used a cheaper resource to complete the work. When a cheaper resource is used, and your cost is lower, it is possible that the quality of work is lower too. If this is the reason for the delta, it is obviously something the client needs to be aware of and agree to.

I create these charts in Excel. MS Project could work too, but I find Excel easier to deal with; it also gives me more options visually. You can build your own template for this type of chart in 15 minutes, and then for every project, you just plug in your WBS and update the timeline.