Course Category: Seasons

Show whether a project is worth its cost: how fast it pays back, the return it earns, its value today, benefit for every rand of cost and how much of the promised benefit arrives. Payback period Project ROI % Net present value (NPV) Benefit-cost ratio Benefits realisation %

Keep a project’s risks and issues under control: exposure in rand, contingency cover and use, risk burn-down and how fast issues are resolved. Risk exposure Contingency coverage ratio Contingency used % Risk burn-down % Average issue resolution time

Measure the quality of what a project delivers: defects found, work right first time, defects that escape, how fast they are fixed and what poor quality costs. Defect density First-pass yield Defect escape rate Mean time to resolve defects Cost of poor quality %

See how smoothly work flows through an agile team: velocity, throughput, cycle time, lead time and the work in progress behind them. Velocity Throughput Cycle time Lead time Work in progress (WIP)

Check the people side of a project: how busy the team is, how much overtime it works, whether it has enough hours, what an hour costs and how labour spend compares with plan. Resource utilisation % Overtime % Capacity gap Cost per hour of work Resource cost variance

Keep a project’s scope under control: how much it has grown, how often change is asked for, how fast it is decided, what is redone and how stable the requirements stay. Scope creep % Change request rate Change approval cycle time Rework % Requirements stability index

Forecast where a project will finish: how far along it is, how fast the budget is going, what is left to spend, the gap at completion and the performance needed to recover. Percent complete Budget burn rate Estimate to complete (ETC) Variance at completion (VAC) To-complete performance index (TCPI)

Know where a project stands on cost and time: five metrics that move from the two performance indexes to a rand figure for each gap and a forecast of the final cost. Cost performance index (CPI) Schedule performance index (SPI) Cost variance (CV) Schedule variance (SV) Estimate at completion (EAC)

How much do you have to sell before you make anything at all? Five episodes that take you from fixed and variable costs to break-even and the margin of safety. Total cost · 35 min Contribution margin per unit · 30 min Break-even units · 30 min Break-even sales value · 35 min Margin of…

What is money worth when time is involved? Five episodes that take you from simple and compound interest to the present value of a decision made today. Simple interest · 30 min Compound interest · 30 min Effective annual rate · 30 min Future value (monthly compounding) · 30 min Present value · 30 min