Question

Alberta’s previous NDP government legislated that all coal generation plants would be shutting down by 2030 and that the province would be transitioning from coal generation electricity to more renewable energy generation and distribution. It also legislated that the Alberta electricity market would be moving from an energy only market to a capacity market by summer 2021

In order for TransAlta Hydro to become more competitive, efficient and be able to compete in the new market, they need to modernize their electricity producing facilities to be able to transition from coal-fire electricity generation to more renewable energy sources.

You are the project manager for a major retrofit project for TransAlta’s BigHorn Dam on the North Saskatchewan River near Edmonton. The baseline estimated budget is 10M and the initial timeline for the project with expected work completed percentages is as follows:

Month	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
Planned % completed	5%	13%	25%	35%	50%	65%	77%	90%	100%

The other available information is as follows:

• By end of month #1, the project is behind 1% (only 4% has been completed) and the expected 5% costs has been used.
• By end of month #2, unexpected very cold and wet weather put the project further behind another 2% overall (meaning that as of end of month 2, only 10% of the work has been completed) and an extra $10,000 had to be spent on area heaters and upgrades for a de-watering system needed to keep equipment and material dry. This is above and beyond the % planned for the month.
• During month #3, the planned % of work for the month was achieved, however, the budget for the month was escalated and approved by 15%
• Month 4 went as planned except for an additional cost of $15,000 to comply with future environmental legislation and inspections. This extra expense was approved
• During month #5, only 2/3 of the planned percentage of work for the month was achieved and 90% of the budget for the month was used.
• During month #6, extra measures to recover some ground resulted in a gain of 20% of work completed above and beyond the planned % of work for the month. Budget was escalated by 30% for the month
• During month #7, an escalation of 10% for the moths’ budget was issued and approved. The % of work completed was as planned
• During month #8, only 50% of the planned work was completed and 75% of the budgeted costs were spent
• During month #9, 85% of the planned work for the month was completed and 85% of the planned budget for the month was spent.

Calculate EV analysis for each end-of-month based only on the available information up to that point (for example, on month 3, you would take into account all information up to and including end of month #3). Required for each month: BAC, BCWP, ACWP, CPI, ETC and EAC

Approximately, how much more time in months will it take to complete the project? Include up to 2 decimal points in your answer.

Answer 1

BCWP = % Complete (Actual) x Task Budget

BAC = Total Budget

ACWP = actual cost incurred till date

CPI = BCWP / ACWP = 1.33. This means the project has spent 33% less than it should have at this point in time.

ETC = (BAC – BCWP) / CPI

EAC = ACWP + ETC

EV Analysis:

Month	BAC	Additional Cost	% Completion	% Budget Utilised	BCWP	ACWP	CPI	ETC	EAC
1	10.00	-	4%	5%	0.40	0.50	0.80	12.00	12.50
2	10.00	0.01	10%	13%	1.00	1.31	0.76	11.79	13.10
3	10.00	-	25%	26.80%	2.50	2.68	0.93	8.04	10.72
4	10.00	0.02	35%	36.80%	3.50	3.70	0.95	6.86	10.56
5	10.00	-	45%	50.30%	4.50	5.03	0.89	6.15	11.18
6	10.00	-	63%	69.80%	6.30	6.98	0.90	4.10	11.08
7	10.00	-	75%	83.00%	7.50	8.30	0.90	2.77	11.07
8	10.00	-	82%	92.75%	8.15	9.28	0.88	2.11	11.38
9	10.00	-	90%	101.25%	9.00	10.13	0.89	1.13	11.25

It can be seen from the data that only 90% work has been completed, whereas budget has been overutilised by 1.25%. It will take 1.13 months more to complete the remaining 10% task.