In this article, find out what Synergy’s new project performance feature is all about — spoiler: it’s earned value management and star ratings for your projects — check out an explainer video, and find out how to set up your current projects so they’re ready to get the most from Synergy project performance.
Project performance is based on the project management concept – earned value management (EVM). EVM allows you to estimate when the project will be finished and what it will cost by showing you how your project is tracking compared to the work your team has completed and the work your team has billed.
Synergy project performance introduces a star rating to show the health of your projects at a glance. "Five stars" is robustly healthy, "one star" is in distress. With a click, you can drill down to find out where it’s falling apart. Maybe somebody has spent way too much time conceptualising or researching without having anything tangible to show for it?
Watch the promotional video, to see what EVM is all about and how it can work in your practice as part of your project management workflow.
Setting up for Synergy project performance
But before the fun can begin, there is some setup or shall we say, checks you will need to do first if you want to get the most out of EVM before it is launched.
Your project will need to meet the following conditions:
The project needs defined start and end dates. Without dates entered, the EVM can not calculate your expected completion date. You can change this in the Schedule.
The project needs a budget. EVM can’t tell you if you are over or under if we don’t know what the budget is. You can add a budget from the work breakdown Review the budget help file.
Entered timesheets or transactions. EVM tracks your spending against your budget to estimate your cost at completion. Review the timesheet help file.
Up-to-date WIP. You will need to have invoiced all your transactions, as our star rating also factors in your recovery amount.