An analysis of Earned Value Management Implementation within the F-22 System Program Office's Software Development

Abstract

Department of Defense (DoD) use of Earned Value Management (EVM) program control tool has significantly increased in the last ten years. DoD acquisition policy and training promotes EVM as a cost and schedule management tool, tracking the earned value of the work completed per the baseline plan. Acquisition Category ID programs like the US Air Force F-22 fighter program use EVM to manage their software development efforts, but has the program's implementation of EVM followed the industry-recognized 32 criteria outlined in ANSI/EIA-748-A-1998 (Earned Value Management System Standards) necessary to successfully implement EVM? Using these 32 criteria, an evaluation was performed, aimed at assessing the implementation of EVM in the F-22 program. The goal: to academically appraise the program's use of EVM in managing Spiral 2, an F-22 avionics software modernization effort. To accomplish this goal a detailed evaluation of how the program meets the 32 criteria was conducted along with analysis of program data, interviews of subject matter experts and a statistical questionnaire conducted with F-22 personnel. Results indicated areas of possible improvement in the use of EVM and potential changes to the F-22 development environment to improve planning, scheduling and budgeting of the EVM baseline.