Insights & Perspectives

The SMJ Consulting Blog

Practical thinking on Earned Value Management, DCMA audits, project control, and what it actually takes to run a compliant and effective EVMS in the real world.

What Is EVMS and Why Does It Matter for Your Program?

Earned Value Management is more than a compliance requirement — it's the clearest signal of where your program actually stands against the plan.

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How to Prepare for a DCMA Audit Without Last-Minute Scrambling

The programs that do well aren't the ones that rush to fix things the week before — they're the ones that maintain system health throughout execution.

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The DCMA 14-Point Assessment: What It's Actually Measuring

Understanding what each metric is looking for helps you address the right problems before review — not after findings are issued.

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Why Your PMB Keeps Drifting — and How to Stop It

A Performance Measurement Baseline that changes constantly isn't just a compliance problem — it makes performance measurement meaningless.

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Building CAMs Who Can Actually Run the System

Control Account Managers are the core of any functioning EVMS. When they cannot operate the system confidently, everything downstream suffers.

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The WBS Is the Foundation. Are You Starting There?

Most EVMS implementation failures can be traced to a WBS that was not product-oriented. How the work is structured determines whether the rest of the system can function at all.

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