Earned Value Management

Jerry Robbins, MEng

EVM Principles

Background

Earned Value Management has been used for many years and has evolved to a comprehensive, multi-dimensional approach to managing even the largest of projects. The U.S. Department of Defense has been using EVM for over thirty years to manage the schedule, performance, and costs of projects worth tens of billions of dollars.

However, at its core, EVM can be quite simple and provide significant value while focusing on just three aspects at any given point in a project:

  1. The budgeted cost of the work scheduled (Planned Value),
  2. The budgeted cost of the work actually performed (Earned Value), and
  3. The actual cost of the work performed (Actual Cost).

Using EVM calculations on these bits of information illuminates the health of the project in terms of both schedule and cost.

 

 

 


 

Once a project is 20% complete,
the CPI does not vary from its current value by more than 10%.

Source: Defense Acquisition University