Earned Value Technique In Project Management

Earned Value Technique is an excellent way to trackSimilarly, Negative schedule variance means that
the Project Progress against the Project Plan.project is behind schedule where as Positive schedule
Earned Value Technique is a method of objectivelyvariance means that project is ahead of schedule.
measuring project performance against the ProjectThe next two parameters i.e. Cost Performance Index
baseline. Result from an Earned Value analysis indicate(CPI) and Schedule Performance Index (SPI) are also
deviation of the Project from cost and schedulequiet important parameters. Their value varies
baselines.between 0 and 1.
Baseline means, the first approved Project Schedule.So, if CPI is say 0.8, it means that we are getting 80
There are various terms used in Earned Valuecent out of every dollar spent in the Project.
Techniques. For example, PV, meaning Planned Value,If, SPI is say 0.9, it means that project is progressing at
is the Estimated Value of the Work Planned to beonly 90% of the speed originally planned. The next
done. This value is measured in terms of currency, sayparameter is Estimate At Completion. So, at any point
dollar. So, if planned value is $340, it was planned to doof time during the project execution, if it is required to
work worth 340 dollars.know how much the project would actually cost by
But, how do you calculate Earned Value? It’s quitethe time its gets completed, just divide the Budget At
simple. Just add the budget allocated to each of theCompletion by the Cost Performance Index.
activities that have completed at that point in time. TheWhat is Budget At Completion? It’s just the Budget
resulting value is Earned Value at point of time.of the Total Project.
Now that you have gone through the Earned ValueThe next parameter is Estimate to Complete, which is
Terms, Let’s look at the formulas involved inhow much more would the project cost from  this
calculating the Earned Value.point onwards. This is calculated simply by subtracting
Here again, all the formulas are listed in the slide alongActual Cost from the Estimate at Completion.
with their explanation. Remember tonote that NegativeAlso, Variance at Completion can be calculated by
cost variance means that the project is over budget,subtracting Estimate At Completion from the Budget
positive means theproject is under budget.At Completion.