Support / Updating & baselines
Earned Value, Costs, and Expenses
Earned value management (EVM) compares the work planned, the work done, and what it cost. You get early warning when a job is behind or over budget.
Load the costs
Earned value needs a budget on each activity. It comes from three places:
- Resources: units per day × rate × duration. See Resources and leveling.
- Fixed cost: the Cost column in the grid. Enter actual cost in the AC column.
- Expenses: Project tools ▾ → Expenses. Pick an activity and add a description, cost account, category, planned and actual amounts, and an accrual type (prorata, start, or finish).
Open Earned value
More views… → Earned value (EVM). Set the Status date. Optionally enter a Project budget and Currency and click Save budget.
What you see
- An S-curve of planned value, earned value, and actual cost over time
- A per-activity table with BAC, PV, EV, AC, SPI, and CPI
- A Rollup for the project
| Measure | Meaning |
|---|---|
| BAC | Budget at completion |
| PV (BCWS) | Planned value: the budgeted cost of work scheduled to date |
| EV (BCWP) | Earned value: the budgeted cost of work actually done |
| AC | Actual cost |
| SPI | EV ÷ PV. Below 1 means behind schedule |
| CPI | EV ÷ AC. Below 1 means over budget |
| EAC | BAC ÷ CPI: the forecast final cost |
| VAC | BAC − EAC |
If actual costs are blank, AC is assumed to equal EV, so CPI reads 1.0 until you enter actuals.
If you see "BAC is zero", add resource rates or fixed costs first.
Across projects
Program dashboards roll up SPI and CPI across projects. See Subprojects, master schedules, and programs.