Project Management
Earned Value Management (EVM) is a project management technique that measures the progress of a project in an objective manner. EVM involves dividing the costs of a project into individual tasks that make up the overall deliverables. These costs, taken over time as defined in the schedule, delineate the Planned Value of the project and can be plotted over time. The Actual Cost of the project is monitored over time, and includes all costs incurred such as capital expenditures, development and management time and project meetings. The Actual Cost can also be plotted over time. Finally, the level of completion of the project, taken as the sum of the values of completed tasks, is tracked throughout the project as the Earned Value.
As shown above, an EVM chart including these three values can be used to monitor the progress of the project. In the example chart, you can see that the project was running over-budget until March 12, and is most recently under budget. The project was also behind schedule for the first five weeks, and is now running approximately a week and a half ahead of schedule. By monitoring the project in this manner, we are able to identify schedule and budget issues early on and act quickly to mitigate them.
As shown above, an EVM chart including these three values can be used to monitor the progress of the project. In the example chart, you can see that the project was running over-budget until March 12, and is most recently under budget. The project was also behind schedule for the first five weeks, and is now running approximately a week and a half ahead of schedule. By monitoring the project in this manner, we are able to identify schedule and budget issues early on and act quickly to mitigate them.