Metrics for Earned Value Project Management

The Tracker DataWarehouse generates reports for earned value project management, such as budget vs. actual and earned value reports.

The metrics of earned value analysis are based on:

• Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled (BCWS): The planned cost of the total amount of work scheduled to be performed by the milestone date.
• Actual Cost of Work Performed (ACWP): The cost incurred to accomplish the work that has been done to date.
• Budgeted Cost of Work Performed (BCWP): The planned (not actual) cost to complete the work that has been done.

By comparing these numbers, metrics and indexes can be developed to review the project's health.

• Scheduled Variance: BCWP - BCWS
  A comparison of the amount of work performed during a given period of time to what was scheduled to be performed. A negative variance indicates the project is behind schedule.
• Cost Variance: BCWP - ACWP
  A comparison of the budgeted cost of work performed with the actual cost. A negative variance means the project is over budget.
• Schedule Performance Index (SPI): BCWP / BCWS
  A SPI index of less than 1 indicates the project is behind schedule.
• Cost Performance Index (CPI): BCWP / ACWP
  A CPI index of less than 1 indicates the project is over budget.
• Cost Schedule Index (CSI): CPI x SPI
  This is a measure of an off-schedule and or over-budget project's likelihood of recovery. The greater the CSI index is from 1.0, the less likely a recovery is.

Both the Cost Performance Index and the Schedule Performance Index are statistically accurate indicators of final cost results.