Earned Value Management (EVM)

The EVM report measures cost efficiency and schedule efficiency using three data points: how much work was planned (PV), how much has been completed (EV), and how much has been spent (AC). From these three numbers, DPlan derives the full suite of EVMS metrics used by professional project managers.

The Three Input Values

InputNameHow DPlan calculates it
BACBudget at CompletionSum of all task costs in the project. Fully automatic.
PVPlanned ValueBudgeted cost of work scheduled up to today. Uses uniform cost distribution (same as Cash Flow). Fully automatic.
EVEarned ValueΣ (task budget × task % complete). Uses the progress % you enter on each task. Automatic once you set progress.
ACActual CostΣ of Actual Cost ($) fields entered manually on tasks. You must enter this — it is not calculated.
EV and PV work immediately with no extra data entry. AC requires you to enter actual spend in the Task Editor → Actual Cost ($) field. Without AC, you get schedule performance metrics (SV, SPI) but not cost performance metrics (CV, CPI, EAC, VAC, TCPI).

Accessing the Report

  1. Click the Reports tab in the titlebar.
  2. In the left sidebar, click 📈 Earned Value (EVM).

All EVM Metrics Explained

MetricFormulaWhat it meansGood value
CV — Cost VarianceEV − ACAre we over or under budget for the work done?Positive (EV > AC)
SV — Schedule VarianceEV − PVAre we ahead or behind plan in terms of earned value?Positive (EV > PV)
CPI — Cost Performance IndexEV ÷ ACHow many dollars of value do we get for each dollar spent?>= 1.0
SPI — Schedule Performance IndexEV ÷ PVHow efficiently are we earning value relative to plan?>= 1.0
EAC — Estimate at CompletionBAC ÷ CPIForecast of total cost at completion, assuming current efficiency continues.Close to BAC
ETC — Estimate to CompleteEAC − ACHow much more money do we need to finish the project?As low as possible
VAC — Variance at CompletionBAC − EACWill we finish over or under budget?Positive (under budget)
TCPI — To-Complete Performance Index(BAC − EV) ÷ (BAC − AC)The CPI efficiency you must maintain for remaining work to finish on budget.<= 1.0 (achievable)

Interpreting CPI and SPI

ValueMeaningColour in DPlan
>= 1.0Under budget / ahead of scheduleGreen ✓
0.9 – 1.0Slightly over / slightly behind — monitor closelyAmber ⚠
< 0.9Significantly over budget / behind schedule — corrective action neededRed ✗
CPI rarely recovers. Research shows that if CPI drops below 0.9 at the 20% completion point, it almost never improves to 1.0 by the end. An early low CPI is a strong signal to re-baseline or reduce scope.

Practical Workflow

Weekly EVM update (5 minutes)

  1. Open each active task, update the Progress % slider to reflect work done this week.
  2. Enter the Actual Cost ($) for costs incurred this week (can be cumulative total).
  3. Open Reports → Earned Value to see updated CPI/SPI.
  4. If CPI < 0.9, identify which tasks are over-running in the per-task table at the bottom of the report.

Reading the per-task table

The Per-Task Earned Value table shows EV and AC for each costed task. The Cost Var. (CV) column highlights individual tasks in green (under budget) or red (over budget). Sort by the most negative CV to find your biggest cost problems.

EVM Example

Project: Waterfront Office Complex — 40% complete by schedule

BAC = $1,800,000   (total project budget)
PV  = $720,000     (planned spend to date, 40% × BAC with uniform distribution)
EV  = $648,000     (36% complete × BAC — slightly behind schedule)
AC  = $720,000     (what was actually spent — same as PV)

CV  = EV − AC = $648,000 − $720,000 = −$72,000   ← OVER BUDGET
SV  = EV − PV = $648,000 − $720,000 = −$72,000   ← BEHIND SCHEDULE
CPI = EV / AC = 0.90                               ← On the amber threshold
SPI = EV / PV = 0.90                               ← Behind schedule
EAC = BAC / CPI = $2,000,000                       ← 11% over budget at completion
VAC = BAC − EAC = −$200,000                        ← Forecast overrun
TCPI = (1,800,000 − 648,000) / (1,800,000 − 720,000) = 1.067  ← Needs better performance

This project needs corrective action — either reduce scope, add resources, or re-baseline with client approval.

EVM vs Cash Flow

Prerequisites

See Cost Tracking for how to set up costs and Cash Flow for spend distribution.