Print this page Introduction to Earned Value Management
Lawrence P. Duss, PE
Course Outline
An early predecessor to EVM was a Navy generated program by Admiral Rickover and his team called Planning Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) and was applied very successfully to the Polaris submarine development and building program. This scheduling technique included resources but dealt primarily with task scheduling with little or no cost or other project parameters. A later civilian version was called Critical Path Method (CPM).
This Earned Value Management course outlines the base-lining of a project schedule that includes all, time and risk factors and how progress is measured against that baseline.
This course includes
a multiple choice quiz at the end,
Learning Objective
At the conclusion of this course, the student will:
- Understand what “EVM” really means
- Understand all unique EVM terms such as:
- Earned value (BCWP)
- Actual costs (ACWP)
- Planned or Budgeted work (BCWS)
- Cost Variance (CV)
- Schedule Variance (SV)
- Cost Performance Index (CPI)
- Schedule Performance Index (SPI)
- Estimate to Complete (ETC)
- Estimate at Completion (EAC)
- Variance at Completion (VAC)
- To Complete Performance Index (TCPI)
- Understand project “Deliverables”
- Be able to assemble an acceptable “Organizational Chart”
- Properly develop a “Work Breakdown Schedule (WBS)”
- Learn how the “Cost Tracking Matrix” can be beneficial is setting up a project
- Learn what items to include in “Scope Development & Verification”
- Learn how to compile a cost/resource loaded “Project Schedule” and baseline it
- Be able to create and use “Earned Value” and “Cash Flow” charts
- Understand the importance of creating and maintaining an “Issues/Risk Log”
- Be able to assemble a professional “Project Execution Plan (PEP)”
- Understand the reasons for generating “Monthly Project Reviews”
Intended Audience
This course should be helpful to all individuals involved in project development and reporting and especially for professionals early in their career whether employed by owners, contractors or consultants.
Benefit to Attendees
Course participants will learn the basics of Earned Value Management.
Course Introduction
A number of federal agencies including the Department of Defense and NASA as well as major corporations have understood the importance of applying EVM Principles to projects and subsequently have adopted the mandated use of the EVM system. As popularity and accountability grows, any individual associated with project development and/or research should become familiar with the proper use of EVM Principles. This course will provide those basic principles.
Course Content
In this lesson, you are required to download and study the following course content in PDF format:
Introduction to Earned Value Management
Please click on the above underlined hypertext to view, download or print the document for your study. Because of the large file size, we recommend that you first save the file to your computer by right clicking the mouse and choosing "Save Target As ...", and then open the file in Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you still experience any difficulty in downloading or opening this file, you may need to close some applications or reboot your computer to free up some memory.
Course Summary
The student after having read the course contents should now have a basic understanding how EVM Principles apply to the development and management of a project. In this course all the pertinent project documents are called “deliverables”. Whatever documents or deliverables are used in compiling and updating a project schedule, the Project Manager and Project Team should have a complete understanding of the project criteria if properly managed will deliver the project to the owner or customer as expected.
Project criteria used in assembling and updating a schedule shall include but not be limited to the following documents:
- Design drawings and specifications
- Performance contract between owner and contractor
- Scopes of work for all work elements
- Subcontracts
- Site conditions
- Outside agency influence
- Consultant involvement
The top ten reasons why projects are successful are:
- Early and complete planning
- Strong client focus and participation
- Strong senior management support
- Well defined requirements and objectives
- Effective change order process
- Necessary resources available
- Regular updating and evaluation
- Quality risk analysis
- Highly skilled project management leadership
- Effective project communication
Related Links and References
Program Evaluation and Review Technique – Wikipedia
Earned Value Management – USAID
Dept of Defense – EVM Implementation Guide
ANSI/EIA 748
Buffalo School Systems – Johnson Controls
Beaver Dam Project – Wal-Mart
Quiz
Once you finish studying the above course content, you need to take a quiz to obtain the PDH credits.
DISCLAIMER: The materials contained in the online course are not intended as a representation or warranty on the part of PDH Center or any other person/organization named herein. The materials are for general information only. They are not a substitute for competent professional advice. Application of this information to a specific project should be reviewed by a registered architect and/or professional engineer/surveyor. Anyone making use of the information set forth herein does so at their own risk and assumes any and all resulting liability arising therefrom.
