How the EVM Calculator works
Earned Value Management (EVM) is the standard technique project managers use to check whether a project is on budget and on schedule by comparing three numbers at a single point in time: the value of work that was planned, the value of work actually completed, and the money actually spent. This calculator takes your project's Budget at Completion together with a planned and an actual percent-complete figure, plus actual cost, and derives the full set of standard EVM metrics from them.
The base measures
Planned Value (PV) = Budget at Completion (BAC) × planned percent complete — the value of work that was scheduled to be done by now. Earned Value (EV) = BAC × actual percent complete — the value of work actually completed, valued at its budgeted cost. Actual Cost (AC) is what has genuinely been spent so far, entered directly.
Variances and performance indexes
Cost Variance (CV) = EV − AC. A negative CV means the work performed cost more than it was budgeted for. Schedule Variance (SV) = EV − PV. A negative SV means less work has been completed than was planned. The Cost Performance Index (CPI) = EV ÷ AC and Schedule Performance Index (SPI) = EV ÷ PV express the same relationships as ratios: a value of 1.0 is exactly on plan, above 1.0 is favorable, and below 1.0 signals overspending or a schedule slip.
Forecasting the finish
The calculator forecasts the total project cost with the standard CPI-based formula: Estimate at Completion (EAC) = BAC ÷ CPI, which assumes the cost efficiency observed so far continues for the remaining work. From that, Estimate to Complete (ETC) = EAC − AC is the money still needed, and Variance at Completion (VAC) = BAC − EAC is the projected surplus (positive) or overrun (negative) against the original budget. A related index, To-Complete Performance Index (TCPI) = (BAC − EV) ÷ (BAC − AC), is the cost efficiency the remaining work would need to hit in order to still finish on the original budget.
Worked example
A $100,000 project (BAC) was scheduled to be 50% complete by now (PV = $50,000) but is actually only 45% complete (EV = $45,000), with $52,000 already spent (AC). That gives CV = $45,000 − $52,000 = −$7,000 (over budget) and SV = $45,000 − $50,000 = −$5,000 (behind schedule). CPI = 45,000 ÷ 52,000 ≈ 0.87 and SPI = 45,000 ÷ 50,000 = 0.90 — both below 1.0, so the project is spending inefficiently and running late. EAC = BAC ÷ CPI = $100,000 ÷ (45,000 ÷ 52,000) ≈ $115,556, meaning the project is forecast to finish about $15,556 over its original budget (VAC ≈ −$15,556) if current cost performance does not improve.
Assumptions and limits
This calculator derives PV and EV from a simple percent-complete estimate against the total budget, which is a common and standard approach when a detailed cost-baseline schedule is not available. If your organization tracks PV and EV directly from a time-phased budget or a weighted milestone schedule, use those figures as the source of the percent-complete inputs for a more precise result. EVM is a cost-and-schedule diagnostic, not a substitute for qualitative risk review, scope management, or contractual reporting requirements.