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Cost Management EVM Example: Budgeted at Completion (BAC)
Cost Management EVM Example: Budgeted at Completion (BAC)
Consider the following example:
You are the project manager for the construction of 20 miles of sidewalk. According to your plan,
the cost of construction will be $15,000 per mile and will take 8 weeks to complete.
2 weeks into the project, you have spent $55,000 and completed 4 miles of sidewalk, and you want
to report performance and determine how much time and cost remain.
Below, we will walk through each calculation to show how we arrive at the correct answers.
Budgeted At Completion (BAC)
In the approach outlined by this book, we will always begin by calculating BAC. Budgeted at
completion simply means, “how much we originally expected this project to cost”. It is typically very
easy to calculate. In our example, we take 20 miles of sidewalk * $15,000 / mile. That equates to a
BAC of $300,000.
Planned Value (PV)
The planned value is how much work was planned for this point in time. The value is expressed in
dollars.
Planed Value = Planned % complete * BAC
We do this by taking the BAC ($300,000) and multiplying it by our % complete. In this case, we are 2
weeks complete on an 8 weeks schedule, which equates to 25%. $300,000 * .25 = $75,000.
Therefore, we had planned to spend $75,000 after two weeks.
PV = $75,000
Earned Value (EV)
If you have been intimidated by the concept of earned value, relax. Earned value is based on the
assumption that as you complete work on the project, you are adding value to the project.
Therefore, it is simply a matter of calculating how much value you have “earned” on the project.
Planned value is what was planned, but earned value is what actually happened.
EV = Actual % complete * BAC
In this case, we have completed 4 miles of the 20 mile project, which equates to 20%. We multiply
that percentage by the BAC to get EV. It is $300,000 * 20%. This tells us that we have completed
$60,000 worth of work, or more accurately, we have earned $60,000 of value for the project.
EV = $60,000
Cost Variance (CV)
Cost variance is how much actual costs differ from planned costs. We derive this by calculating the
difference between EV and AC. In this example, it is EV of $60,000 – AC of $55,000. A positive
variance (as in this case), reflects that the project is doing better on cost than expected.
For those who are curious, the reason we use EV in this formula instead of PV is that we are
calculating how much the actual costs have varied. If we used PV, it would give us the variance from
our plan, but the cost variance measures actual cost variance, and EV is based on actual
performance, whereas PV is based on planned performance.
A positive CV is a good thing. It indicates that we are doing better on costs than we had planned.
Conversely, a negative CV indicates that costs are running higher than planned.
CV = EV – AC
CV = $5,000
Schedule Variance (SV)
Schedule variance is how much our schedule differs from our plan. Where people often get
confused here is that this concept is expressed in dollars. SV is derived by calculating the difference
between EV and PV. In this example, the schedule variance is EV of $60,000 – PV of $75,000. A
negative variance (as in this case) reflects that we are not performing as well as we had hoped in
terms of schedule. A positive SV would indicate that the project is ahead of schedule.
SV = EV – PV
SV = ‐$15,000
Cost Performance Index (CPI)
The cost performance index gives us an indicator as to how much we are getting for every dollar. It is
derived by dividing Earned Value by the Actual Cost. In this example, EV = $60,000, and our AC =
$55,000. $60,000 / $55,000 = 1.09.
This figure tells us that we are getting $1.09 worth of performance for every $1.00 we expected. A
CPI of 1 indicates that the project is exactly on track. A closer look at the formula reveals that values
of 1 or greater are good, and values less than 1 are undesirable.
CPI = EV / AC
CPI = 1.09
Schedule Performance Index (SPI)
A corollary to the cost performance index is the schedule performance index. The schedule
performance index tells us how fast the project is progressing compared to the project plan. It is
derived by dividing earned value by the planned value.
In this example, earned value = $60,000, and our planned value = $75,000. $60,000 / $75,000 = 0.8.
This tells us that the project is progressing at 80% of the pace that we expected it to, and when we
look at the example, this conclusion makes sense. We had expected to lay 20 miles of sidewalk in 8
weeks. At that rate, after 2 weeks, we should have constructed 5 miles, but instead of the example
tells us that we had only constructed 4 miles. That equates 4/5 performance, which is 80%. Like the
cost performance index, values of 1 or greater are good, and values that are less than 1 are
undesirable.
SPI = EV / PV
SPI = 0.8
Estimate At Completion (EAC)
Estimate at completion is the amount we expect the project to cost, based on where we are relative
to cost and schedule. If that sounds confusing, think of it this way. If you know you are half way
through the project, and you are currently 20% over budget, then the estimate at completion factors
that variance out to the end of the project. There are many ways to calculate EAC; for the exam, the
most straightforward way to calculate it is to take the BAC and divide it by our cost performance
index. In this example, we expected to spend (BAC) $300,000 and our CPI is 1.09. $300,000 / 1.09 =
$275,229.36. This should make sense. We are doing better on costs than we had originally planned,
and this value reflects that.
EAC = BAC / CPI
EAC = $275,229.36
Estimate To Completion (ETC)
Estimate to completion is simply how much more we expect to spend from this point forward based
on what we’ve done so far. It can be easily backed into by taking our estimate at complete (what we
expect to spend) and subtracting what we have spent so far (Actual Cost). Given the numbers above,
it would be EAC of $275,229.36 – AC of $55,000 = $220,229.36. This tells us that we expect to spend
$220,229.36 more, given our performance thus far.
ETC = EAC – AC
ETC = $220,229.36
Variance At Completion (VAC)
Variance at completion is the difference between what we originally budgeted and what we expect
to spend. A positive variance indicates that we are doing better than projected, and a negative
variance indicates that we expect the project to run over on costs.
In this example, our BAC was $300,000; however, our EAC is now $275,229.36. $300,000 ‐
$275,229.36 = $24,770.64.
VAC = BAC – EAC
VAC = $24,770.64
Exercise
Figure totals are as follows: