Planned Value Setting in P6.

The SPI and CPI are affected by the EV settings since the variables EV and PV take different values
depending on the EV setting that has been selected by the user in tandem with the status of the concerned
task(s) in the Baseline Programme that has been assigned to the Current programme. With regard to the
PV in particular, it appears to be different only for the tasks that were ‘In Progress’ in the BSL
programme.
The formula for calculating the PV in case the cost is distributed linearly along the duration of an activity
is:

a. PV = 0
(If DD < or = BSL Planned Start)

b. PV = [(DD – BSL Start) / BSL At Complete Duration] * BSL Budgeted Total Cost
(If Planned Start < DD < BSL Planned Finish)

c. PV = BSL Budgeted Total Cost

(If DD > or = BSL Planned Finish)

So, excluding cases (a) & (c) where the value of PV is constant – depending on the condition in the
parenthesis, the only case where the PV depends upon other variables is case (b).
Let’s see what the effect of these variables to the SPI and CPI is separately.

A. Schedule Performance Index (SPI)

SPI = EV / PV = [Activity (%) Complete * BAC / (DD – BSL Start) * BAC] * BSL At Complete
Duration →
→ SPI = [BSL At Complete Duration / (DD – BSL Start)] * Activity (%) Complete

Looking at the equality above the only variables that relate to the Baseline Programme and are affected by
the EV settings are:

i. The ‘BSL Start’

ii. The ‘BSL At Complete Duration’

Let’s take a closer look at these variables.

When the setting ‘Budgeted values with planned dates’ is selected, the BSL Dates are equal to the
Planned Start and Planned Finish date of an activity. So, if the status of the BSL activity at the time when
the BSL programme was created was ‘Not Started’ then the BSL Start and BSL Finish Date correspond to
the BSL Planned Start and BSL Planned Finish date of the task. If, however, the status of the BSL activity
was ‘In Progress’ then the BSL Start and BSL Finish Date correspond to the last BSL Planned Start and
BSL Finish date right before the activity was marked as Started. Thus, in such a case, the setting
‘Budgeted values with planned dates’ leads to erroneous results as the BSL dates refer to a past time
when the activity had not yet started and do not reflect the intended BSL dates being associated with the
‘In Progress’ task. To get the proper dates the EV setting – before the BSL programme is assigned to the
current schedule - should turn to ‘Budgeted values with current dates’ or ‘At complete values with current
dates’. Only then, P6 will read the BSL Actual Start Date as the BSL Start and the BSL Finish Date as the
BSL Finish.
Also, with regard to the ‘BSL At Complete Duration’ in case the EV setting ‘Budgeted values with
planned dates’ is selected, the ‘BSL At Complete Duration’ will equate the ‘BSL Original Duration’
which will provide the correct results when the BSL activity is ‘Not Started’ but again it will produce a
false outcome when the BSL activity is ‘In Progress’. That’s because P6 will continue to equate the ‘BSL
At Complete Duration’ to the ‘BSL Original Duration’ whilst in general the ‘At Complete Duration’ – for
the ‘In Progress’ tasks – is different as compared to their ‘Original Duration’. To guide P6 to read the
correct ‘At Complete’ duration the EV setting should be either set to ‘Budgeted values with current dates’
or to ‘At complete values with current dates’. Only then, P6 will read and store the ‘BSL At Complete
Duration’ of the ‘In Progress’ tasks as intended.
B. Cost Performance Index (CPI)
Regarding the CPI the analysis is much easier. In fact, the only variable that might be affected and
differentiate the CPI value is the EV and in particular the BAC upon which the EV is dependent.
If, for instance, the Cost of the ‘In Progress’ tasks in the assigned BSL Programme is updated and the
initial ‘Budgeted Total Cost’ is not the same with the ‘At Completion Total Cost’ then the EV setting ‘At
Completion values with current dates’ should be selected to ‘tell’ P6 read the ‘At Completion Cost’ as the
BAC cost and not the ‘Budgeted Total Cost’ which is the originally planned cost and it holds true only for
the ‘Not Started’ tasks. The AC is not affected by any of the EV settings.

In conclusion, the ‘Budgeted values with planned dates’ might be used only when the BSL Programme
refers to the originally planned and approved programme wherein no actuals are apparent. In all other
cases one of the other two options must be used, depending on whether the ‘At completion cost’ of the ‘In
Progress’ tasks in the assigned BSL programme has been updated or not.