Schedule Updating and Project Control - Construction Project Scheduling and Control - page 197

Tip Box 7.9
Store and organize updates of the project in a manner that is easy to search and
retrieve. You don't know when you're going to need them! This applies to completed
projects, too, but they must be separated in a different “Archives Folder.”
Earned Value Analysis
Earned value analysis ( EVA ) is an integrated cost-schedule approach that is used to
monitor and analyze the progress of a project. Popescu and Charoenngam (1995)
defined it as “the performance measurement to report the status of a project in terms
of both cost and time at a given data date” (p. 252).
Earned value management ( EVM ), started in the 1960s as a method for inte-
grated project cost and schedule control, was designed by the U.S. Air Force and was
named the cost/schedule planning and control system. In 1967, it became Department
of Defense (DoD) policy and was renamed the cost/schedule control systems cri-
teria (C/SCSC) , a formal planning and control reporting system developed by the
Department of Defense in the 1960s for its contractors to use. It is used for reporting
project schedule and financial information. This system was later simplified and mod-
ified to what is currently known as earned value management. The objectives of the
C/SCSC policy were (1) for contractors to use effective internal cost and schedule
management control systems, and (2) for the government to be able to rely on timely
data produced by these systems for determining product-oriented contract status.
C/SCSC implementation was governed by DoD Instruction 7000.2, “Performance
Measurement for Selected Acquisitions,” issued by the comptroller in 1967 in the
financial management regulatory series. The C/SCSC and DoD Instruction 7000.2
had several implementation problems and went through several cycles of research and
redefining. The name changed several times, from cost/schedule planning and con-
trol system to cost/schedule control systems criteria, or C/SCSC, and then to earned
value management. 10
The concept of earned value ( EV ) is simple; at any given point, take the following
five steps:
1. Determine how much work you have accomplished and how much you should
have accomplished according to the plan.
10 For more information, see the Earned Value Management Web site ( http://www.acq.osd.mil/pm) and the
papers “Earned Value Management and Acquisition Reform.”
( http://www.acq.osd.mil/pm/paperpres/standown.html) and “Earned Value Management Rediscovered”
( http://www.acq.osd.mil/pm/newpolicy/misc/abba_art.htm l), both by Wayne Abba.