Earned Value Management
The EVM formulary

Controlling a project is key to the success or failure of the project. Measuring the project performance along the life of the project is a way to provide early warning signals that can be used as triggers for corrective action in case the project is in danger. Earned Value Management (EVM) is a well-known technique to control the time and cost performance of a project. It is a methodology used since the 1960s, when the American Department of Defense proposed a standard method to measure a project's performance. The system relies on a set of often straightforward metrics to measure and evaluate the general health of a project.

These metrics serve as early warning signals to timely detect project problems or to exploit project opportunities. This article gives an overview of the terminology used in EVM and in different articles published on this website. Table 1 shows the main components of an EVM analysis, divided in four different layers. For an overview of the general EVM approach and references to further articles, see "Earned Value Management: An overview".

Table 1: The different components of Earned Value Management