Free PM calculator · Cost
Earned Value (EVM) Calculator
Enter your budget at completion, planned value, earned value and actual cost. You get every earned value metric (CV, SV, CPI, SPI, EAC, ETC, VAC and TCPI) with a plain-English summary of where your project stands.
How earned value works
Earned value management (EVM) compares three numbers at a status date: what you planned to do (planned value), what you actually did, valued at its budget (earned value), and what it actually cost (actual cost). Comparing them shows whether a project is ahead or behind schedule and over or under budget, and forecasts the final cost.
CPI = EV ÷ AC · SPI = EV ÷ PV
EAC = BAC ÷ CPI · ETC = EAC − AC · VAC = BAC − EAC
TCPI = (BAC − EV) ÷ (BAC − AC)
Worked example
A CRM upgrade has a budget (BAC) of $250,000. By the status date, $187,500 of work was planned (PV). The team has finished 68% of the work, so EV = $170,000, and has spent $182,000 (AC). CV = −$12,000 and SV = −$17,500: the project is over budget and behind schedule. CPI = 0.93, so each dollar spent earns about 93 cents of work. If that continues, EAC = $250,000 ÷ 0.934 ≈ $267,650, about $17,650 over budget. These are the default values in the calculator above.
Which EAC formula should I use?
- BAC ÷ CPI when the current cost performance is expected to continue. This is the most common.
- AC + (BAC − EV) when the variance was a one-off and the rest of the work will go to plan.
- AC + (BAC − EV) ÷ (CPI × SPI) when both cost and schedule problems will affect the remaining work.
How to read CPI and SPI
A value of 1.0 means exactly on plan. Below 1.0 is unfavourable: over budget for CPI, behind schedule for SPI. Above 1.0 is favourable. A TCPI above about 1.1 means the remaining work must be done far more efficiently than so far, which is rarely realistic. Consider re-baselining or asking for more budget.
Learn the terms: earned value management, CPI, SPI, EAC and TCPI. Practise EVM formulas in the PM DataLab Excel lab.