EVM curves

Schedule and cost performance in one financial view.

Metric	Value	Definition

What you are looking at

Three lines carry the complete financial story. PV is planned value — the baseline budget curve. EV is earned value — the budgeted cost of work actually completed. AC is actual cost. The amber dashed line is EAC — where you will finish if current efficiency continues. SPI below 0.95 means behind schedule. CPI below 0.95 means over budget. The Simulator tab lets you drag EV and AC independently and watch all twelve EVM metrics recalculate live. The Plain English tab translates each acronym into plain language.

What most PMs miss

EV is the most misunderstood number in EVM. It is not what you spent. It is the budgeted value of work that meets the agreed definition of done. A task budgeted at fifty thousand that is ninety percent complete has earned zero until it crosses the completion threshold. PMs who use percentage estimates inflate EV and make the project look healthier than it is.

The expert tip

Translate CPI into dollars before presenting it. In a steering committee, 'our CPI is 0.84' lands as a technical abstraction. 'For every dollar of work we complete we are spending one dollar nineteen' lands as a business problem that demands a response. Use the simulator to match your actual project numbers and use that sentence verbatim in your next sponsor conversation.