What do BAC, PV, EV and AC mean?

BAC (budget at completion) is the total budget. PV (planned value) is the budgeted cost of the work scheduled to be done by now. EV (earned value) is the budgeted cost of the work actually done. AC (actual cost) is what that work has cost.

How do you calculate earned value?

Earned value is the budget of the work actually done. With the percent complete method, multiply each activity's budget by its percent complete and add them up. A 2,000,000 budget whose work is 40% complete, weighted by budget, has earned 800,000. Other measurement methods, such as weighted milestones or physical measurement, credit the budget differently.

Why does SPI drift back to 1.0 near the end of a late project?

At completion every dollar of planned value has been earned, so EV equals PV and SPI is 1.0 however late the project finished. Earned Schedule fixes this by measuring schedule performance in time units (SPIt) instead of money.

Is anything I type sent to a server?

No. The arithmetic runs in your browser and nothing is stored or sent.

Free calculator

Earned value calculator

Enter the budget, planned value, earned value and actual cost. The schedule and cost variances, SPI, CPI and the completion forecasts update as you type.

The example figures are hypothetical. Use any currency, as long as all four are in the same one.

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SPI

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CPI

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EAC

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ETC

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VAC

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TCPI

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Earned value formulas

These are the earned value management formulas set out in PMI's Standard for Earned Value Management (2019). The standard gives four ways to forecast EAC. This calculator uses the first: cost efficiency to date continues for the rest of the work.

Measure	Formula	How to read it
Schedule variance (SV)	SV = EV − PV	Negative means less work done than planned by now.
Schedule performance index (SPI)	SPI = EV ÷ PV	Below 1.0 is behind plan; above 1.0 is ahead.
Cost variance (CV)	CV = EV − AC	Negative means the work done cost more than its budget.
Cost performance index (CPI)	CPI = EV ÷ AC	Below 1.0 is over budget for the work done.
Estimate at completion (EAC)	EAC = BAC ÷ CPI	The final cost if the cost efficiency to date continues.
Estimate to complete (ETC)	ETC = EAC − AC	What the remaining work is forecast to cost.
Variance at completion (VAC)	VAC = BAC − EAC	Negative is the forecast overrun against the budget.
To-complete performance index (TCPI)	TCPI = (BAC − EV) ÷ (BAC − AC)	The cost efficiency the remaining work needs to finish on budget (BAC). The standard also gives a version against the EAC.

The other EAC methods in the standard

Remaining work goes at the planned rate: EAC = AC + (BAC − EV)
Both cost and schedule performance affect the remaining work: EAC = AC + (BAC − EV) ÷ (CPI × SPI)
The original plan is no longer valid: EAC = AC + a bottom-up ETC

A worked example

Suppose a hypothetical fit-out package has a budget of 2,000,000. By the status date the programme planned 900,000 of work, the team has earned 800,000, and the work has cost 850,000.

SPI is 800,000 ÷ 900,000 = 0.89, so the work is about 11% behind plan.
CPI is 800,000 ÷ 850,000 = 0.94, so each unit spent has earned 0.94 of a unit of budgeted work.
EAC is 2,000,000 ÷ (800,000 ÷ 850,000) = 2,125,000, a forecast overrun of 125,000 if that efficiency holds.
TCPI is 1,200,000 ÷ 1,150,000 = 1.04: the remaining work must run 4% better than budget to finish on 2,000,000.

SPI on a construction programme

SPI measures schedule performance in money, which causes two problems on a construction programme. Late in a project it drifts back towards 1.0, because every planned dollar is eventually earned. And it ignores the critical path, so work done early on a floated activity can hide a slip on the activities that drive completion.

Earned Schedule measures the same performance in time. ScheduleLens reports it against your approved baseline when you compare two updates of a programme: the date the work done was planned to be done by, SPIt, and the finish at that pace. To read the programme itself first, the free schedule viewer opens P6, MS Project and Powerproject files in the browser with the critical path your scheduling tool recorded.

Questions

What do BAC, PV, EV and AC mean?: BAC (budget at completion) is the total budget. PV (planned value) is the budgeted cost of the work scheduled to be done by now. EV (earned value) is the budgeted cost of the work actually done. AC (actual cost) is what that work has cost.
How do you calculate earned value?: Earned value is the budget of the work actually done. With the percent complete method, multiply each activity's budget by its percent complete and add them up. A 2,000,000 budget whose work is 40% complete, weighted by budget, has earned 800,000. Other measurement methods, such as weighted milestones or physical measurement, credit the budget differently.
Why does SPI drift back to 1.0 near the end of a late project?: At completion every dollar of planned value has been earned, so EV equals PV and SPI is 1.0 however late the project finished. Earned Schedule fixes this by measuring schedule performance in time units (SPIt) instead of money.
Is anything I type sent to a server?: No. The arithmetic runs in your browser and nothing is stored or sent.