Demystifying Earned Value
On Tuesday, 17 June 2025, the APM Midlands Network and the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) joined forces to deliver a dynamic and thought-provoking event: Demystifying Earned Value – Understanding Earned Value Management (EVM).
More than just a financial metric, Earned Value Management (EVM) is a powerful method for tracking project performance—answering the vital question:
“How much value have we earned for the money spent?”
To apply EVM successfully, a solid foundation is key. Attendees explored six essential components:
- Work Breakdown Structure (WBS): Defines the full scope of work
- Performance Baseline: Aligns scope, schedule, and cost targets
- Integrated Measurement Baseline (IMB): Sets a time-phased budget for tracking progress
- Earned Value Measurements: Tracks Planned Value (PV), Earned Value (EV), and Actual Cost (AC)
- Data Collection & Reporting: Ensures performance is consistently tracked and communicated
- Forecasting: Helps predict future performance, including Estimate at Completion (EAC)
- Trend Curves: Useful for identifying performance patterns and enabling proactive forecasting
- Be Cautious: EVM demands accurate, consistent data—it's a mindset, not a checkbox
- Challenges: Fast-paced environments, team unfamiliarity, and inconsistent data can all pose hurdles
- Benefits: Delivers objective insights, early warning signals, stronger forecasting, and clearer stakeholder communication
The session wasn’t just informative—it was interactive and fun! With plenty of food, laughs, and a buzzing Q&A, it was a great opportunity to learn and connect. Spot quizzes and thoughtful questions even earned some attendees surprise gifts!
A huge thank you to our expert speakers, Manish Khanna and Behnam Sarani from AtkinsRealis, for generously sharing their knowledge. And of course, thank you to everyone who attended and made the event a success.
Behnam and Manish have very kindly allowed their presented material to be made available for viewing. The slides on Slideshare now available in our APM resources area and also embedded below for reference.
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