How does a new set of Earned Value Management schedule control work? : a case study in Iran

Abstract

One of the most effective project time and cost controlling systems is called Earned Value Management (EVM). This system is applied worldwide in different projects of many kinds. Australia, United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Sweden and Japan were the pioneers of applying this system and new reports show that other countries are joining this list. EVM metrics are the three primary concepts of planned, accomplished and actual work, which are integrated measures of time and costs. A number of researchers have found that the time metrics didn't judiciously refer to the schedule performance of a project. One of the recent improvements to the EVM is the application of new time metrics (Schedule Variance (time) (SV(t)) and Schedule Performance Index (time) (SPI(t))), which are based on time units instead of monetary units. A 15-month Iranian pipeline project, called “Ardak-Mashad Water Supply”, was controlled by the EVM in this paper. The stages of applying the EVM in this project are described and the difficulties that the EVM team encountered are also presented. In addition, the paper attempts to clarify the application of common time EVM metrics and compare them with the new set of time metrics to interpret the schedule performance of a project. All satisfactory results of the EVM application, are displayed in this paper.