Earned Value Management Schedule Performance Indicators in Units of Time: Evaluation of an Earned Schedule Theory

Earned Value Management (EVM) is a powerful technique assisting decision-makers in understanding the status of a project. The schedule performance measures have been viewed by some as lacking value to the decision-maker. This research investigated the performance characteristics of the EVM schedule measures and a new method for measuring schedule performance, Earned Schedule (ES). The evaluation of EVM and ES schedule measures within the Defense Acquisition Executive Summary (DAES) database revealed a statistical difference between the schedule measures, but did show they were correlated. THe DAES was found to include only the most current planned value at time of data entry, not the original planned value schedule. The result was that both EVM and ES schedule performance measures indicated perfect schedule completion at the end of each contract. THis research was able to show that ES theory can accurately portray schedule performance under certain conditions. While holding the planned value schedule constant may not be realistic in every instance, the ES theory may still be of value of is worth of further research.