Editing Earned value management (section)

== Simple implementations (emphasizing only technical performance) ==
{{Essay-like|date=May 2022}}
There are many more small and simple projects than there are large and complex ones, yet historically only the largest and most complex have enjoyed the benefits of EVM. Still, lightweight implementations of EVM are achievable by any person who has basic spreadsheet skills. In fact, [[spreadsheet]] implementations are an excellent way to learn basic EVM skills.

The ''first step'' is to define the work. This is typically done in a hierarchical arrangement called a [[work breakdown structure]] (WBS), although the simplest projects may use a simple list of tasks. In either case, it is important that the WBS or list be comprehensive. It is also important that the elements be [[mutually exclusive]], so that work is easily categorized into one and only one element of work. The most detailed elements of a WBS hierarchy (or the items in a list) are called work packages. Work packages are then often devolved further in the project schedule into tasks or activities.

The ''second step'' is to assign a value, called planned value (PV), to each work package. For large projects, PV is almost always an allocation of the total project budget, and may be in units of currency (e.g. dollar, euro or naira) or in labor hours, or both. However, in very simple projects, each activity may be assigned a weighted "point value" which might not be a budget number. Assigning weighted values and achieving consensus on all PV quantities yields an important benefit of EVM, because it exposes misunderstandings and miscommunications about the scope of the project, and resolving these differences should always occur as early as possible. Some terminal elements can not be known (planned) in great detail in advance, and that is expected, because they can be further refined at a later time.

The ''third step'' is to define "earning rules" for each work package. The simplest method is to apply just one earning rule, such as the 0/100 rule, to all activities. Using the 0/100 rule, no credit is earned for an element of work until it is finished. A related rule is called the 50/50 rule, which means 50% credit is earned when an element of work is started, and the remaining 50% is earned upon completion. Other fixed earning rules such as a 25/75 rule or 20/80 rule are gaining favor, because they assign more weight to finishing work than for starting it, but they also motivate the project team to identify when an element of work is started, which can improve awareness of work-in-progress. These simple earning rules work well for small or simple projects because generally, each activity tends to be fairly short in duration.

These initial three steps define the minimal amount of planning for simplified EVM. The ''final step'' is to execute the project according to the plan and measure progress. When activities are started or finished, EV is accumulated according to the earning rule. This is typically done at regular intervals (e.g. weekly or monthly), but there is no reason why EV cannot be accumulated in near real-time, when work elements are started/completed. In fact, waiting to update EV only once per month (simply because that is when cost data are available) only detracts from a primary benefit of using EVM, which is to create a technical performance [[scoreboard]] for the project team.

[[File:EVM Fig5.png|right|Figure 5: A comparison of three EV curves without PV and AC]]

In a lightweight implementation such as described here, the project manager has not accumulated cost nor defined a detailed project schedule network (i.e. using a critical path or critical chain methodology). While such omissions are inappropriate for managing large projects, they are a common and reasonable occurrence in many very small or simple projects. Any project can benefit from using EV alone as a real-time score of progress. One useful result of this very simple approach (without schedule models and actual cost accumulation) is to compare EV curves of similar projects, as illustrated in '''Figure 5'''. In this example, the progress of three residential construction projects are compared by aligning the starting dates. If these three home construction projects were measured with the same PV valuations, the ''relative'' schedule performance of the projects can be easily compared.