Editing Earned value management (section)

=== Estimate to complete (ETC) ===
According to the [[PMBOK]] (7th edition) by the [[Project Management Institute]] (PMI), '''Estimate to complete''' (ETC) is the "expected cost to finish all the remaining project work."{{sfn|Project Management Institute|2021|loc=Glossary §3 Definitions}}

ETC is the estimate to complete the remaining work of the project. ETC must be based on objective measures of the outstanding work remaining, typically based on the measures or estimates used to create the original planned value (PV) profile, including any adjustments to predict performance based on historical performance, actions being taken to improve performance, or acknowledgement of degraded performance.
While algebraically, ETC = EAC-AC is correct, ETC should ''never'' be computed using either EAC or AC.

In the following equation:

<math>
\begin{align}
EAC = AC + ETC
\end{align}
</math>

ETC is the independent variable, EAC is the dependent variable, and AC is fixed based on expenditures to date. ETC should always be reported truthfully to reflect the project team estimate to complete the outstanding work. If ETC pushes EAC to exceed BAC, then project management skills are employed to either recommend performance improvements or scope change, but never force ETC to give the "correct" answer so that EAC=BAC. Managing project activities to keep the project within budget is a human factors activity, not a mathematical function.