All insights
Project controls
Earned value in plain words: knowing a project is late before the contractor says so
October 2026 · 3 min read · De Consulting
A monthly report that says “45% complete” tells you very little. Earned value compares three numbers every month and shows, early and in money, whether a project is behind programme or over cost.
Three numbers
- Planned value: the value of the work that should be done by now, from the baseline programme.
- Earned value: the value of the work actually done, measured on site at budget rates.
- Actual cost: what that work has actually cost.
A worked example
A €10 million project, six months into a twelve-month programme.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Planned value | €5.0M |
| Earned value | €4.0M |
| Actual cost | €4.6M |
| Schedule performance (earned ÷ planned) | 0.80 |
| Cost performance (earned ÷ actual) | 0.87 |
| Forecast final cost (budget ÷ 0.87) | €11.5M |
In plain words: the project has done 80% of what it planned, and each euro spent has bought 87 cents of work. If nothing changes, it will finish late and about €1.5 million over budget. The contractor's report may still say “on track”.
How to set it up
- A baseline programme in Primavera P6, with costs loaded to activities or to bill of quantities items.
- Monthly measurement of work done. On FIDIC projects this already exists in the interim payment certificates.
- One page each month: the three lines on a chart, the two performance figures and the forecast final cost.
Watch the trend, not one month. A schedule performance figure that falls three months in a row belongs to a project that is losing time, whatever the narrative says.
We set up and run project controls for owners, lenders and international consultancies, built on our experience on the Llogara Tunnel under FIDIC.
