Earned Value Curves

Overview

The Earned Value Curves report plots three core EVM metrics over your project timeline as S-curves; Budget (BCWS), Earned Value (BCWP), and Actual Cost (ACWP). The shape and relative position of these curves tells you at a glance whether you are ahead of or behind schedule and whether you are over or under budget. Below the chart, two tabs provide tabular views of the data: a Summary grid with key performance metrics and a Graph Data grid with the raw time-series values behind the chart. URL: /EarnedValue/EarnedValueCurves/Index

Prerequisites

Select a project and reporting period. The chart and data grids do not load until both are selected.

Reading the Chart

The chart plots three spline curves over your project timeline:

Curve	EVM Term	What It Means
Budget	BCWS: Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled	The cumulative planned value of all work scheduled through each period
Earned	BCWP: Budgeted Cost of Work Performed	The cumulative planned value of work actually completed through each period
Actual	ACWP: Actual Cost of Work Performed	The cumulative cost of completed work through each period

Reading the gap between curves:

If the Earned curve is below the Budget curve, the project is behind schedule (negative Schedule Variance).
If the Actual curve is above the Earned curve, the project is over budget (negative Cost Variance).

Chart interactions:

Click any legend item to show or hide that curve.
Hover over a data point to see the exact value for that period.
Zoom by clicking and dragging on the chart to focus on a specific date or value range.
Pan by holding and dragging after zooming to scroll along the axis.

Chart subtitle: When secondary filters are active (WBS, Work Package, CAM, Currency Format, Start/End Date), the chart subtitle automatically updates to list all active filter values; for example, “Project: My Project | Reporting Period: Jan 2024 | WBS: 1.01 | CAM: Smith”. This subtitle carries through to the Excel export.

Summary Tab

The Summary tab (active by default) shows a metrics grid with three rows:

Row	Description
Previous Cumulative	Cumulative EV metrics as of the reporting period prior to the selected one
Current Period	EV metrics for the selected reporting period only (period-to-period delta)
Current Cumulative	Cumulative EV metrics as of the selected reporting period

Each row shows the following columns:

Column	Definition
Budget	Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled (BCWS)
Earned	Budgeted Cost of Work Performed (BCWP)
Actual	Actual Cost of Work Performed (ACWP)
SV	Schedule Variance = Earned − Budget. Negative = behind schedule.
CV	Cost Variance = Earned − Actual. Negative = over budget.
SPI	Schedule Performance Index = Earned ÷ Budget. Below 1.0 = behind schedule.
CPI	Cost Performance Index = Earned ÷ Actual. Below 1.0 = over budget.
BAC	Budget at Completion: total approved budget
EAC	Estimate at Completion = CTD Actual + BAC − CTD Earned
VAC	Variance at Completion = BAC − EAC. Negative = forecast over budget.

Graph Data Tab

The Graph Data tab shows the raw time-series data behind the chart; one row per period from project start through the selected reporting period.

Column	Description
Reporting Period	The period date (formatted as month/year in Monthly mode, year in Yearly mode)
Planned	Cumulative Budget (BCWS) for that period
Earned	Cumulative Earned Value (BCWP) for that period
Actual	Cumulative Actual Cost (ACWP) for that period

This tab is useful for verifying data or copying period-level values for external analysis.

Available Filters

The Project and Reporting Period selectors appear in the page header. All other filters are in the left-side filter panel, which activates after a reporting period is selected.

Filter	Description	Default
Project	Required. Loads reporting periods for the selected project.	:
Reporting Period	Required. Sets the “as of” date for all calculations.	:
Axis	Sets the time granularity of the chart x-axis: Monthly or Yearly.	Monthly
WBS	Limit the curves to a specific WBS element and its children. Selecting a WBS also filters the Work Package dropdown.	All WBS
Work Package	Further limit to a single work package. Populated based on the selected WBS; select a WBS first.	All WPs
CAM	Limit to work packages assigned to a specific Control Account Manager.	All CAMs
Start Date	Trim the chart to start at this date. Combined with End Date to zoom to a specific window.	Project start
End Date	Trim the chart to end at this date.	Project end
Currency Format	Override the display divisor for this session.	Registry / User Setting

Currency Format options:

Option	Effect
None: Use Registry / User Setting	Uses the project’s configured currency format
Default	Display values in base currency
K Value	Display in thousands
M Value	Display in millions

When to Use This Report

Use EV Curves at the start of any status review to establish the overall performance picture before diving into CPR detail. The S-curve immediately reveals whether performance is improving or degrading over time; something a tabular report alone cannot show. Use the Axis toggle to switch between monthly granularity (useful for recent periods) and yearly (useful for long-range projects to see the full arc of performance). Use the WBS and Work Package filters to narrow the curves to a specific area of the project when investigating a localized cost or schedule issue.

Exporting

Click the Download icon and select Export to Excel to download EVCurves.xlsx. The workbook contains three sheets:

Sheet	Contents
EV Chart	The S-curve chart as an embedded image
EV Summary Data	The Summary grid (Previous Cumulative / Current Period / Current Cumulative rows with all metric columns)
EV Chart Data	The Graph Data grid (one row per period with Reporting Period, Planned, Earned, Actual)

Getting Started

Estimating

Earned Value

Reporting

Schedule

Risk

Admin

Concepts

Earned Value Curves

Overview

Prerequisites

Reading the Chart

Summary Tab

Graph Data Tab

Available Filters

When to Use This Report

Exporting

​Overview

​Prerequisites

​Reading the Chart

​Summary Tab

​Graph Data Tab

​Available Filters

​When to Use This Report

​Exporting

Overview

Prerequisites

Reading the Chart

Summary Tab

Graph Data Tab

Available Filters

When to Use This Report

Exporting