Which metric combination is central to Earned Value Management?

• A. Schedule Variance and Cost Variance only
• B. Budget at Completion only
• C. Planned Value, Earned Value, Actual Cost
• D. Quality metrics and defect counts

Answer: (C)

Earned Value Management hinges on comparing what was planned to be done with what was actually done and what it cost, all in the same budget units. Planned Value is the budgeted cost of the work scheduled to be completed by a date, Earned Value is the budgeted cost of the work actually finished, and Actual Cost is what you’ve spent to complete that work. Having these three numbers lets you compute key measures that reveal both schedule and cost performance in one view—variance between earned value and planned value shows whether you’re ahead or behind schedule, while variance between earned value and actual cost shows whether you’re under or over budget. Ratios like CPI (EV divided by AC) and SPI (EV divided by PV) quantify cost efficiency and schedule efficiency, respectively. This integrated trio is why Earned Value Management works: you’re consistently comparing the same budgeted amount across planned, earned, and spent work. Other metrics, such as quality metrics, don’t provide the same integrated view, and while BAC (the total budget) helps gauge overall scope, it’s not one of the three core values used to perform the standard EVM calculations. For example, if PV is 100, EV is 90, and AC is 110, you get a cost variance of -20 and a schedule variance of -10, plus CPI of 0.82 and SPI of 0.90, illustrating both overspending and slippage in a single snapshot.