What is the purpose of Earned Value Management (EVM)?

• A. To manage scope changes
• B. To communicate with stakeholders
• C. To measure project performance by comparing work completed to what was planned in terms of cost and schedule.
• D. To document requirements

Answer: (C)

Earned Value Management combines scope, schedule, and cost to measure how a project is performing against its plan. It uses three measures: planned value (the budgeted cost of work scheduled), earned value (the budgeted cost of work actually completed), and actual cost (what has been spent). By comparing earned value to planned value, you assess schedule performance; by comparing earned value to actual cost, you assess cost performance. This framework helps you quantify variances and calculate indices like SPI and CPI, which support forecasting and early corrective actions. It’s not primarily about handling scope changes, simply communicating with stakeholders, or documenting requirements; its purpose is to provide a rigorous, integrated view of progress and likely final outcomes by linking what was planned, what has been done, and what has been spent.