Planned value compared with earned value measures the dollar value of work planned versus the equivalent dollar volume of work accomplished. Any difference is called a schedule variance. In contrast to what was planned, this graph shows the work accomplished in red. The difference between the planned work in blue and the work accomplished in red is the Schedule Variance. The graph shows a behind schedule condition.
Any difference is called a cost variance.
A negative variance means more money was spent for the work accomplished than was planned. Analysis of these variances should reveal the factors which are causing the deviation from plan. The Task Manager uses this information in conjunction with his knowledge of the task, to project the estimate to complete for this task. The work breakdown structure provides a useful framework for summarizing this performance information for all levels of management. The planned value, earned value, and actual cost data provides an objective measurement of performance, enabling trend analysis and evaluation of cost estimate at completion within multiple levels of the project.