Earned value management, which is used to track earned value, is an integrated system of project management and control that enables a Contractor and their customer to monitor the progress of a project in terms of integrated cost, schedule, and technical performance measures. The Contractor/developer owns the process but the Acquirer/customer has full and timely visibility of the information contained within it. Traditional project management practice tends to compare actual costs with planned expenditures, and confuses actual costs with actual progress. EVM provides a third reference point that is an objective view of the status of the effort, i.e., the value to the end goal of the work completed to date..
SPMN Critical Software Practices: #4: Track Earned Value - The SPMN was established in 1992 by the Assistant Secretary of the Navy to identify proven industry and government software best practices and convey these practices to managers of large-scale DoD system acquisition programs. The SPMN 16 Critical Software PracticesTM specifically address underlying cost and schedule drivers that have caused many software intensive systems to be delivered over budget, behind schedule and with significant performance shortfalls.
Practice Number 4 is Track Earned Value. Details can be found on the SPMN web site listed below.
DACS Gold Practice Initiative
