Earned Value Project Management, Second Edition

Chapter 8. Establish the Earned Value Project Baseline

Introduction

Some project managers refer to it as their “stake in the ground.” Others describe it simply as a “point of reference.” Whatever it may be called, all projects need to establish some type of baseline against which performance may be measured during the project’s life cycle.

This requirement is true for any project. But it is particularly critical for any project that employs earned value. Once under way, projects utilizing earned value will need to know precisely how much work they have physically accomplished—for example 15, 16, or 17 percent, in order to be able to predict with some degree of confidence how long it will take to finish the project, and how much the total bill might ...