In the Trenches with Microsoft® Office Project 2007

Reviewing Your Budget

Project costs and budget are always a consideration, but they take on a particularly important meaning when you discuss your project with management. Many project managers use earned value management as a technique to assess a project’s schedule and cost status based on resource expenditures. Using earned value management, project managers can identify potential problems because it goes beyond comparing budget amounts to actual amounts. It helps you assess and predict your project’s schedule and expenditures based on what has happened to date in your project.

For example, suppose that you find that you’ve spent $75,000 after four months of project work, but according to your project plan, you shouldn’t have spent that much ...