Pinnacle Insights

Much has been written about how complicated and difficult Earned Value Management (EVM) can be, and a term that has grown in popularity in response to this perception is “EVM Lite.” One of the problems with the term “EVM Lite” is that it suggests a version of EVM that is incomplete in some way. 

Earned Value Management (EVM) is not a perfect fit for all types of projects. For example, short-term projects, low risk projects, or projects using agile development techniques may not benefit from a full Earned Value Management System (though they may still benefit from a scaled or tailored EVMS). But for most projects, where there is a risk to on-time, on-budget delivery, and where cost and schedule need to be managed, earned value management benefits the project greatly. 

This article is part of a series on the roles and responsibilities involved in performing Integrated Program Management. Other articles included in this series are:

This article is part of a series on the roles and responsibilities involved in performing Integrated Program Management. Other articles included in this series are:

• Control Account Manager (CAM) Roles & Responsibilities
• Earned Value (EV) Analyst Roles & Responsibilities

The NDIA Integrated Program Management Division (IPMD) winter meeting was recently held on January 29th and 30th. L3Harris was gracious enough to host again this year at their gorgeous High-Tech Center in Palm Bay, Florida. This meeting had a packed agenda, great turnout, and a lot of information was presented.

The EIA-748 Guidelines for Earned Value Management (EVM) have been in publication since 1998 when they were originally published by the Electronics Industry Alliance (EIA) as an American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standard, ANSI/EIA-748-1998 (note that EIA-748 Guidelines are no longer published as an ANSI standard and have not been for some time). 

In December 2019, the Project Management Institute (PMI) published a new ANSI standard for Earned Value Management (EVM). “Wait a minute!” you may be thinking, “Isn’t there already an ANSI EVM standard?” The answer is a bit complicated and can be explained with a bit of history.