Earned Value Management: An Overview

This reference is intended to define the basic elements of an effective performance measurement system. An important part of project management is the art of making tradeoffs -- trading off cost, schedule and technical performance in an effort to get the best product at the lowest cost in the shortest time. Performance measurement, on the other hand, is the art of determining, organizing and presenting cost, schedule and technical performance information in a way that contributes to making those tradeoffs.