How does Earned Value Management (EVM) integrate scope, schedule, and cost performance?

• A. By tracking only costs and ignoring schedule.
• B. By using earned value against quality metrics.
• C. By comparing planned value, earned value, and actual cost to determine status and forecast variances.
• D. By evaluating scope changes after completion.

Answer: (C)

Earned Value Management links what you planned to do, what you actually did, and what you spent in a single view. It does this by using three key numbers: planned value (the budgeted amount for the work scheduled to be done by a date), earned value (the budgeted amount for the work actually completed, reflecting the scope that's been realized), and actual cost (what you’ve spent to complete that work). By comparing these, you can see how the project is performing against the plan.

This approach gives clear status signals and forecast insights. If earned value is less than planned value, you’re behind schedule in monetary terms; if earned value is greater than actual cost, you’re spending more or less efficiently than planned, and so on. The ratios SPI (EV on PV) and CPI (EV on AC) quantify schedule efficiency and cost efficiency, and forecasts like estimate at completion (EAC) help anticipate final outcomes. In short, EVM is about measuring scope delivered (EV) against what was planned (PV) and what was actually spent (AC) to determine variances and guide forecasting.

The other options miss the core integration: focusing only on costs ignores schedule, using earned value for quality metrics misreads what EV represents, and evaluating scope changes after completion ignores the ongoing, proactive performance measurement that EVM provides.