Introduction to project management/IPM103/Budget/Glossary

Actual Cost (AV)

The sum of amounts actually spent on items/services for the project

Budgeted Cost of Work Performed (BCWP)

The budgeted cost of scheduled work that has been completed

Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled (BCWS)

The detailed cost estimates for each activity in a project.

Contingency Reserves

Money budgeted for dealing with unplanned but statistically predictable cost increases.

Cost Variance

The difference between the Earned Value (EV) and the Actual Cost (AC), expressed as a formula CV=EV-AC

Earned Value (EV)

The amount of the budget that has been spent by a particular point in the project

Earned Value Management (EVM)

A method of periodically comparing the budgeted costs with the actual costs during a project.

Estimate to Complete

Part way through the project, the manager evaluates the accuracy of the cost estimates for the activities that have taken place and uses that experience to predict how much money it will take to complete the unfinished activities; this is the Estimate to Complete.

Planned Value (PV)

The amount of work (in terms of cost) that should have been completed by a particular date; the sum of the budgeted cost of work up to a particular point in the project

Schedule Variance (SV)

The difference between the Earned Value (EV) and the Planned Value (PV), expressed as a formula SV=EV-PV