Earned Value Management for Construction Projects Training Course

Duration 10 days 16 modules · 65 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Project Managers, Project Controls Engineers and others
Fee from USD 2,200 KSh 190,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 9 Nov 2026 Course code SD-CM-070

Before you join: Participants should understand basic construction project terminology, including work packages, programmes, budgets, quantities, progress reporting and change control.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Construction projects can appear financially healthy while falling behind planned production. Cost reports show invoices and commitments, schedules show dates and activities, and site teams report progress in different measures. Earned Value Management (EVM) connects authorised scope, time-phased budget, actual cost and verified physical progress to reveal cost and schedule variance early. Used properly, it gives project managers, commercial teams and sponsors a disciplined basis for forecasting final cost, challenging recovery claims and making timely decisions.

This course teaches participants to establish and operate an EVM control system for construction work. Participants develop a work breakdown structure, control accounts, a time-phased performance measurement baseline, objective earning rules and monthly reporting cycles. They calculate planned value, earned value, actual cost, cost variance, schedule variance, CPI, SPI, estimate at completion and estimate to complete. The programme also addresses progress measurement for engineering, procurement and construction, change control, subcontractor reporting, indirect costs, cash flow and recovery forecasting.

Teaching combines short technical briefings with worked construction cases, spreadsheet-based calculations, group reviews and decision simulations. Participants build an EVM pack progressively from the first week, using a realistic project scenario such as a building, road, utility or industrial installation. They leave with reusable templates and a completed EVM control model that can be adapted to their own project, including baseline data, progress rules, variance analysis, forecasts and management reporting.

The course is suited to professionals who already work with project schedules, cost plans, work packages or progress reporting and need to connect these controls into a reliable performance-management process. It is appropriate for client, consultant, contractor and programme-management teams working on capital projects.

What you will be able to do

  • Build a construction work breakdown structure linked to control accounts and work packages
  • Create a time-phased performance measurement baseline from scope, schedule and cost data
  • Define objective earned value techniques for engineering, procurement and construction activities
  • Calculate planned value, earned value, actual cost, CV, SV, CPI and SPI
  • Forecast estimate at completion and estimate to complete using EVM forecasting methods
  • Analyse cost and schedule variances through root-cause and trend analysis
  • Design monthly EVM reporting packs for project managers, sponsors and commercial teams
  • Present a complete construction EVM control model and corrective-action plan

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Produce defensible cost and schedule forecasts before overruns become irreversible
  • Challenge subjective progress claims using agreed physical completion evidence
  • Explain CPI, SPI and estimate-at-completion results clearly to senior decision-makers
  • Build a credible project-controls portfolio for construction management roles
  • Apply one reporting method across contractor, consultant and client project teams

For your organisation

  • Earlier identification of cost overruns, production shortfalls and forecast completion delays
  • Consistent progress measurement between site teams, planners and commercial functions
  • Better substantiation of management decisions, recovery actions and funding requests
  • Improved scrutiny of subcontractor claims, payment applications and reported completion
  • Comparable performance reporting across projects, packages and programme portfolios

Course modules

16 modules over 10 days

Participants can explain how EVM connects scope, schedule, cost and verified construction progress.

  • Earned Value Management principles for integrated construction project performance control
  • Differences between accounting cost reports, progress reports and EVM data
  • Project lifecycle decisions supported by early cost and schedule indicators
  • Client, contractor and consultant responsibilities within an EVM governance structure
  • Key EVM terminology: PV, EV, AC, BAC, EAC and ETC
  • Construction reporting cycles aligned with site measurement and payment dates

Participants can structure construction scope for traceable planning, budgeting and performance measurement.

  • Work Breakdown Structure design from asset, discipline and deliverable definitions
  • Control account boundaries aligned with management responsibility and reporting needs
  • Work package definition using measurable outputs, quantities and acceptance criteria
  • Organisational Breakdown Structure links for accountable control account managers
  • WBS dictionaries specifying inclusions, exclusions, interfaces and measurement units
  • Mapping contract packages, bill items and subcontract scopes to work packages

Participants can establish control accounts with clear ownership, scope and authorised budgets.

  • Responsibility Assignment Matrix connecting WBS elements with accountable project roles
  • Control account plans combining authorised scope, schedule and budget data
  • Planning package use for future work with incomplete detailed definition
  • Work authorization processes before budgets and schedule activities become performance data
  • Accountable manager roles in validating progress, costs and variance explanations
  • Control account registers recording codes, owners, budgets and reporting periods

Participants can identify schedule data required to support credible earned value measurement.

  • Critical Path Method schedules structured around measurable construction work packages
  • Activity coding standards linking schedule activities to control account identifiers
  • Logical relationships, constraints and calendars affecting planned value distribution
  • Baseline dates distinguished from current forecast dates and approved changes
  • Schedule quality checks using missing logic, excessive lags and open ends
  • Milestone definitions supporting objective achievement evidence and contractual reporting

Participants can create a time-phased budget baseline from authorised scope and schedule information.

  • Performance Measurement Baseline construction from approved control account budgets
  • Time-phasing direct costs against scheduled work package start and finish dates
  • Resource-loaded schedules compared with cost-loaded budget distribution approaches
  • Budget at Completion reconciliation with approved project control budgets
  • Management reserve separated from distributed budgets and earned value calculations
  • Undistributed budget treatment during early scope definition and authorisation periods

Participants can calculate planned value profiles that reflect planned construction production.

  • Planned Value curves generated from time-phased control account budgets
  • Linear spreading compared with quantity-weighted and resource-weighted budget loading
  • Front-loaded procurement budgets matched with contractual payment and delivery milestones
  • Labour, plant and material cost profiles for civil construction work
  • S-curve interpretation for cumulative planned value and period budget analysis
  • Baseline review checks for double counting, omissions and timing distortions

Participants can select earning rules suited to different construction deliverables and risk profiles.

  • Fixed formula methods including 0/100, 50/50 and weighted milestone rules
  • Physical percent complete derived from installed quantities and verified measurements
  • Weighted milestone methods for engineering deliverables, approvals and document issue
  • Units-complete earning rules for concrete, piping, cabling and earthworks
  • Apportioned effort treatment for supervision, temporary works and project support
  • Level-of-effort budgets controlled separately from measurable production work

Participants can establish evidence-based progress measurement procedures for monthly EVM reporting.

  • Quantity measurement sheets matched with drawings, specifications and inspection records
  • Rules of credit defining when construction work becomes eligible for earning
  • Site walkdown evidence including photographs, test certificates and completion records
  • Hold points and quality acceptance gates before earned value recognition
  • Progress validation roles for site engineers, planners and commercial representatives
  • Data-date discipline separating completed work from forecast remaining work

Participants can assemble actual cost data that is timely, complete and comparable with earned value.

  • Actual cost collection from payroll, invoices, accruals and equipment records
  • Cost coding structures aligned with control accounts and work package budgets
  • Accrual methods for received work not yet invoiced or paid
  • Commitments, actual costs and forecast costs distinguished within cost reports
  • Reconciling general ledger costs with project control system reporting
  • Period cut-off rules preventing timing errors in monthly performance results

Participants can calculate and interpret core earned value variances and performance indices.

  • Cost Variance calculation using earned value minus actual cost
  • Schedule Variance calculation using earned value minus planned value
  • Cost Performance Index interpretation for completed work cost efficiency
  • Schedule Performance Index interpretation for planned production achievement
  • Current-period results compared with cumulative trends and control thresholds
  • Variance percentage calculations supporting proportional assessment across control accounts

Participants can develop completion forecasts using EVM indices, bottom-up estimates and risk judgement.

  • Estimate at Completion using BAC divided by cumulative CPI
  • Independent Estimate at Completion using actual cost plus remaining budget
  • CPI and SPI combined forecasts for projects with schedule-driven cost exposure
  • Estimate to Complete built from quantities, productivity and remaining commitments
  • To-Complete Performance Index testing feasibility of target completion budgets
  • Forecast assumptions recorded with ownership, evidence and review dates

Participants can investigate significant variances and prepare accountable corrective-action plans.

  • Variance Analysis Reports structured around cause, impact, action and ownership
  • Root cause analysis using five whys and cause-and-effect diagrams
  • Productivity variance separated from quantity growth, price escalation and rework
  • Schedule delay impacts traced through work fronts, interfaces and critical paths
  • Corrective actions assigned with dates, expected benefits and verification measures
  • Trend registers distinguishing isolated events from recurring control account problems

Participants can control authorised baseline changes without obscuring underlying project performance.

  • Baseline Change Requests documenting scope, budget, schedule and approval impacts
  • Authorised changes distinguished from forecast changes and unauthorised scope growth
  • Retrospective baseline changes prevented through formal change-control cut-off dates
  • Budget transfers between control accounts recorded with clear management rationale
  • Contract variations integrated with revised work packages and performance measures
  • Baseline logs preserving audit trails for management and client review

Participants can incorporate subcontract, procurement and indirect-cost performance into construction EVM.

  • Subcontractor EVM requirements embedded within scope, reporting and payment clauses
  • Procurement earned value tied to purchase orders, fabrication and delivery milestones
  • Material cost recognition matched with receipt, installation and ownership transfer
  • Indirect cost control for site preliminaries, supervision and temporary facilities
  • Subcontractor progress claims tested against agreed earning rules and evidence
  • Supplier reporting calendars aligned with project data dates and governance reviews

Participants can prepare concise EVM reports that support timely project decisions.

  • Monthly performance reports combining metrics, explanations, forecasts and corrective actions
  • Control account dashboards highlighting threshold breaches and adverse performance trends
  • S-curves comparing planned value, earned value and actual cost
  • Estimate-at-completion narratives explaining material changes since previous reporting periods
  • Executive reporting focused on decisions, exposures, actions and required approvals
  • Data quality checks before issuing project performance information to stakeholders

Participants can build, review and present a complete EVM control model, forecast and corrective-action plan for a construction project.

  • Project WBS, control accounts and responsibility assignments assembled into one model
  • Time-phased baseline created from scope, schedule and authorised budget information
  • Progress measurement rules selected for engineering, procurement and site production
  • PV, EV, AC, CPI, SPI and EAC calculations completed
  • Variance causes, corrective actions and forecast assumptions documented for review
  • Management report presented with performance findings, decisions and implementation priorities

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Construction EVM implementation checklist
  2. Control account plan template
  3. Time-phased performance measurement baseline model
  4. Progress measurement rules register
  5. Monthly variance analysis report template
  6. Estimate-at-completion forecasting workbook

Who should attend

  • Project Managers — need early warning of cost and schedule performance
  • Project Controls Engineers — build and maintain integrated cost and schedule controls
  • Planning Engineers — connect schedules, quantities and progress measurement methods
  • Quantity Surveyors — assess cost performance, commitments and forecast final accounts
  • Commercial Managers — challenge subcontractor progress claims and recovery forecasts
  • Programme Managers — compare performance consistently across multiple capital projects

Skills and tools covered

Performance measurement baselinesProgress measurement rulesEVM variance analysisCost completion forecastingConstruction control accountsManagement performance reporting

Tools and standards

ANSI/EIA-748 Earned Value Management Systems, ISO 21508 Earned Value Management in Project and Programme Management, Critical Path Method, Work Breakdown Structure

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings followed by worked construction examples, spreadsheet calculations, facilitated group analysis and decision simulations. Participants apply each method to a continuing capital-project case, progressively building scope, schedule, budget, progress and forecast information. Case material includes contractor payment claims, procurement packages, change events, delayed work fronts and management reporting requirements. Facilitated reviews compare alternative progress-measurement rules and forecast assumptions. Participants also prepare an application plan for adapting the EVM approach to their own reporting cycle and project governance.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should understand basic construction project terminology, including work packages, programmes, budgets, quantities, progress reporting and change control. Experience reading a project schedule, cost report or monthly progress report is expected. Participants should be comfortable using spreadsheet formulae such as sums, percentages and simple lookups. Prior use of Earned Value Management is not required. Advanced scheduling software, specialist cost-management systems, statistical modelling and formal project-management certification are not required. Participants may bring anonymised examples of current project reports if their organisation permits it.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

You should understand basic construction project terms and have experience reading schedules, budgets or progress reports. You do not need previous EVM experience or advanced knowledge of planning software.

Bring a laptop with spreadsheet software if possible, as calculations and reporting models are explored in spreadsheet form. You may also bring anonymised schedules, cost reports or progress reports where your employer permits this.

It is designed for project managers, planners, project controls staff, quantity surveyors, commercial managers and programme personnel. It suits client, consultant and contractor staff involved in capital-project reporting.

Planning courses focus primarily on logic, critical paths and schedule development, while cost-control courses often focus on commitments, invoices and forecasts. This course integrates schedule, budget, actual cost and verified progress into one performance-control method.

Participants leave with templates for control accounts, baseline development, progress rules, variance reporting and completion forecasting. These can be adapted to an existing monthly reporting cycle, subject to project governance and contract requirements.

The first part establishes scope, schedules, budgets and progress-measurement rules. The later sessions focus on actual costs, calculations, forecasting, variance analysis, reporting, change control and a final capstone presentation.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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