Office of the Chief Information Officer &
High Performance Computing and Communications
Earned Value Management
Earned Value Management (EVM) is required for IT investments classified as “Major” by OMB Circular-11 guidelines, for portions of work that is considered development, modernization, and enhancement (DME). Work that is considered “Steady State”, technology refresh, operations and maintenance is not a part of EVM. When a project has a mixed life cycle, that is some parts DME and others Steady State, EVM is done for the DME portion only. Line Offices with Major IT Exhibit 300s are required to comply with this guidance.
EVM is a project management methodology for overseeing the cost and schedule performance of projects, by comparing "planned" work with "accomplished" work. It is inter-related with Risk Management, because Risk Management mitigates potential project issues that might force a project to deviate from its planned cost and schedule.
Quarterly:
- Provide Earned Value Management reports for all major DME IT projects, providing, for the previous quarter, monthly Planned Value, Earned Value, and Actual Cost figures. These Earned Value data points must include full-time employee costs as well as contract costs.
- Report directly to the attention of the Department’s CIO any investment showing a 10% or greater negative cost or schedule variance.
Monthly: Provide EVM for major IT investments in the planning and development stages.
EVM Guidance and Documents:
Earned Value Management: Guidance, Template (NOAA employees only) and Example (NOAA employees only)
Current EVM Report (NOAA employees only)