Critical Analysis on Earned Value Management (EVM) Technique in Building Construction

Luis Felipe Cândido¹, Luiz Fernando Mählmann Heineck² & José de Paula Barros Neto³

Abstract

Earned Value Management (EVM) is a technique of performance measurement focused on project physical, financial and time progress, indicating planned and actual performance, variations of them and forecasts on final project duration and cost. It takes a step further traditional measurement tools like PERT/Cost and C/SCSC. EVM is strongly supported by Project Management Community gather around the Project Management Institute, but recently the technique is being criticized in respect to its conceptual problems and implementation difficulties. This paper aims to explore in greater depth this debate through a case study on a construction project that applied EVM as a planning and control tool. Four major problems are analyzed in the search for an enlarged list of topics the EVM approach fails to support lean construction applications. Among them are the disregard for the mobilization of resources phase and the lack of consideration of construction indirect costs. Finally, the authors concluded that EVM is just an extension of the traditional approach of measuring physical and financial advances over time. This narrow approach is insufficient to provide a comprehensive managerial tool, as became clear through the analyses of the building project under consideration.

Keywords

EVM (Earned Value Management), Control of Building Projects, Lean Construction and Project Management.

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Reference

Cândido, L. F. , Heineck, L. F. M. & Neto, J. P. B. 2014. Critical Analysis on Earned Value Management (EVM) Technique in Building Construction , 22nd Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction , 159-170. doi.org/

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