Schedule Variance (SV) per Project

Schedule Variance (SV) per Project

Schedule Variance (SV) is a project management KPI that shows the difference between what was planned and what has been actually performed in terms of work according to your schedule. This variance metrics for a project shows whether your project is ahead or behind the schedule in terms of work. Schedule Variance (SV) can be found by the following formula:

SV = BCWP - BCWS

It is equal to:

Schedule Variance (SV) = Earned Value (EV) – Planned Value (PV)

BCWP or Budgeted Cost of Work Performed (EV or Earned Value) is the budgeted cost of work that has been actually performed up to a certain date according to your plan.

BCWS or Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled (PV or Planned Value) is the budgeted cost of work that should be done up to a certain date according to your plan.

If Schedule Variance (SV) is less than 0, the project is behind the schedule, i.e. it shows how much cost of the work you need to complete to stick to your schedule.

If Schedule Variance (SV) is more than 0, the project is ahead of the schedule, i.e. it shows how much cost of the work has been spent in excess of the budgeted cost.

If Schedule Variance (SV) is equal to 0, it means that it has been spent just as much as it was planned.

For example, a project has a budget of $30 000 USD.  It is obviously that at a halfway point the project should be 50% complete. So its Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled (BCWS) at halfway point should be $15 000 USD (50% from 30 000 USD). Suppose that the project hasn’t been 50% complete at planned halfway point and only 30% of work has been done. So Budgeted Cost of Work Performed (BCWP) is $9 000 USD (30% from $30 000 USD). Schedule Variance is as follows:  

SV = BCWP – BCWS = $9 000 USD – $15 000 USD = - $6 000 USD

The negative value of Schedule Variance (SV) indicates that the project is beyond the schedule and you need to complete $6 000 USD of work to stay within the budget.

The difference between BCWP and BCWS lets you compare the baseline schedule with the actual progress of a project. 

To calculate Schedule Variance (SV) please follow the steps below:

• Add the custom field "BCWP" with code "cf_bswp"



• Add the custom field "BCWS" with code "cf_bcws"



• Add the custom field "SV" (Schedule Variance) with the formula:

$cf_bcwp - $cf_bcws



• On Task Tree select the task group for which you need to display Schedule Variance (SV) per Project  and select "Custom fields options"



• Set the following custom fields settings for the custom fields: "BCWP", "BCWS" and "SV"
  • In "Settings for" select "This task group"
  • select "Enable"
  • select "Calculated by custom field formula (for task group)"









Schedule Variance (SV) per Project on Task Tree