BCWP

BCWP stands for budgeted cost of work performed and is a key metric in earned value management (EVM). It represents the value, in budget terms, of the work that has actually been completed. In practice, BCWP is the earned value (EV) of the project: the sum of the budgets for the completed portions of the project, or equivalently, the budgeted cost of the work that has been finished. For a given task, BCWP equals the budgeted cost times the percent complete (for example, a task with a budgeted cost of 10,000 and 40% complete has a BCWP of 4,000).

BCWP is used to assess project performance by comparing it with other EVM measures. It is contrasted with ACWP, the actual cost of the work performed, to produce the cost variance (CV = BCWP − ACWP). It is also compared with PV (or BCWS, the budgeted cost of work scheduled) to yield the schedule variance (SV = BCWP − PV). Together with these variances, BCWP informs CPI (cost performance index = BCWP/ACWP) and SPI (schedule performance index = BCWP/PV), which are used for performance assessment and forecasting, including estimates to complete (ETC) and estimates at completion (EAC).

Limitations include reliance on accurate measurement of percent complete and budget allocations, and potential distortion when scope or budgets change. BCWP is a forward-looking representation of value tied to the project plan, not the actual expenditure. It is most informative when used alongside PV and ACWP to evaluate how efficiently and on schedule the project is progressing.