Custom earned value management software
Appfront develops custom earned value management software that brings budget, earned progress and actual costs together in a single model. From this it derives performance indices and an estimate at completion based on facts rather than hindsight. This lets you see deviations while you can still act on them, per work package and across the entire portfolio. Get in touch to discuss your situation.
What is earned value management software?
Earned value management is a method of expressing project progress in monetary terms. Rather than asking whether something is finished, you compare three quantities: what the work should have cost according to plan up to now, what value has actually been earned, and what has really been spent. From these, you derive a cost performance index and a schedule performance index, and with them a forecast of the final outcome.
The strength lies in early warning. A project showing a structural cost overrun halfway through rarely recovers, and with EVM you know this months earlier than with a conventional progress report. The difficulty lies in the inputs: EVM only works when progress and costs are recorded consistently and on time.
That is why we build this as custom software that fits the way your organisation already records hours, purchases and invoices. The difference between an EVM system that works and one that is abandoned almost always comes down to how heavy the data entry feels to the project manager.
Work packages with a measurement method
For each work package you define how progress is measured — milestones, percentage complete or units delivered — so that earned value does not depend on a gut feeling.
CPI, SPI and estimate at completion
Performance indices and a forecast per work package, project and portfolio, with insight into which part of the variance comes from where.
Data entry that fits daily practice
Hours and costs flow in from the systems where they already live. The project manager adds only what only they know, rather than re-entering everything.
Earned value versus project management? Where the boundary lies
EVM does not replace your project management system; it is a dedicated control layer. Appfront has a page on each; here is where the line falls.
Control on cost and forecast
Budget, earned value and actual costs in one model, with performance indices and a substantiated estimate at completion. Aimed at project controllers, project directors and clients who want to know early whether a project is going off track.
Planning, tasks and collaboration
Creating plans, assigning tasks, sharing documents and tracking day-to-day progress. For that, see custom project management software or, for capacity and resourcing, planning board software.
Our development process for your EVM system
EVM stands or falls on data quality, so we devote disproportionate attention to where the figures come from before we start on screens.
We map how your projects are structured, how budgeting is done, where hours and costs are currently recorded and how progress is determined. Often the data exists but not at the same level, and that is precisely what makes EVM impossible.
We design the work breakdown structure, the measurement methods per type of work, the calculation rules and the reports for the project manager, controller and board — each with the level of detail appropriate to their role.
We build in short iterations with automated tests, structured logging and monitoring. You see working versions along the way and steer the work based on what your team actually needs in practice, rather than on a specification written months earlier.
Controlled go-live with validation and a safety net, followed by ongoing management, monitoring and further development as your project portfolio or governance model evolves.
What custom EVM software development actually delivers
What we build depends on how your projects are structured. These are the components that come up most often.
Work breakdown structure
A project structure in which budget, schedule and actuals come together at the same level, with the ability to aggregate up to project, programme and portfolio.
Progress measurement by method
For each work package, the measurement method that suits it: milestones, weighted percentage, units delivered or effort-based pro rata. This ensures like is compared with like.
Costs from source systems
Hours, purchase invoices and commitments come in through integrations with your timesheet, purchasing and financial systems, including commitments not yet invoiced. Otherwise the comparison doesn't add up.
Indices and forecasts
CPI, SPI, cost and schedule variance, and an estimate at completion per work package, with the option to record a manual forecast together with its justification where the calculated one isn't realistic.
Changes and additional work
Approved changes that adjust the baseline budget, with a full history, so you can later trace against which baseline performance was measured and when that baseline shifted.
Reporting and dashboards
Reporting by role, from a work package overview for the project manager to a portfolio view for the board, with alerts when an index moves outside its tolerance.
Typical use cases in practice
EVM proves most valuable on long-running projects with a substantial budget and a client who expects interim accountability.
Construction and infrastructure
Projects with long durations, many subcontractors and additional work, where the question of whether the project will land within budget is only answered late if you rely on invoices alone.
Industry and engineering
Engineering-to-order projects in which design, procurement and production overlap and progress needs to be measured differently for each discipline.
Government and semi-public bodies
Projects with a duty to account to a board or supervisory body, where a substantiated forecast is worth more than an optimistic estimate.
Project organisations with a portfolio
Organisations running dozens of projects at once that want to know which need attention, without reviewing each one by hand.
Test your idea first: a working prototype in 1 day
With OneDayBuild, we turn your idea into something tangible in one day for €1,150, so you can see whether further development is worth the investment. Decide to go ahead with the full build? Then we credit the full cost.
Explore OneDayBuild →Technology we use
EVM is primarily an integration and calculation challenge. The precise choice depends on your processes, the systems to be integrated and your hosting preferences. We deliberately choose a stack that your own team can manage and develop further, with no dependence on per-user licences.
Why choose Appfront for your EVM system?
Appfront builds custom software for a range of organisations across the Netherlands. For EVM, we first ask the uncomfortable question: is your source data good enough to measure against? If not, that is the first thing we fix, because a forecast built on flawed data is worse than no forecast at all.
We design deliberately from the perspective of the project manager. Reports for the board are quick to produce; the hard part is a system the people who feed the figures find genuinely useful. If that fails, every EVM implementation bogs down in overdue data entry.
On every project we write clear documentation and make sure your own team, or a future supplier, can understand and manage the system. No black box: transparent code and clear agreements on monitoring, alerting and maintenance. You own the solution and pay no per-user licence fee.
See also our wider services around custom software, project management software and cost estimating software. Unsure about the approach? Get in touch.
Security and access for your EVM system
An EVM system holds budgets, margins and forecasts: commercially sensitive information that not everyone should be able to see. Appfront builds to the OWASP ASVS, with role-based access following least privilege and separation by project, programme or business unit.
Hours are personal data. We therefore aggregate them wherever possible and make them traceable to individuals only where it is functionally necessary, with an audit trail on access. We document the data flows for your processing register, and GDPR is the starting point.
More on our security approach: information security policy and CVD policy.
- Encryption in transit (TLS 1.2+) and at rest
- Role-based access following least privilege
- Audit trail for viewing and changes
- Secrets in a secure vault, not in code
- Documented data flows for your record of processing activities
- Protection of margins and forecasts by role
Frequently asked questions about custom earned value management software development
Answers to the questions we are asked most often.
A method for expressing project progress in monetary terms. You compare the planned value to date, the actual value achieved and the actual costs. From those three figures you derive a cost performance index and a schedule performance index, and from them a forecast for the final cost and completion date. The advantage is that deviations become visible while there is still time to correct course.
Project management software helps with planning, dividing up tasks and collaboration. EVM software is a control layer on top of that, which sets budget, progress and costs against one another. The two don't conflict: in practice, we connect an EVM system to the planning and timesheet tools you already have, so project managers don't have to work in two systems.
By keeping input as small as possible. Hours and invoices come automatically from source systems; what the project manager adds is the progress only they can judge, preferably as a completed milestone rather than a percentage they have to estimate. If the input feels heavier than the benefit, an EVM system won't be used, however good the reports look.
Yes, provided you define what 'value' means. In agile work, a completed and accepted story or increment is a sound unit. What doesn't work is imposing EVM on work whose scope is still wide open, as you would then be measuring against a baseline that has no meaning. Beforehand we discuss which parts of your portfolio lend themselves to EVM and which do not.
Yes, and that matters. The calculated estimate at completion assumes the rest of the project will proceed as it has so far, and sometimes the project manager knows better. We always record such a manual forecast with its justification, alongside the calculated value, so that afterwards it is visible who was right, which makes the next forecast better.
At a minimum, your timesheet system and your financial or purchasing system, because without actual costs there is no EVM. Often the planning tool is added, and sometimes an ERP system for commitments. We investigate which integrations are technically feasible in the first phase, as this largely determines what is possible.
Yes. Work packages aggregate to project, programme and portfolio, so the board can see which projects are running outside tolerance without having to review everything. You set the alerting yourself: when is an index a reason for attention and when for intervention.
There are strong packages, particularly for large engineering and construction projects. They are, however, heavy and assume a way of working that you would then have to adopt. Custom development pays off when you want to connect to the systems and working methods you already have, or when you only need the control layer and not the whole package around it.
Ready to have your earned value management software built?
Tell us how your projects are structured, where hours and costs currently stand, and which question you can't answer part-way through. We're happy to think along with you about scope, integrations and the first version. A no-obligation first conversation will give you a clear picture of the possibilities and whether custom software is worthwhile in your situation.