Ahead or behind? Know.
Four numbers give you your CPI and SPI, the two indexes that tell you whether the job is over or under budget and ahead or behind schedule. Free, no signup.
CPI = earned value ÷ actual cost. SPI = earned value ÷ planned value. Earned value is your budget times the percent of work physically complete. On both, 1.0 is the line: above 1.0 is under budget or ahead of schedule, below 1.0 is over or behind. Many construction projects run 0.90 to 1.05.
Your numbers
“Actually complete” is your physical progress. “Should be complete” is where the baseline schedule says you should be today.
Earned Value Performance
Both cost and schedule under pressure
Variance
Status
Cost at risk — slightly behind plan
Schedule at risk — slightly behind plan
Prefer a spreadsheet? Download the free EVM tracker — real formulas and cited sources built in.
Download the EVM tracker (XLSX)The index is where other software stops. It's where POD starts.
A one-time CPI tells you where you stand today. POD reads the daily reports, schedules, and cost files your team already produces and keeps CPI and SPI live on every project, per work package, updated as the work happens, and only from the numbers your data backs.
What CPI means
CPI = earned value ÷ actual cost. A 1.0 means every dollar spent bought a dollar of work. Under 1.0 is over budget; over 1.0 is under budget.
What SPI means
SPI = earned value ÷ planned value. It compares what you have finished against what the baseline schedule expected by today. Under 1.0 is behind.
Earned value
Earned value is budget × percent physically complete. It is the honest measure of progress, not hours logged or invoices sent.
Questions & answers
1.0 is the line. A CPI of 1.0 means you are getting a dollar of work for every dollar spent. Above 1.0 is under budget or ahead of schedule; below 1.0 means over budget or behind. Many construction projects run 0.90 to 1.05.
Method & sources
CPI equals earned value divided by actual cost; SPI equals earned value divided by planned value — the earned value management indices. Earned value is your budget at completion multiplied by the percent of work physically complete. Below 1.00 means over budget (CPI) or behind schedule (SPI). SPI in dollars loses meaning near completion, which is why earned-schedule methods exist.
Sources: PMI PMBOK Guide (Earned Value Management) · ANSI/EIA-748 EVMS standard
Methodology reviewed by the Plan of Day construction team · July 2026
These indices are only as honest as the percent-complete you enter.
See these indexes on your own project.
POD keeps SPI and CPI live for every work package, rebuilt from the reports your crews already file, so a package drifting off plan shows up on its own instead of averaging into a green top line.
Last updated: July 2026