Budget calculations in project management:
- Cost Baseline: This is the approved version of the project’s budget and is used to measure and monitor project performance.
- Budget at Completion (BAC): The total budget for the project, including all planned costs for the project.
- Actual Cost (AC): The total cost incurred for the project to date.
- Earned Value (EV): The value of the work completed to date, measured in terms of the budget.
- Planned Value (PV): The budgeted cost for the work planned to be completed at a given point in time.
- Schedule Variance (SV): The difference between the planned value and the earned value of the project.
- Cost Variance (CV): The difference between the planned cost and the actual cost of the project.
- Cost Performance Index (CPI): A measure of how effectively project costs are being controlled, calculated as the ratio of the earned value to the actual cost.
- Schedule Performance Index (SPI): A measure of how effectively project schedule is being controlled, calculated as the ratio of the earned value to the planned value.
- Estimate at Completion (EAC): An estimate of the total cost of the project at its completion, calculated using various methods depending on the project’s performance.
- Variance at Completion (VAC): The difference between the budget at completion and the estimate at completion.
Budget at Completion (BAC)
The Budget at Completion (BAC) is the total budget for a project, including all planned costs. To calculate BAC, you would add up all of the costs that are expected to be incurred during the project, including direct costs (e.g. labor, materials, equipment) and indirect costs (e.g. overhead, contingencies).
For example:
- BAC = Direct costs + Indirect costs + Contingency costs
Where:
- Direct costs = sum of all costs that can be directly attributed to the project (e.g. labor, materials, equipment)
- Indirect costs = costs that cannot be directly attributed to the project (e.g. overhead, contingencies)
- Contingency costs = additional costs that may be incurred to deal with unforeseen events or risks.
It’s important to note that BAC is an estimation and not a fixed number, it can change during project execution due to any scope changes or unforeseen events.
