Earned Value Management (EVM) is a technique that can be used to measure project performance against the project baseline. This technique can be considered by insight to be one of the best practices areas for monitoring project performance from both a cost and schedule perspective. It is always important to think about two things, ahead of schedule vs behind schedule and over budget vs under budget. With PV, AC, and EV, some calculations can be done like the Schedule Performance Index (SPI), and Cost Performance Index (CPI). For both SPI and CPI > 1 is good and if it <1 is bad. For example, if we are in a hurry, for both cost and schedule and we subtract instead of dividing so we can get the variance. These calculations can help a project manager identify problems early and be more proactive and reactive.