Track project budget vs actual spending with line item detail, earned value, and cost variance analysis with burn-down charts.
Planned budget, committed spend, and completed work are three different numbers, and this tool keeps them separate. You enter each line item's budget, actual spending, and percent complete; it totals the budget and spend, computes each line item's variance, and derives earned value, cost variance, and the cost performance index (CPI), alongside a burn-down chart of remaining budget over time. The surprise for most users: a project can be under budget in raw terms and over budget in earned-value terms, because spending only looks low when work is running late.
A concrete input and expected output from the current implementation.
Input
Line item,Budget,Actual,% complete Design,15000,16000,100 Development,25000,21000,80 Testing,6000,5000,40 Project management,4000,4500,100
Expected output
Line item Budget Actual Variance (actual - budget) Design 15,000 16,000 +1,000 Development 25,000 21,000 -4,000 Testing 6,000 5,000 -1,000 Project management 4,000 4,500 +500 Total 50,000 46,500 -3,500 (under budget) Earned value (budget x % complete): 41,400 Cost variance (EV - AC): -5,100 (over budget) CPI (EV / AC): 0.89
Raw totals say the project is $3,500 under budget, but the Development item is only 80% complete: $20,000 of value earned (25,000 x 0.8) against $21,000 spent. Across all items, $41,400 of completed work cost $46,500, a $5,100 cost overrun, so the earned-value view is the opposite of the raw view.
Each line item carries a budget, an actual amount, and a percent-complete figure. The tool sums budgets and actuals across items and computes each item's variance, then converts percent complete into earned value per item by multiplying budget by completion. Earned value totals feed the cost variance (EV minus AC) and the cost performance index (EV divided by AC), which normalizes overruns across projects of different sizes.
The burn-down chart plots remaining budget (budget minus actuals to date) against time or reporting period. A flat or rising line means spending is tracking below plan; a line dropping faster than the planned slope means spend is running ahead. The chart is only as honest as its actuals - it reflects cash spent, not work completed, so it must be read alongside earned value rather than instead of it.
Because earned value compares what the completed work was worth against what it cost, not budget against spending. If $20,000 of work is only half done, the earned value is $10,000; spending $12,000 so far means a $2,000 cost overrun even though you are $8,000 under budget in raw terms. Slow progress hides as savings.
CPI is earned value divided by actual cost. Below 1.0 means every dollar of spending is producing less than a dollar of completed work - the project is overrunning. CPI of 0.89 implies the final cost lands near budget divided by 0.89, roughly 12% over, if efficiency holds. The tool computes the number; the decision to re-scope is yours.
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