EDM: Earned Duration Management, a new approach to schedule performance management and measurement

The concept of schedule monitoring and control as one of the most important functions of project and program management has not been fully exploited. One possible explanation could be the dominance of the Earned Value Management System (EVMS, also known as EVM). EVM was originally developed as a cost management and control tool which was extended to track the schedule as well. EVM and its derivatives (e.g. Earned Schedule) use cost as a proxy to measure schedule performance to control the duration of the project. While there is a correlation between schedule, cost, quality, and scope of a project, using cost to control duration has proven to be misleading. In contrast to Earned Value and Earned Schedule, the authors have developed the Earned Duration Management (EDM) in which they have decoupled schedule and cost performance measures and developed a number of indices to measure progress and performance of schedule and cost, as well as the efficacy and efficiency of the plan at any level of the project. These new indices are easy to understand, have wider applications, and can be used by contractors, clients and the scheduling offices to assess and measure schedule performance. The newly developed duration performance measures are all schedule-based and can be used for forecasting the finish date of the project.