ARE Project Management (PjM) Practice Exam

Earned value management (EVM) is a project management technique that provides a comprehensive approach to measuring a project's performance and progress. It specifically compares the planned progress against actual progress to give both an efficient overview of where the project stands and insights into how it is performing.

This measurement is crucial because it integrates scope, schedule, and cost variables, allowing project managers to analyze variances and make projections about future performance. By assessing both the work that has actually been completed and the budgeted cost of that work, EVM enables a nuanced evaluation of a project's health, ultimately guiding decision-making processes in a way that helps keep projects on track.

Other options, such as measuring project costs against the budget, stakeholder satisfaction levels, or employee productivity rates, do serve important functions in project management but do not encompass the holistic performance evaluation that EVM offers by comparing planned versus actual progress directly.