Schedule Variance (SV)
Schedule Variance Percentage (SV%) takes the schedule health idea and turns it into a percentage, so you can see how far ahead or behind you are relative to the size of the plan. It builds on two Earned Value Management terms. "Planned Value" (PV) is the money-value of the work you were scheduled to have finished by now. "Schedule Variance" (SV) is your Earned Value (the value of work actually done) minus that Planned Value — positive when you're ahead, negative when you're behind.
To calculate SV%, take the Schedule Variance, divide it by the Planned Value, and multiply by 100. In plain words: compared to everything you were supposed to have accomplished by now, what percentage are you ahead or behind?
A positive SV% means you're ahead of schedule; a negative SV% means you're behind. Because it's a percentage, it's honest about scale — being $1,000 behind is minor on a large project but major on a small one, and the percentage captures that difference instantly. This makes it ideal for comparing progress across projects of different sizes.
A project manager uses SV% in dashboards and executive summaries, where a clean percentage communicates schedule status faster than raw dollars. A figure like −20% quickly flags a project slipping badly enough to need action.
Think of it like tracking how far through a book you should be. If you planned to read 200 pages by the weekend but only reached 160, saying you're '40 pages behind' means little on its own — but saying you're '20% behind' instantly shows how serious the gap is relative to your goal.
Say your plan called for $10,000 worth of work to be complete by today (Planned Value, PV), but you've actually completed $8,000 worth (Earned Value, EV). First find Schedule Variance: SV = EV − PV = $8,000 − $10,000 = −$2,000. Now apply the formula: SV% = SV / PV × 100 = −$2,000 / $10,000 × 100 = −20%. The result tells you the project is 20% behind its planned schedule — you've done one-fifth less work than you should have by now.
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