Earned Value Management: The Truth,

the Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth

COMMENTARY

By Dr. Paul D. Giammalvo

Jakarta, Indonesia

FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS OF APPLIED EARNED VALUE PER GILLETTE & DANA

In the first installment of this paper, the author established a basic understanding of the real or true story of the origins and evolution of Earned Value Management.  In this, 2^nd installment, the author will walk the reader through the pages of Gillette and Dana’s 1909 book “Cost Keeping and Management Engineering: A Treatise for Engineers, Contractors and Superintendents Engaged in the Management of Engineering Construction, and then show you step-by-step how we have updated the work of Taylor, Gantt, Fayol, the Gilbreth’s et al. as compiled and explained by Gillette and Dana for use in Excel and how we have taken advantage of established AI tools & techniques.

Figure 1- Earned Value was NOT Designed to be COMPLICATED.

While there is sufficient evidence indicating that the fundamental concepts of applied Earned Value Management can be found in the Old and New Testaments^[1], the tangible proof indicate that what we know today as Earned Value Management (EVM) ORIGINATED as a “payment for performance” or “cash on delivery” system, which is a tested and PROVEN system that originated with the French and British Guilds in the 16th Century.

A 16th-century farmer would take his/her grain to the local miller. The miller would grind the grain into flour, and the following day, the farmer would return to the miller. Together, they will weigh the flour (the finished product or asset), and the farmer will pay for the “value-added services” provided by the miller.

Is everyone familiar with the greengrocer example process shown in Figure 1? Is it UNFAIR to the BUYER? Is it unfair to the SELLER? So why does the US Government not apply this same concept to government contractors? If it works for the private sector and has been in use since biblical times, why can’t or won’t governments adopt a system that has been tested and proven to work for hundreds, if not thousands, of years?

With the growing dissatisfaction with the US Government’s FIDUCIARY STEWARDSHIP^[2], and management of the TAXPAYER’s money, this author is proposing you consider ABANDONING SAE EIA 748D-2019 and REPLACING it with an EVM System that protects the interests of both the SELLER and the BUYER while working to ensure that the US TAXPAYER is getting honest “value for their money”- Quality products/assets delivered on time and within budget designed to substantially fulfill the purpose for which the asset was commissioned to achieve.

Why is all this so important? As we are already using generative AI, which has typically focused on administrative tasks, such as tech support and file management. The focus now is on agentic AI, a more advanced form of artificial intelligence with enhanced reasoning capabilities that can independently plan and execute complex tasks. Before we can do this, we MUST purge the system of any and all “fake news” or systems that have failed to prove their effectiveness. (e.g., ANSI 748)

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How to cite this paper: Giammalvo, P. D. (2025). Earned Value Management: The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth (Part 2); PM World Journal, Vol. XIV, Issue IX, September. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/pmwj156-Sep2025-Giammalvo-EVM-The-Truth-the-Whole-Truth-Part-2.pdf

About the Author

Dr. Paul D. Giammalvo

Jakarta, Indonesia

Dr. Paul D. Giammalvo, CDT, CCE (#1240), MScPM, MRICS, is a Senior Technical Advisor (Project Management) to PT Mitratata Citragraha. (PTMC), Jakarta, Indonesia. www.build-project-management-competency.com. He is noted for the development and delivery of graduate level, blended learning curricula designed for the mid-career path, English as Second Language (ESL) professionals to develop competency in the local practitioner and build capacity for the local organizations. For 25+ years, he has been developing and delivering Project Management training and consulting throughout South and Eastern Asia Pacific, the Middle East, West Africa, and Europe.

He is also active in the Global Project Management Community, by playing a “thought leadership” role for the Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering International, (AACEI) http://www.aacei.org/ since 1991; He has also been active in two IPMA member organizations: The Green Project Management Association (GPM) http://www.greenprojectmanagement.org/ where he served on the Certification Board of Directors for two years and the American Society for the Advancement of Project Management http://www.asapm.org/ for which he served for four years on the BoD as Director of Marketing. He also sat on the Board of Directors of the Global Alliance for Project Performance Standards (GAPPS), www.globalpmstandards.org, Sydney, Australia and is active as a regional leader. Currently, he is a compensated consultant to the International Guild of Project Controls. http://www.planningplanet.com/guild as the primary author of their “Compendium and Reference” as well as the chief architect of their competency-based credentialing program. http://www.planningplanet.com/guild/certification

He has spent 35 of the last 50 years working on large, highly technical international projects, including such prestigious projects as the Alyeska Pipeline and the Distant Early Warning Site (DEW Line), upgrades in Alaska and the Negev Airbase Constructors, Ovda, Israel and the Minas Oil Field in Rumbai, Sumatra. His current client list includes Fortune 500 major telecommunications, oil, gas and mining companies plus the UN Projects Office and many other multi-national companies, NGO organizations and Indonesian Government Agencies.

In addition to 45+ years of hands-on field experience, Dr. Giammalvo holds an undergraduate degree in Construction Management, his Master of Science in Project Management through the George Washington University and was awarded his PhD in Project and Program Management through the Institute Superieur De Gestion Industrielle (ISGI) and Ecole Superieure De Commerce De Lille (ESC-Lille) under the supervision of Professor Christophe Bredillet.  “Dr. PDG” can be contacted at pauldgphd@gmail.com.

To view other original work by Paul Giammalvo, visit his author showcase in the PM World Library at http://pmworldlibrary.net/authors/dr-paul-d-giammalvo/

[1] Taybi, Y. (2019). Is Earned Value Management (EVM) consistent with Sharia Law? Will it help in fighting corruption? PM World Journal, Vol. VIII, Issue VIII, September. Retrieved from https://pmworldlibrary.net/wpcontent/uploads/2019/09/pmwj85-Sep2019-Taybi-is-evm-consistent-with-sharia-law.pdf
[2] Johnson, Vincent R. (2019) “The Fiduciary Obligations of Public Officials” St Mary’s School of Law https://commons.stmarytx.edu/lmej/vol9/iss2/4/#:~:text=Regardless%20of%20whether%20specific%20rules,lmej/vol9/iss2/4