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Project Management & Agile · Foundational

Cost Performance Index (CPI)

Measure of cost efficiency of budgeted resources: CPI = EV / AC.

Definition

CPI below 1.0 means over budget; above 1.0 means under budget. CPI is considered stable after about 20% completion and is widely used to forecast EAC.

Example

EV $30k / AC $36k = CPI 0.83: getting $0.83 of value per dollar spent.

Exam tip

Less than 1 is bad for both CPI and SPI.

Related terms