Earned value management (EVM) and risk management (RM) processes share a common aim of providing decision makers with the best information available when setting objectives and considering management strategies. However, they take differing approaches. EVM establishes project performance status and extrapolates that information to gain an understanding of future trends and the allocation of resource needed to successfully meet these objectives. RM looks to the unknown future to identify risks (threat and opportunity) and recommend early action to be taken to limit the impact and probability of threat occurrence or maximise the exploitation of opportunities.

Both EVM and RM are, in their own way, informing project baseline estimates by using both objective and subjective data. Estimating uncertainty can be reduced by comparison of data outputs from both disciplines, providing a better understanding of project progress and predicted future trends.

It should be remembered that this guide is not intended to explain either EVM or RM techniques; rather it assumes a level of knowledge in at least one of these specialities and moves on to outline an approach to make more efficient use of the captured data.