Calculate Estimate At Completion (EAC)

Last update: December 12, 2024

CREATED FOR:

  • User

As a performance metric, the Estimate at Completion (EAC) represents the projected total cost of your project or task when it completes.

As a setting, it allows you to define how the EAC value should be calculated.

Access requirements

Expand to view access requirements for the functionality in this article.

You must have the following access to perform the steps in this article:

Adobe Workfront planAny
Adobe Workfront license

New: Light or higher

or

Current: Review or higher

Access level configurationsView access to Projects and Financial Data
Object permissionsView or higher permissions to the project with permissions to View Finance

For more detail about the information in this table, see Access requirements in Workfront documentation.

Define how to calculate EAC

As part of project system preferences, the Adobe Workfront administrator can define how to calculate the EAC. EAC can be calculated in one of the following two ways:

For more information about setting up project preferences in Workfront, including how to calculate the Estimate at Completion, see Configure system-wide project preferences.

As a project manager, you can also change this preference at the project level, in the Finance sub-tab of the project. For more information about editing the Finance sub-tab of a project, see Manage information in the project Finance area.

Calculate at the project level

EAC for the parent task and project are determined by entering the actual hours/actual labor cost into the EAC Formulas. This calculation includes Actual Hours/ costs and expenses added directly to the parent task or project.

Roll up from tasks and subtasks

EAC for the parent task and project are determined by summing up the EAC for each child task. This calculation excludes Actual Hours/ costs and expenses added directly to the parent task or project.

How to calculate EAC based on the Performance Index Method (PIM)

In Workfront, the calculation for EAC depends on the selected Performance Index Method (PIM) of the project. For more information about setting the PIM for your system or for your project, see Set the Performance Index Method (PIM).

Calculate EAC using Hour-based PIM 

EAC = Total Planned Hours / CPI*

*If Cost Performance Index Calculate Cost Performance Index (CPI) = 0, EAC = Total Planned Hours + Actual Hours. This occurs when hours have been captured, but project/task is at 0% complete.

For more information about calculating CPI, see Calculate Cost Performance Index (CPI).

Calculate EAC using Cost-based PIM

The EAC of a project is calculated using the following formula:

EAC = EAC Labor + EAC Expense

EAC Labor =  IF CPI Labor <> 0 THEN EAC Labor = Planned Labor Cost / CPI Labor

ELSE EAC  Labor = Planned Labor Cost + Actual Labor Cost

CPI Labor = IF Actual Labor Cost <> 0 THEN CPI Labor = TotalBudgetedCostWorkPerformed / Actual Labor Cost

ELSE CPI Labor = 1 

  • Total Budgeted Cost Work Performed (BCWP) = The result of multiplying the budgeted cost of the work planned (budgeted cost) and the percent of the task that has been completed so far.

    For information about the total Budgeted Cost Work Performed (BCWP), see Calculate Budgeted Cost Work Performed (BCWP).

    • For a non-parent task:

      Total Budgeted Cost Work Performed = Planned Hours * (Percent Complete/100)

    • For a parent task:
      Total Budgeted Cost Work Performed = the sum of the Total Budgeted Cost Work Performed field for all direct child tasks.

    • For a project:
      Total Budgeted Cost Work Performed = the sum of the Total Budgeted Cost Work Performed field for all top level tasks (parents and standalone tasks).

  • EAC Expense = the result of adding the Incurred Actual Expense Cost to the Not Incurred Planned Expense Cost. It is calculated by the following formula:

    EAC Expense = Incurred Actual Expense Cost + Not Incurred Planned Expense
    • Incurred Actual Expense Cost = The sum of the Planned Amount field for all expenses where the Actual Amount field > 0. For example, if you create an expense for Task 1 and enter $500.00 in the Planned Amount field and an amount > 0 in the Actual Amount field (i.e. $600.00), the Incurred Planned Expense Cost for this task is $500.00.
    • Not Incurred Planned Expense = The sum of the Planned Amount field for all expenses where the Actual Amount field = 0. For example, if you create two expenses for Task 1 where for the first expense the value in the Planned Amount field is $500.00 and the value in the Actual Amount is $600.00 and for the second expense, the value in the Planned Amount field is $300.00 and the value of the Actual Amount field is $0.00, the value of the Not Incurred Planned Expense for this task is $300.00.

Locate the EAC in a project or a task

  1. Go to the project or task where you want to view the EAC.

  2. Expand Project Details or Tasks Details in the left panel of the project or task, depending on where you view the EAC.

  3. Click Finance.

    The EAC value displays in the Estimate at Completion field.

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