Budget at Completion (BAC) is a project management measure that shows how much the project was supposed to cost when it was finished. The earned value management (EVM) method is a way to measure how a project is going in terms of cost and plan success. BAC is a key part of the EVM method.
The method for determining BAC is just adding up all of the estimated costs for the project. This is usually set at the beginning of the planning part for the project.
For example, let’s say the budget for a project is $100,000, which includes all costs for labor, materials, tools, and “overhead” costs. For this job, the BAC would be $100,000.
BAC can be used by the project manager as a standard to measure how the project is going and how well it is doing. If the real cost of the project is more than the BAC, the project is over budget. If the actual cost is less than the BAC, the project is under budget. The BAC can also be used to figure out other project management measures, such as the Cost Performance Index (CPI) and the Schedule Performance Index (SPI), which measure how well costs and schedules are managed.
