Project Management Formulas Cheat Sheet
A structured Excel cheat sheet covering all essential PM formulas including EVM (Earned Value Management), schedule variance, cost performance index, and risk calculations — with worked examples for each.
What’s inside
- All EVM formulas with worked examples
- Schedule, cost, and risk calculation reference
- Blank Template + Filled Example
About this download
The Project Management Formulas Cheat Sheet is a structured Excel reference covering all essential PM calculations — Earned Value Management (EVM), schedule variance, cost performance, forecasting, critical path, float, three-point estimates, probability distributions and risk-adjusted NPV — with live worked examples that can be reused on real projects. Every PMP and PRINCE2 certification candidate needs these formulas at recall speed; every working PM benefits from having the maths transparent rather than trapped in a scheduling tool.
The workbook organises formulas into clearly labelled sections: Earned Value basics (PV, EV, AC, BAC, EAC, ETC), EVM indices (SV, CV, SPI, CPI), EVM forecasting (EAC with multiple methods including typical, atypical and trend-based), schedule calculations (PERT three-point, beta distribution, standard deviation, variance, critical path computation, float and slack), cost and finance (NPV, IRR, payback, discounted payback, ROI), quality (Six Sigma sigma levels, DPMO, process capability Cp and Cpk), probability (normal distribution, confidence intervals, expected monetary value for risk), and communication (communication channels formula n(n-1)/2).
Each formula is presented with the formal definition, an English explanation of what it measures, the calculation with variables fully named, a worked example with numbers a reader can reproduce in the workbook, interpretation guidance ("what does a CPI of 0.85 actually mean?"), and common traps (floating point issues, units confusion, mid-project recalibration mistakes). A companion tab provides practice problems with answer keys so learners can test themselves.
This cheat sheet is used by PMP and CAPM exam candidates in the final weeks of study, PMO analysts running EVM reporting, programme managers preparing steering-committee updates, construction and engineering planners who live in schedule mathematics, consulting analysts and graduate students in project-management courses.
Understanding the formulas — not just memorising them — is what separates a PM who can respond intelligently to a schedule slip from one who can only report it. The workbook is structured to build intuition: each section starts with a simple case, adds complexity gradually, and ends with a scenario where the reader has to interpret mixed signals (good CPI but slipping SPI, for example) the way an experienced programme manager would in a steering-committee meeting.
Inside Vizually, the same metrics — earned value, schedule variance, cost performance — can be visualised on a live project board so the numbers stop being month-end report artefacts and become a continuous signal that informs daily management decisions.