The CM is tasked with analyzing the schedule variance of a project on a regular...

In earned value or earned hours analysis, “earned hours” represent how much work hasactuallybeen completed (in units of schedule effort) compared to what was budgeted over time. If a contractor claims a significantly higher number of earned hours than budget expected at that point, that discrepancy often indicatesthe contractor is catching up for prior slippageorback-loading progressand may be masking a delay. In other words, the project is likely behind schedule: the contractor is accelerating or shifting resources to show a jump in performance, sometimes to avoid triggering delay claims or escalating scrutiny.

While CMAA’s formal SOP does not provide a one-sentence treatment of this particular scenario, standard earned value (EV) and schedule variance (SV) theory (used in CMAA’s time management domain) supports that an unexpected inflation in earned hours relative to budget can signal a retrospective correction for lagging progress, rather than true ahead-of-schedule condition.