The Earned Value (a.k.a. BCWP – Budgeted Cost of Work Performed) is the percentage of work actually completed multiplied by the planned value (PV).
In order to be populated, the project needs to have:
A budget
Some costs
A baseline
% Completion
Example: If an activity is scheduled to last 5 days and has a total cost of $1000, then each day costs $200. At the end of the third day, the Planned Value is $600 or $200 x 3 days. If the % completion of the project is 50% completion at the end of the third day, then the Earned Value equals: % Completion x Planned Value = 50% x $600 = $300