This Cost Baseline Software Development document shows the approved $238,000 cost baseline for the ProjectAdm SaaS platform — organized by WBS package, phased across 28 sprints and five milestone periods, and used as the Earned Value Management (EVM) reference throughout the 13.5-month development. This Excel workbook includes the planned value (PV) curve, actual cost tracking columns, and the EVM calculations that Eduardo Montes used for biweekly cost performance reporting to Henry Douglas and the ProjectAdm International CFO.

What Is a Cost Baseline?

The Cost Baseline is the approved version of the time-phased project budget used as the basis for measuring and reporting cost performance in PMBOK 8's Planning Performance Domain. It excludes the contingency reserve (which is managed separately) but includes all authorized project work costs. The cost baseline is the denominator in Earned Value calculations: Budget at Completion (BAC = $238,000 for ProjectAdm), Planned Value (PV), Earned Value (EV), Cost Variance (CV = EV – AC), and Cost Performance Index (CPI = EV/AC). Any approved change to the cost baseline requires a formal change request and CCB approval.

What This Cost Baseline Software Development Includes

The ProjectAdm Cost Baseline workbook contains three linked worksheets:

• WBS Cost Allocation (Sheet 1) — 12 WBS packages with approved budgets: 1.1 Architecture $18,400; 1.2 Auth + User Mgmt $22,000; 1.3 Project + Board Mgmt $19,800; 1.4 Kanban Engine $28,600; 1.5 Team + Collaboration $16,400; 1.6 Notifications $9,200; 1.7 Gantt Module $14,500 (CR-002); 1.8 Billing $24,400; 1.9 Admin Panel $12,800; 1.10 AI Engine $28,400; 1.11 WBS View $8,200 (CR-004); 1.12 Landing Page $15,300; Total base: $218,000; PM overhead (Eduardo Montes 100% allocation): $20,000; Base total: $238,000
• Time-Phased PV Curve (Sheet 2) — Monthly planned value: Jan $14,200; Feb $18,600; Mar $20,400; Apr $22,800; May $19,600; Jun $21,400; Jul $18,800; Aug $16,200; Sep $17,400; Oct $19,800; Nov $21,200; Dec $18,400; Jan 2026 $6,800; Feb 2026 $2,400; cumulative PV = $238,000 at Feb 28, 2026; S-curve plotted for stakeholder presentations
• EVM Tracking (Sheet 3) — Biweekly columns: Sprint, PV cumulative, EV cumulative, AC cumulative, CV (EV–AC), CPI (EV/AC), SV (EV–PV), SPI (EV/PV), EAC (BAC/CPI), ETC (EAC–AC); Final Sprint 28 values: PV $238,000, EV $238,000, AC $230,900, CPI 1.03, SPI 0.99, EAC $231,068; cost variance at closure: +$6,932 under budget (base only; contingency $37,500 returned separately)
• Baseline Update History — v1.0 (Jan 28, 2025): original $238,000; v1.1 (Feb 21, 2025): +$4,500 CR-002 Gantt → $242,500; v1.2 (Mar 15, 2025): -$3,200 CR-003 PagSeguro removal → $239,300; v1.3 (Apr 10, 2025): $0 CR-004 WBS view (absorbed in CR-003 savings) → $239,300 final approved baseline

How Eduardo Montes Used This Cost Baseline Software Development

Eduardo Montes updated the Cost Baseline Software Development EVM sheet every other Friday after each sprint review, entering actual costs from team time sheets. The CPI trend chart in Sheet 3 showed a dip to 0.93 in Sprint 15 (ISS-002 impact) that immediately triggered the corrective action protocol defined in the Financial Management Plan. By Sprint 20, CPI had recovered to 1.02 after Bruno Silva's reallocation, and remained above 1.00 through project closure — demonstrating that early EVM detection and rapid response was the key to finishing $6,932 under the approved baseline.

How to Use This Cost Baseline Software Development Document

When building your own Cost Baseline Software Development workbook, build the S-curve from Day 1 and keep it visible at every stakeholder meeting. The ProjectAdm S-curve made budget conversations concrete and visual — stakeholders could see at a glance whether actual spend was tracking above or below the planned value curve, without needing to understand EVM formulas.

Download the Template and Deepen Your Knowledge

Ready to create your own cost baseline? Download the blank Cost Baseline Template (PMBOK 8).

• Download the Cost Baseline Template — PMBOK 8 (blank, ready to use)
• Read the full guide: Cost Baseline in PMBOK 8

Want to go deeper? The PMBOK Guide 8th Edition is the definitive reference for modern project management. Get your copy and use it alongside these examples to build a solid, practical understanding of every performance domain.

Format: Microsoft Excel (.xlsx) | Project: Software Development (SaaS Platform) | PMBOK Edition: 8th (2025) | Domain: Planning