Control Account Planning

The control account serves as a control point for tracking project costs and schedules.

In most earned value management systems, the term control account refers to the intersection of the lowest levels of the work breakdown structure (WBS) and organizational breakdown structure (OBS). This intersection defines what work is to be done and who is responsible for doing it. Under earned value guidelines, the control account serves as the highest level at which actual costs are entered and the lowest level at which information is reported to the client.

Control accounts in Cobra can have one of three possible status conditions:

• Planned — This status indicates that the work has not begun.
• In progress — This status indicates that the work is taking place.
• Completed — This status indicates that the work is finished.

The status of a control account can be determined by the status of the work packages included in that control account.