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The burn rate measures how fast the project budget is being spent, typically expressed as amount spent per month. It shows the pace of spending and helps forecast how long the budget will last. For example, with a $1,000,000 budget and $200,000 spent after two months, the burn rate is $100,000 per month, which lets you estimate remaining runway by dividing the remaining budget by the burn rate. The other metrics describe different performance aspects: cost variance is the difference between planned and actual costs, cost performance index compares earned value to actual cost to indicate cost efficiency, and schedule variance compares earned value to planned value to indicate schedule performance. None of these directly capture the rate of spending, which is what the burn rate does.