CompTIA Project+ (PK0-005)Project Life Cycle PhasesMedium
A project manager wants to measure whether the current schedule and budget are drifting from the originally approved plan. Which type of reference must have been established during planning to make this comparison possible?
- AStakeholder register
- BRisk register
- CCommunication plan
- DBaseline
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: D. Baseline
A baseline is the approved version of the scope, schedule, or cost plan used as a fixed point of comparison to measure performance and variance during monitoring and control. The other documents support risk, stakeholder, and communication management but do not serve as a performance reference.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Lists stakeholders and their engagement needs, unrelated to variance tracking.
- B. Tracks identified risks, not schedule/cost performance.
- C. Defines how and when information is shared, not a performance benchmark.
Baseline
The approved version of a project plan component (scope, schedule, or cost) used as a fixed reference point to measure actual performance and variance.
- Established at the end of planning, before execution begins
- Common types: scope baseline, schedule baseline, cost baseline
- Changes to a baseline require formal change control approval
Memory trick: Baseline = the starting line 🏁 you measure your race against.