According to the PMBOK Guide, Quality Metrics are a key output of the Plan Quality Management process. This process involves identifying quality requirements and/or standards for the project and its deliverables, and documenting how the project will demonstrate compliance with those quality requirements.
* Definition: A quality metric is a specific description of a project or product attribute and how the Control Quality process will measure it. It translates a high-level requirement into a tangible, measurable unit.
* Examples: Common quality metrics include:
* Percentage of tasks completed on time.
* Cost performance (CPI).
* Failure rate (number of defects per million lines of code).
* Customer satisfaction scores.
* Reliability or availability requirements (e.g., " 99.9% uptime " ).
* Usage in Other Processes: While metrics are created in Plan Quality, they are used as inputs to Manage Quality (to ensure the processes are working) and Control Quality (to measure the actual results against these benchmarks).
Comparison with Other Options:
* Perform Quality Control (B): This process (now Control Quality) uses the metrics as an input to monitor and record results. Its primary outputs are Quality Control Measurements and Verified Deliverables.
* Perform Quality Assurance (C): This process (now Manage Quality) uses the metrics as an input to audit the quality requirements and the results from quality control measurements. It focuses on the process rather than creating the benchmarks.
* Perform Qualitative Risk Analysis (D): This is a risk management process used to prioritize risks based on their probability and impact; it has no direct role in defining product or project quality metrics.