According to the PMBOKGuide, specifically within the Direct and Manage Project Work and Monitor and Control Project Work processes, it is essential to distinguish between the different levels of performance reporting.
* Work Performance Information (WPI): This consists of the performance data collected from various controlling processes, analyzed in context, and integrated based on relationships across areas.
* The Context: While " Work Performance Data " refers to the raw observations and measurements identified during activities being performed (e.g., actual costs, actual durations), Work Performance Information is the result of analyzing that data to see how it stacks up against the project management plan.
* Examples: Status of deliverables, implementation status for change requests, and forecasted estimates to complete.
* The Flow of Performance Data:
* Work Performance Data: Raw observations (Output of Executing).
* Work Performance Information: Analyzed data (Output of Controlling).
* Work Performance Reports: Compiled information for decision-making (Output of Monitor and Control Project Work).
Comparison with other options:
* A. Project management information system (PMIS): This is an environmental factor or a tool (software
/manual) used to gather, integrate, and disseminate the outputs of project management processes. It is the system that holds the info, not the info itself.
* C. Work breakdown structure (WBS): This is a deliverable-oriented hierarchical decomposition of the work to be executed. It defines the project scope but does not represent the status of activities being performed.
* D. Variance analysis: This is a tool and technique used to compare actual performance to the planned baseline. While it produces work performance information, it is the process of analysis, not the information itself.