A Performance Measurement Baseline (PMB) is a crucial component in project management that is a reference point for monitoring and controlling a project's progress. It establishes a project's planned scope, schedule, and cost, against which actual performance is measured throughout the project lifecycle.
The PMB is typically developed during the project planning phase and consists of three main elements:
1. Scope Baseline: This includes the project's scope statement, work breakdown structure (WBS), and WBS dictionary, which define the project's deliverables, objectives, and work packages.
2. Schedule Baseline: This is the approved project schedule, which outlines the planned start and end dates for each activity, milestone, and work package, as well as their dependencies and constraints.
3. Cost Baseline: This represents the approved budget for the project, typically expressed in time-phased increments called "cost accounts" or "control accounts" aligned with the work breakdown structure. The cost baseline includes all project costs, such as labor, materials, equipment, and overhead.
As the project progresses, actual performance is compared to the PMB to identify variances, assess the project's health, and make necessary adjustments. This process of comparing actual performance to the PMB is known as Earned Value Management (EVM), a widely used project management technique.
Kerzner, H. (2017). Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Vanhoucke, M. (2014). Earned Value Management: A Simulation-based Education Approach for Project Management. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 119, 401-409.
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