Project Execution, Monitoring, and Control
What the exam tests
Execution and control: how work is authorized and delivered, how performance is measured, and how changes flow through integrated change control.
Executing
Direct and Manage Project Work produces deliverables and work performance data. Manage Project Knowledge builds shared understanding and captures tacit knowledge. Quality assurance audits processes; the team is acquired, developed, and managed; communications and stakeholder engagement are executed; risk responses and procurements are implemented. The issue log records concerns that have occurred, distinct from the risk register.
Monitoring and control
Monitoring compares actuals with the plan and produces work performance information; reports consolidate it for stakeholders. Control processes cover scope, schedule, cost, quality, resources, communications, risk, procurement, and engagement. Integrated Change Control is the single gateway: every change request is recorded, analysed for impact across baselines, and approved, rejected, or deferred by the change control board. Types include corrective action (realign performance), preventive action (reduce future deviation), defect repair (fix nonconforming product), and updates.
Worked example
A supplier proposes substituting a component. Approach: log the request; assess technical, schedule, cost, quality, and risk impacts; consult the CCB; if approved, update the plan, baseline, and configuration records, then implement and verify. Implementing the substitution while sorting out paperwork later creates an uncontrolled baseline and possible contract dispute.
Traps
- Approving a change without impact analysis, or letting the PM alone change a baseline.
- Treating work performance data (raw) as reports (interpreted).
- Skipping configuration management, so the wrong document version is used.
- Forgetting that defect repair is a change request type but still needs root-cause review.