Work Performance Information vs Performance Reports (Part 1 of 4)

Many PMP aspirants who read the PMBOK Guide get confused between Work Performance Information and Performance Reports. The terms sound and smell very similar and used together as inputs to many Project Management processes.

UPDATE (Oct 2018): This post is based on PMBOK Guide, 4th Edition, and is now outdated. A newer version, which aligns with PMBOK Guide, 6th Edition, is available here: Work Performance Data, Work Performance Information and Work Performance Reports

This article is the first in a series of four that explain the difference between Work Performance Information and Performance Reports. In the first three articles, we’ll review Work Performance Information, Work Performance Measurements and Performance Reports. In the last article, we’ll tie all three concepts together and review how they fit in the context of PMBOK Guide and Project Management. So, let’s get started.

Work Performance Information (WPI)

WPI is an output of Direct and Manage Project Execution process, which falls under Executing process group and Integration Knowledge Area.

Work Performance Information includes (but is not limited to):

• Status of deliverables, such as number of deliverables completed or percent of work physically completed
• Schedule progress, such as which activities have started, their progress, and which activities have finished
• Costs incurred to date
• Achieved value of technical performance measures, such as system response time, data retrieval time, height, weight, number of errors per thousand transactions.
• Implementation status for change requests, corrective actions, preventive actions, and defect repairs
• Status of Risks, such as which risks occurred, new risks identified, effectiveness of risk response plan, risks reserves used
• Procurements related information, such as seller performance information, the extent to which quality standards have been followed, warranties, which invoices have been paid.

Work Performance Information as Input / Output

The most important thing to note here is that WPI is gathered as the project is being executed. I like to think of WPI as “raw data”.

As per PMBOK Guide, Fourth Edition, WPI is an output of:

• Direct and Manage Project Execution

and is an input to:

• Perform Quality Assurance (Executing Process Group)
• Perform Integrated Change Control (M&C Process Group)
• Control Scope (M&C Process Group)
• Control Schedule (M&C Process Group)
• Control Costs (M&C Process Group)
• Report Performance (M&C Process Group)
• Monitor and Control Risks (M&C Process Group)
• Administer Procurements (M&C Process Group)

Summary

WPI is an input to most Monitoring and Controlling (M&C) group processes. WPI is used to generate Work Performance Measurements, which in turn help to generate forecasts. We’ll look at Work Performance Measurements in the next article of this series.

• Part 1: Work Performance Information (you are here)
• Part 2: Work Performance Measurements
• Part 3: Performance Reports
• Part 4: Conclusion

Image credit: Lumaxart