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PK0-005 Practice Question: During a project status meeting, a stakeholder…
During a project status meeting, a stakeholder requests a report showing the variance of actual costs from the planned budget. Which metric should the project manager include?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse Cost Performance Index (CPI) with Cost Variance (CV), but CPI is a ratio (efficiency metric) while CV is an absolute dollar variance, and the question explicitly asks for a variance, not a ratio.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Cost variance (CV)
Cost variance (CV) is the direct measure of the difference between the earned value (EV) and the actual cost (AC), showing exactly how actual costs deviate from the planned budget. Since the stakeholder specifically requests a report on variance of actual costs from the planned budget, CV is the correct metric. CV = EV - AC, where a negative value indicates overspending.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Cost variance (CV)
Why this is correct
CV measures the difference between earned value and actual cost.
- ✗
Schedule performance index (SPI)
Why it's wrong here
SPI is a schedule ratio.
- ✗
Cost performance index (CPI)
Why it's wrong here
CPI is a ratio, not a dollar variance.
- ✗
Schedule variance (SV)
Why it's wrong here
SV measures schedule performance, not cost.
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