Cost baseline
Project Management Professional glossary · Project Management Professional
Definition
The approved version of the time-phased project budget, excluding management reserve. Cost of Quality (CoQ). All costs incurred over the life of the product by investment in preventing nonconformance, appraising conformance, and failing to meet requirements. Cost Performance Index (CPI). A measure of cost efficiency, expressed as EV ÷ AC. Cost Variance (CV). The amount of budget deficit or surplus, expressed as EV - AC.
Cost baseline in plain English
Picture a road trip budget: you planned 1,000 (BAC), you've spent 600 so far, and based on how fast you're burning cash you project the whole trip will cost $1,200 (EAC). The gap between the plan and that projection is the kind of story Cost baseline is trying to tell — not a random accounting label, a forecast of whether you'll finish over or under. Hold onto this precise job description: The approved version of the time-phased project budget, excluding management reserve. Cost of Quality (CoQ). All costs incurred over the life of the product by… On a stem, name whether Cost baseline is about timing, ownership, measurement, or delivery style — then eliminate the answer that borrows a cousin concept from the wrong phase.
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