CAPM Practice: Demonstrate an understanding of common problem-solving tools and techniques

Variance analysis measures the difference between actual project performance (cost, schedule, scope, quality) and the planned baseline. It helps project managers understand how far off-track the project is and why, enabling corrective action.

**Why not A:** Comparing costs between different projects is benchmarking, not variance analysis. Variance analysis specifically compares actual performance to the planned baseline within the same project to identify deviations.

**Why not C:** Comparing team member performance to role benchmarks is a human resource or performance management activity. Variance analysis focuses on project-level metrics like cost, schedule, and scope against established baselines.

**Why not D:** Comparing actual defects to expected defects could be a form of quality variance analysis, but this is too narrow. Variance analysis broadly compares all aspects of actual project performance (cost, schedule, scope, quality) to the planned baseline, not just defect counts.