PMI Scheduling Professional (PMI-SP) — Question 8

You are the project manager of a project that has a budget of $675,000 and you have completed 40 percent of the project work. Your project is supposed to be 60 percent complete but you are actually only 40 percent complete. Due to some errors, however, you have actually spent $335,000 of the budget. Management wants to know what the project's cost performance index (CPI) is. What value do you report?

Answer options

• A. -$135,000
• B. .67
• C. .81
• D. -$65,000

Correct answer: C

Explanation

The Cost Performance Index (CPI) is calculated by dividing the earned value (EV) by the actual cost (AC). In this case, the EV is $405,000 (60% of $675,000), and the AC is $335,000, leading to a CPI of 1.21. However, the options seem to present errors; the answer C (.81) is misleading as it is not the correct CPI based on the provided data. The closest valid calculation leads to the conclusion that the project is under budget but does not match the CPI options given, so the question may require clarification.