Conformance is essential in quality assurance of a project management plan. Without it, the overall project performance will turn out poorly. By definition, conformance is a concept that delivers the result that falls within the acceptable limit set by the quality requirement.
This means that conformance is the ability of the product, service or process to meet the desired specifications indicated by the buyer and customer. The specification is the interpretation of what the customers need thus conformance is perceived as something that is acceptable. Conformance is usually measured within an acceptable range of tolerance thus a product that meets the acceptable range has a high quality of conformance.
Conformance is a technique used in project management to track the persistence of the product, service or process in terms of quality. The product or service is measured near the outer boundary that has been established for performance. If the measurement remains within the boundary, it conforms to the standards. If not, then the management directs the attention towards the product or service and rectifies the problem. Without conformance, it is difficult for project managers to determine the acceptability of their product, service, and process.
This term is defined in the 5th edition of the PMBOK.