There are two measurement systems used in project management – accuracy and precision. While accuracy is defined as the closeness of the measured value to a known standard, precision is defined as the measure of exactness. The level of the increment used in every interval determines the precise measurements. This means that precision is achieved with the greater number of increments.
How important is precision in project management? It is required when measurements are needed such as allocation of resource, wages, tasks, and making business decisions. Precision is one of the basic yet most effective measurement tool when it comes to implementing and improving measured activities.
Precision is an important measurement regardless of the size of organizations. In organizations that are involved with projects related to engineering, precision can help ensure that every protocol is being followed. In fact, a small mathematical error can often result in a lot of problems for this kind of field. Simply put, precision is used in implementing processes and project activities.
Precision is a goal that most organizations want to achieve. However, the task, processes, and activity should be reviewed in order to achieve such measurement.
This term is defined in the 5th edition of the PMBOK.