Your company requires every software project to be reviewed and formally approved by an Architecture Review Board before the construction phase begins. You are currently performing activity sequencing on the project schedule. This mandatory review requirement is an example of what type of governance control in project management?

Introduction / Context:
Many organizations use governance mechanisms to control how projects move from one phase to the next. In this scenario the Architecture Review Board must approve every software project before construction begins. Understanding what kind of control this represents is important for project managers who are sequencing activities and planning the schedule.

Given Data / Assumptions:
- An Architecture Review Board must review and approve every software project. - Approval is required before the project can enter the construction phase. - The project manager is currently performing activity sequencing. - The question asks what this mandatory review requirement represents.

Concept / Approach:
In project management a gate or phase gate is a predefined control point where certain criteria must be satisfied before the project can move to the next phase. When an organizational body such as an Architecture Review Board must approve deliverables or designs before work can proceed, this is a form of gatekeeping. These governance gates are not simply schedule milestones or scope changes. They are decision points where management can authorize continuation, require rework, or even stop the project.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Recognize that the review happens between two phases, design and construction. Step 2: Note that work cannot proceed until the board gives formal approval. Step 3: Compare this to the definition of a phase gate, which is a predefined review and approval point. Step 4: Conclude that the review is a gatekeeping control rather than a simple milestone or change.

Verification / Alternative check:
A quick check is to ask whether the event is simply something that happens on the schedule or whether it controls permission to proceed. Milestones mark events but do not necessarily stop work if they are not met. A gatekeeping review explicitly allows or blocks the transition to the next phase. Because the project cannot enter construction without this approval, the scenario clearly matches a phase gate or gatekeeping review.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Option B is wrong because a milestone is a significant point or event in the schedule but does not itself enforce go or no go decisions. Option C is wrong because the requirement does not add new deliverables or features to the scope; it is a governance rule. Option D is wrong because Perform Integrated Change Control deals with reviewing and approving change requests, not standard phase exit reviews. Option E is wrong because a discretionary dependency is a logical relationship chosen by the team between activities, not an organizational review gate.

Common Pitfalls:
Learners sometimes confuse milestones with phase gates. Milestones indicate progress but do not always involve formal go or no go decisions. Another common mistake is to assume any review is a change control activity, even when no change request exists. It is also easy to mislabel governance policies as scope changes when in fact they are constraints that must be built into the project management plan and schedule.

Final Answer:
The mandatory Architecture Review Board approval before construction is a gatekeeping review or phase gate imposed by the Architecture Review Board.