A project manager develops a process improvement plan to promote continuous process improvement throughout the life of the project. Which tool or technique can best help assure the success of this process improvement plan?

Introduction / Context:
Continuous process improvement is a key concept in modern project quality management. A process improvement plan describes how the project team will analyze, measure, and enhance processes during the life of the project. To make such a plan effective, the project manager must apply appropriate tools and techniques that focus on understanding how processes perform and where they can be improved.

Given Data / Assumptions:
- A process improvement plan has been created for the project. - The goal is continuous improvement over the project life cycle. - The question asks for a tool or technique that supports the success of this plan. - The context aligns with standard quality management practices in project management.

Concept / Approach:
Process analysis is a technique used to identify process inefficiencies, bottlenecks, and root causes of problems. It typically builds on process maps and flowcharts and may involve techniques such as root cause analysis, cause and effect diagrams, and value added analysis. In the context of a process improvement plan, process analysis helps the team understand why defects, delays, or rework occur and what changes could improve performance. This goes beyond simply controlling changes or tracking versions.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Recognize that the plan is explicitly focused on continuous improvement of processes, not just on controlling scope or documents. Step 2: Recall that process analysis is associated with the process improvement plan in quality management. Step 3: Evaluate each option and determine which one is designed to analyze and improve processes rather than merely control them. Step 4: Conclude that process analysis is the most relevant tool or technique to support this plan.

Verification / Alternative check:
A quick check is to ask whether the tool directly examines how processes behave. Change control and configuration management are control and documentation systems rather than analysis tools. Benchmarking can help set targets but does not by itself analyze internal process behavior. Only process analysis explicitly examines and evaluates the steps in a process to support improvement.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Option A is wrong because a change control system focuses on authorizing and tracking changes but does not directly analyze process performance. Option C is wrong because benchmarking compares performance with others but does not replace the need for detailed internal process analysis. Option D is wrong because configuration management controls versions and baselines, which is important but not a primary process improvement technique. Option E is wrong because expanding scope is not automatically an improvement; it can increase cost and complexity without solving root causes.

Common Pitfalls:
One common error is to assume that any control system is automatically a process improvement tool. Another pitfall is to over rely on external comparisons from benchmarking without deeply understanding internal processes. Project managers may also think that adding more activities or documentation automatically improves quality, when in fact improvement requires targeted analysis of how work is done and why issues occur.

Final Answer:
The most suitable tool or technique is performing process analysis to identify root causes and improvement opportunities.