According to the PMBOK® Guide, the Direct and Manage Project Work process (historically referred to as Direct and Manage Project Execution) is the process of leading and performing the work defined in the project management plan and implementing approved changes to achieve the project ' s objectives.

Role of Approved Change Requests: These are a critical input to this process. Once a change request is processed and approved through the Perform Integrated Change Control process, it is sent back to the project team to be implemented.

Implementation: This implementation may include a corrective action, a preventive action, or a defect repair. Without the " Approved " status, the project team should not be executing the requested change.

Process Flow:

Direct and Manage Project Work (Execution) identifies a need for change.

Perform Integrated Change Control (Monitoring and Controlling) reviews and approves the change.

Approved Change Requests flow back into Direct and Manage Project Work for actual implementation.

Comparison with Other Options:

Approved contract documentation (B): While contracts exist, they are generally part of the project management plan or procurement documentation, not a specific primary input named for the daily direction of work in the same way change requests are.

Work performance information (C): This is typically an Output of the monitoring and controlling processes (like Control Scope or Control Schedule), which is derived from Work Performance Data (an output of Execution).

Rejected change requests (D): These are recorded in the change log but are not acted upon or " executed " by the project team.