Glossary of Terms Commonly Used in Project Management
Artifacts previous project documents that were archived for future reference; documents include contracts, invoices, bills, project plans, meeting minutes, lessons learned, peer reviews and all organizational process assets pertaining to the project
Audit Trail provides details pertaining to work package consistency and completeness that is acceptable to the stakeholders
Bar Charts illustrate project activities relevant to start and end dates along with overall durations
Brainstorming an information-gathering technique that is a tool and technique of the Identify Risks process. It involves assembling in one place subject matter experts, team members, risk management team members, and anyone else who might benefit from the process and querying them on possible risk events
Budget is a planning, monitorization, and recording tool that includes estimates and final totals for a project and all its activities to ensure that costs are constrained
Change Control the process of identifying, controlling and documenting changes to a control unit; it is typically executed by a change control board, which evaluates a formal change request and recommends to approve or reject it; this process also provides for tracking activities
Change Control Board (CCB) a team of stakeholders established by the organization and given the authority via the configuration management system to review all change requests and approve them, delay them, or deny them
Chi-Square Distribution named after the Greek letter Chi, and is used for hypothesis testing and helps determine the distribution of a sample variance
Communications Management Plan outlines the communication expectations and needs and describes how they will be addressed throughout the entirety of the project; it is an output of the Plan Communication Management process
Compromising where opposing sides partially relinquish positions for a Lose- Lose solution confronting where opposing sides address concerns directly for a Win-Win solution
Configuration Management provides oversight to the project and ensures changes applied to the project are executed in a controlled, process-driven manner with appropriate levels of quality assurance, testing and compliance to document project requirements; it includes applied controls that incorporate the maintenance of the control organization, change control standards, version control standards and oversight of the change control process; this formal discipline delivers policies, procedures, tools and methods used to identify products and determine baselines
Corrective Action a documented process to help drive project activities back into alignment with the project's critical path and project management plan
Cost Plus Fixed Fee (CPFF) a type of cost-reimbursable contract where the buyer reimburses the seller for the seller’s allowable costs, plus a fixed amount of profit
Cost Reimbursable Contracts require payments to the seller for all costs incurred to complete work plus an additional fee that represents the sellers’ profit
Crashing to increase manpower and/or assets in order to reduce the completion time of a project
Critical Path the longest path through the project; made up of activities with zero float
Critical Path Methodology (CPM) is a method that determines a single early and late start date and early and late finish date for each activity on the project to determine both the longest path of the project schedule network diagram and the finish date of the project. It is also known as critical path method
Delphi Technique used to gain consensus among a team of experts; within this technique, experts participate anonymously and are asked a series of questions provided by a facilitator
Enterprise Environmental Factors internal or external factors based on an organization’s culture that can impact, negatively or positively, project management options
FAN chart a tool used to record stakeholder classification; the three classifications are For, Against, and Neutral
Fast Ttracking to schedule simultaneous tasks in order to complete a job in less time
Issue Log a document in the project management process that details the issues that could potentially arise and describes how the issues were resolved. It is a form of tracking used as a process input or output
Lag Time (lags) permits a delay in successor activity
Lead Time (leads) permits an acceleration of successor activity
Matrix Organizations an organization type that combines both functional and projectized characteristics. There are three types of matrix organizations. Weak matrix organizations lean more toward the functional organization, and the project manager role is more of a coordinator or facilitator; authority is more limited. Strong matrices lean more toward the projectized organization, and may have full-time project managers. They would also have levels of authority comparable to that of a projectized organization. The balanced matrix organization may appreciate the need for project management, but may not provide a project manager with a comprehensive degree of authority to manage or fund the initiative
Monte Carlo Analysis based on “hedging your bets” based on odds and probability
Organizational Processes Assets an accumulation of tools, processes, and techniques that are retained by the business in order to standardize processes and practices
Poisson Distribution used to determine the random occurrence of a project constraint such as a period of time or an event
Procurement Management Plan a subsidiary plan of the project management plan that is used to describe how the project team will obtain goods and services from vendors or service providers that are typically outside of the organization; it describes how the procurement process will be managed relevant to project
Progressive Elaboration the accumulation of knowledge over time that is applied repeatedly, which results in the individual gaining different levels of experience
Project a temporary endeavor with a defined beginning and end, undertaking to meet unique goals and objectives, typically to bring about beneficial change or added value
Project Management Office (PMO) provides organizational focus for the management of projects within a performing organization using program and/or portfolio structures to manage project relationships
Project Charter describes a project in the initial approach toward the project's product. Helps illustrate what needs to be accomplished and provides a preliminary approach on how the project will proceed
Project Deliverables refer to the services or products produced when the project is completed for the project sponsor
Project Management the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements
Project Management Plan the document detailing all aspects of a project including baselines that are referenced throughout the project’s lifecycle to keep the project on track
Project Manager the individual charged with managing a temporary endeavor from beginning to end who monitors project progress and ensures that project activities stay on task, under budget, and finishes on time
Project Quality Management incorporates risk activities to ensure that quality assurance and quality planning are delivering the level of quality expected. Qualitative and quantitative analysis helps identify risk and determine whether corrective or preventive measures are necessary
Project Stakeholder Management the knowledge area including the inputs, tools and techniques, and outputs involved in identifying stakeholders, planning stakeholder management, and managing and controlling stakeholder engagement
Project Statement of Work incorporated to help support the development of the Project Charter; it helps to answer the Who, What, When, Where and Why-type questions of the project
Qualitative Risk Analysis the process of prioritizing risks for further analysis and action; it combines risks and their probability of occurrences and ranks them accordingly
Quality Control concerned with meeting the quality requirements specified for each deliverable. It is an activity that is usually performed before verification, as the quality attributes of a deliverable will obviously affect its acceptance
Quantitative Risk Analysis has results that may be based upon mathematical formulas, simulation methods and statistical analysis; this analysis type goes through the usual process practice of generating inputs and applying those inputs to tools and techniques to generate project artifacts or project document updates
RACI diagram stands for Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed; it can be used to detail what roles are associated to key team members
Resource Levelling a technique applied after analyzing input information to ensure that project activities remain on target
Resource Optimization Techniques used to optimize the distribution of work among resource
RFI a request for information, bids or tender offers
RFP a request for proposal
RFQ a request for quotation
Risk Acceptance typically takes place when both the probability and impact is identified as low; here the project team acknowledges the risks and determines that no action is required to be taken; a response to positive and negative risks
Risk refers to the potential external events that will negatively impact a project’s progress
Rolling Wave Technique a method that helps rive projects that have dissimilar levels of information
Rolling Wave to update details of the Work Breakdown Structure on an ongoing basis
Schedule Baseline developed from the schedule network analysis. The baseline is used to measure all future work activities
Schedule Compression permits the project manager to compress the project schedule without impacting scope by addressing activities that are behind schedule to realign with the project’s critical path
Schedule Performance Index measures progress achieved compared to progress planned; used to forecast project completion estimates; SPI = EV divided by PV. The schedule performance index provides a measurement of the project work performed
Scope a knowledge area of project management that defines and details activities necessary to deliver a project to completion
Scope Creep a phenomenon that occurs when additional work gets incorporated in a project
Sponsor the individual or group outside the project team that initiates the project by requesting for the service or product and beginning the project charter
Stakeholder Analysis a technique used in the Identify Stakeholder process that is used to gather and analyze information to determine who interests should be taken into account
Stakeholder Register a customizable communication tool; helps provide the answers up front in regard to engaging and coordinating efforts amongst stakeholders
Statements of Work developed by the vendors that provide explicit details that correlate to actions and interactions intended to be delivered throughout the project lifecycles
Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) individuals with knowledge on a specific topic or trade who provide details that can be used in expert judgment; it’s knowledge sharing
Three-Point Estimates also known as the PERT technique
Tornado Diagram appropriately named because its appearance resembles the final of a tornado; it is simply a bar chart used for comparative analysis
Trend Analysis examines performance over time to indicate deterioration or improvement
Validate Scope a process that leads to the approval of project deliverables, and Control Scope ensures the intended deliverable is developed with the proper levels of quality, with no deviations or unplanned changes
What-if Scenarios provide a review of multiple scenarios that may be required to realign schedule activities with the project plan
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) gives the project manager and team the ability to decompose project-based features to their lowest elements that can be monitored, managed, measured, and delivered upon. Details developed within the WBS permit the project manager to determine the project’s critical path and schedule, and provide a tool to develop and deliver project metrics