CompTia Project Terms - Part 01

Question 1

The decision to tolerate the defects that are found as a result of the quality testing. This is also a tool for risk response planning.

Answer 1

acceptance

Question 2

The process and the criteria that will be used to determine whether the deliverables are acceptable and satisfactory.

Answer 2

acceptance criteria

Question 3

Identifying the activities of the project that need to be performed to produce the product or service of the project.

Answer 3

activity definition

Question 4

A list of all the activities required to complete the work of the project that also includes an identifier code and the WBS code it?s associated with. Activities are broken down from the work package level of the WBS.

Answer 4

activity list

Question 5

Sequencing activities in logical order and determining whether dependencies exist among the activities.

Answer 5

activity sequencing

Question 6

The cost to complete a component of work in a given time period. Actual costs include direct and indirect costs.

Answer 6

actual cost (AC)

Question 7

A type of project ending that occurs when projects evolve into ongoing operations.

Answer 7

addition

Question 8

A process that involves gathering and disseminating information to formalize project closure. The completion of each project phase requires Administrative Closure also. The primary purpose of this process is to gather lessons learned and distribute the notice of acceptance.

Answer 8

Administrative Closure

Question 9

An estimating technique that uses the actual duration of a similar, completed activity to determine the duration of the current activity. This is also called top-down estimating.

Answer 9

analogous estimating

Question 10

Costs of quality that cover the activities that keep the product defects from reaching the client, including inspection, testing, and formal quality audits.

Answer 10

appraisal costs

Question 11

An event or action believed to be true for planning purposes. Project assumptions should always be documented.

Answer 11

assumption

Question 12

A conflict-resolution technique that occurs when one party refuses to talk anymore about the issue and physically leaves. This is an example of a lose-lose conflict-resolution technique. This technique is also known as withdrawal.

Answer 12

avoiding

Question 13

Calculating late start and late finish dates by starting at the end of a network diagram and working back through each path until reaching the start of the network diagram. This is part of critical path method (CPM), which is a mathematical technique to develop the project schedule.

Answer 13

backward pass

Question 14

Compares previous similar activities to the current project activities to provide a standard to measure performance against. It?s often used to derive ideas for quality improvements for the poject

Answer 14

benchmarking

Question 15

A type of decision model that compares the benefits obtained from a variety of new project requests by evaluating them using the same criteria and comparing the results.

Answer 15

benefit measurement methods

Question 16

A meeting held by the buyer with potential vendors during the procurement process to allow vendors to ask questions and get clarification on the project.

Answer 16

bidder conference

Question 17

Individually estimating each work package, all of which are then rolled up, or added together, to come up with a total project estimate. This is a very accurate means of estimating, provided the estimates at the work package level are accurate.

Answer 17

bottom-up estimating

Question 18

The total amount of the project budget for a work package, control account, or schedule activity, or for the project.

Answer 18

budget at completion (BAC)

Question 19

The person in charge of understanding the business unit?s needs when assessing a project request. The business analyst might be assigned directly from the business unit itself or may be part of the IT organization.

Answer 19

business analyst

Question 20

Formally documents components of the project assessment, including a description of the analysis method and the results.

Answer 20

business case

Question 21

Applying changes to an IT system and putting those elements into place based on a project request and a business analyst?s examination of the workflow?how people handle their work relative to the request.

Answer 21

business process reengineering

Question 22

The requirements that describe how the business objectives of the project will be met.

Answer 22

business requirements

Question 23

A Quality Control technique that shows the relationship between the effects of problems and their causes. This is also known as an Ishikawa diagram and a fishbone diagram.

Answer 23

cause-and-effect diagram

Question 24

A board responsible for reviewing and approving, denying, or delaying change requests. The change control board is usually made up of stakeholders, managers, project team members, and others who might have an interest in the project.

Answer 24

change control board (CCB)

Question 25

A process that concerns completing and settling the terms of the contract and documenting its acceptance.

Answer 25

Close Procurements

Question 26

A process that documents the final delivery and acceptance of the project and is where hand-off occurs to the operational unit. Lessons learned are performed during this process, and project team members are released.

Answer 26

Closing

Question 27

When team members work together at the same physical location.

Answer 27

collocated

Question 28

Describes a software application that is purchased from a reseller, vendor, or manufacturer.

Answer 28

commercial off-the-shelf (COTS)

Question 29

Variances that come about as a result of circumstances that are common to the process you?re performing and are easily controlled at the operational level. The three types of common cause variances are random, known or predictable, and variances that are always present in the process.

Answer 29

common causes of variances

Question 30

plan Documents the types of information needs the stakeholders have, when the information should be distributed, and how the information will be delivered.

Answer 30

communications management plan

Question 31

Determines the communication needs of the stakeholders, when and how the information will be received, and who will receive the information.

Answer 31

communications planning

Question 32

Integrates all planning data into one document that the project manager can use as a guidebook to oversee the project work during the Executing and Controlling phases.

Answer 32

comprehensive project plan

Question 33

A conflict-resolution technique where each party involved gives up something to reach a resolution. This is not generally a permanent solution.

Answer 33

compromise

Question 34

Describes the characteristics of the product of the project and ensures the description is accurate and complete. Controls changes to the characteristics of an item and tracks the changes made or requested and their status. It is usually a subset of the change control process in most organizations, or it may serve as the change control system.

Answer 34

configuration management

Question 35

A conflict-resolution technique that is also known as problem solving. This is the best way to resolve conflicts and involves fact finding to bear out the solution. This is a win-win conflict-resolution technique.

Answer 35

confronting

Question 36

Decision models that use complex principles of statistics and other mathematical concepts to assess a proposed project.

Answer 36

constrained optimization models

Question 37

Anything that either restricts the actions of the project team or dictates the actions of the project team.

Answer 37

constraint

Question 38

An amount of money or time set aside and dedicated to the project to be used to cover unforeseen costs or time that was not identified as part of the planning process.

Answer 38

contingency reserve

Question 39

A legally binding document that describes the work that will be performed, how the work will be compensated, and any penalties for noncompliance.

Answer 39

contract

Question 40

The process of monitoring vendor performance and ensuring all the requirements of the contract are met

Answer 40

contract administration

Question 41

The process of completing and settling the terms of the contract and determining whether the work described in the contract was completed accurately and satisfactorily.

Answer 41

contract closeout

Question 42

A graph of the variance of several samples of the same process over time based on a mean, an upper control limit, and a lower control limit.

Answer 42

control chart

Question 43

A type of change request that typically occurs during the Monitoring and Controlling processes. Corrective actions bring the work of the project back into alignment with the project plan.

Answer 43

corrective actions

Question 44

The total approved, expected cost of the project created in the planning process. It ? s used as a comparison to actual project expenses throughout the remainder of the project.

Answer 44

cost baseline

Question 45

A commonly used benefit measurement method that calculates the cost of producing the product, service, or result of the project and compares this to the financial gain the project is expected to generate

Answer 45

cost-benefit analysis

Question 46

Assigning cost estimates to activities and creating the cost baseline, which measures the performance of the project throughout the project ? s life.

Answer 46

cost budgeting

Question 47

A process that measures the project spending to date, determines whether changes have occurred to the cost baseline, and takes action to deal with the changes. This process monitors the budget and manages changes to the cost baseline.

Answer 47

cost control

Question 48

Developing an estimation of the cost of resources needed for each project activity.

Answer 48

cost estimating

Question 49

The cost of all of the work required to assure the project meets the quality standards. The three costs associated with the cost of quality are prevention costs, appraisal costs, and failure costs.

Answer 49

cost of quality

Question 50

Measures the value of the work completed at the measurement date against actual cost. This is the most critical of all EVM measurements. The formula is CPI = EV / AC.

Answer 50

cost performance index (CPI)

Question 51

Provides the seller with payment for all costs incurred to deliver or produce the product or service requested

Answer 51

cost-reimbursable contract

Question 52

The difference between a task ? s value at the measurement date and its actual cost. The formula is CV = EV ? AC.

Answer 52

cost variance

Question 53

This is a schedule compression technique that adds resources to the project to reduce the time it takes to complete the project

Answer 53

crashing

Question 54

The longest path through the project. Activities with zero float are considered critical path tasks.

Answer 54

critical path (CP)

Question 55

A schedule development method that determines a single early and late start date, early and late finish date, and the float for each activity on the project.

Answer 55

critical path method (CPM)

Question 56

Elements that must be completed in order for the project to be considered complete. Critical success factors that are not satisfactory can lead to project failure.

Answer 56

critical success factor

Question 57

The recipient of the product or service created by the project. In some organizations this stakeholder may also be referred to as the client .

Answer 57

customer

Question 58

A formal method of project selection that helps managers make the best use of limited budgets and human resources. Includes benefit measurement methods and constrained optimization models.

Answer 58

decision model

Question 59

The process of breaking project deliverables down into smaller, manageable components of work so that work packages can be planned and estimated.

Answer 59

decomposition

Question 60

A type of change request that typically comes about during the Monitoring and Controlling process group. Defect repairs either correct or replace components that are substandard or are malfunctioning.

Answer 60

defect repairs

Question 61

An estimating technique that assigns a cost estimate to each work package in the project WBS. This is the most accurate of the cost estimating techniques, which typically falls within 5 percent and +10 percent of the actual budget.

Answer 61

definitive estimate

Question 62

An output or result that must be completed in order to consider the project complete or to move forward to the next phase of the project. Deliverables are tangible and can be measured and easily proved.

Answer 62

deliverable

Question 63

The relationship between project activities

Answer 63

dependencies

Question 64

The type of dependency between two activities and the specific relationship between the activities

Answer 64

dependency relationships

Question 65

Compares the value of the future cash flows of the project to today ? s dollars.

Answer 65

discounted cash flow (DCF)

Question 66

A type of dependency that the project manager and project team choose to impose on the project schedule, such as the use of an established corporate practice.

Answer 66

discretionary dependency

Question 67

Defines how revisions are made, the version numbering system, and the placement of the version number and revision date.

Answer 67

document control process

Question 68

The use of techniques such as fast - tracking or crashing to shorten the planned duration of a project or to resolve schedule slippage.

Answer 68

duration compression

Question 69

The earliest date an activity may finish as logically constrained by the network diagram.

Answer 69

early finish

Question 70

The earliest date an activity may start as logically constrained by the network diagram.

Answer 70

early start

Question 71

The value of the work completed to date as it compares to the budgeted amount for the work component.

Answer 71

earned value (EV)

Question 72

EVM is a tool and technique of the Cost Control process that compares what you ? re received or produced as of the measurement date to what you ? ve spent. The three measurements needed to perform earned value measurement are planned value (PV), actual cost (AC), and earned value (EV).

Answer 72

earned value measurement (EVM)

Question 73

A type of benefit measurement method. It is a series of financial calculations that provide data on the overall financials of the project and is generally used as a project selection technique.

Answer 73

economic model

Question 74

A project that will be used by users throughout the enterprise.

Answer 74

enterprise project

Question 75

(a) Resources such as servers, specialized test equipment, or additional PCs that are required for a project. (b) One of the categories of project resources. It includes test tools, servers, PCs, or other related items required to complete the project.

Answer 75

equipment

Question 76

A forecast of the total cost of the project based on both current project performance and the remaining work. The formula is EAC = AC + ETC.

Answer 76

estimate at completion (EAC)

Question 77

The cost estimate for the remaining project work. This estimate is provided by the project team members.

Answer 77

estimate to complete (ETC)

Question 78

This project process group is where the work of the project is performed.

Answer 78

executing

Question 79

A technique used in project selection, determining estimates, and determining other related project information that relies on the knowledge of those with expertise on the requested subject matter. Expert judgment can come from stakeholders, other departments, consultants, team members, vendors, or industry groups.

Answer 79

expert judgement

Question 80

A type of dependency where a relationship between a project task and a factor outside the project, such as weather conditions, drives the scheduling of that task.

Answer 80

external dependency

Question 81

This is a type of project ending that occurs when the project is completed and accepted by the stakeholders.

Answer 81

extinction

Question 82

The cost if the product fails, including downtime, user support, rework, and scrapping the project.

Answer 82

failure costs

Question 83

A schedule compression technique where two activities that were previously scheduled to start sequentially start at the same time. Fast - tracking reduces schedule duration.

Answer 83

fast-tracking

Question 84

Undertaken to determine whether the project is a viable project, the probability of project success, and the viability of the product of the project.

Answer 84

feasibility study

Question 85

A project task relationship in which the finish of the successor task is dependent on the finish of the predecessor task.

Answer 85

finish-to-finish

Question 86

A project task relationship in which the successor task cannot begin until the predecessor task has completed.

Answer 86

finish-to-start

Question 87

A contract that states a fixed fee for the work that the vendor will perform.

Answer 87

fixed-price contracts

Question 88

The amount of time the early start of a task may be delayed without delaying the finish date of the project. Also known as slack time .

Answer 88

float time

Question 89

A diagram that shows the logical steps that must be performed in order to accomplish an objective. It can also show how the individual elements of a system interrelate.

Answer 89

flowchart

Question 90

This is a conflict - resolution technique where one party forces their solution on the others. This is an example of a win - lose conflict resolution technique.

Answer 90

forcing

Question 91

Planned communications such as project kickoff meetings, team status meetings, written status reports, or team - building sessions.

Answer 91

formal communications

Question 92

The process of working from the left to the right of a network diagram in order to calculate early start and early finish dates for each activity.

Answer 92

forward pass

Question 93

A form of organizational structure. Functional organizations are traditional organizations with hierarchical reporting structures.

Answer 93

functional organization

Question 94

These define what the product of the project will do by focusing on how the end user will interact with the product

Answer 94

functional requirements

Question 95

These explain the major characteristics of the product and describe the relationship between the business need and the product requested. This is also referred to as a product description .

Answer 95

high-level requirements

Question 96

The people with the background and skills to complete the tasks on the project schedule.

Answer 96

human resources

Question 97

Defining team member roles and responsibilities, establishing an appropriate structure for team reporting, securing the right team members, and bringing them on the project as needed for the appropriate length of time.

Answer 97

human resources planning

Question 98

The consequences imposed if a risk event occurs on the project.

Answer 98

impact

Question 99

Unplanned or ad hoc communications, including phone calls, emails, conversations in the hallway, or impromptu meetings.

Answer 99

informal communications

Question 100

Providing stakeholders with information regarding the project in a timely manner via status reports, project meetings, review meetings, email, and so on. The communications management plan is put into action during this process.

Answer 100

informal distribution

Question 101

The first process in a project life cycle and the first of the five project process groups. This is the formal acknowledgment that the project should begin. The primary result of this process is the project charter.

Answer 101

initiating

Question 102

A quality control technique that includes examining, measuring, or testing work results.

Answer 102

inspection

Question 103

A process that influences the factors that cause change, determines that a change is needed or has happened, and manages and monitors change. All other change control processes are integrated with this process.

Answer 103

integrated change control

Question 104

A type of project ending where the resources of the project are reassigned or redeployed to other projects or other activities within the organization.

Answer 104

integration

Question 105

The discount rate when the present value of the cash inflows equals the original investment. Projects with higher IRR values are generally considered better than projects with lower IRR values. Assumes that cash inflows are reinvested at the IRR value.

Answer 105

internal rate of return (IRR)

Question 106

A Quality Control technique that shows the relationship between the effects of problems and their causes. This is also known as a cause - and - effect diagram and fishbone diagram

Answer 106

Ishikawa diagram

Question 107

Any process that is repeated more than once. The five process groups are repeated throughout the project ? s life because of change requests, responses to change, corrective action, and so on.

Answer 107

iterative process

Question 108

Help you determine whether the project is on track and progressing as planned by monitoring the project against predetermined criteria.

Answer 108

Key performance indicators (KPIs)

Question 109

The latest date an activity can complete without impacting the project end date

Answer 109

late finish

Question 110

The latest date an activity can start without impacting the project end date.

Answer 110

late start

Question 111

Information gathered throughout the project (and again at the end of a project phase or the end of the project) that documents the successes and failures of the project. This information is used to benefit the current project and future projects.

Answer 111

lessons learned

Question 112

A mathematical formula that determines the number of lines of communication between participants in a meeting. The formula is n (n ? 1) / 2, where n represents the number of participants.

Answer 112

lines of communication

Question 113

A rate used for cost estimating of human resources that includes a percentage of the salary to cover employee benefits, such as medical, disability, or pension plans.

Answer 113

loaded rate

Question 114

The dependency relationships that may exist between tasks. Finish - to - start is the most common logical relationship

Answer 114

logical relationships

Question 115

Determines the cost effectiveness of producing goods or services in - house vs. procuring them from outside the organization.

Answer 115

make-or-buy analysis

Question 116

An amount of money set aside by upper management to cover future expenses that can ? t be predicted during project planning.

Answer 116

managerial reserve

Question 117

A type of dependency where the relationship between two tasks is created by the type of work the project requires.

Answer 117

mandatory dependency

Question 118

A catchall category of project resources that includes software, utility requirements such as electricity or water, any supplies needed for the project, or other consumable goods.

Answer 118

materials

Question 119

Calculating theoretical early and late start and finish dates for all project activities.

Answer 119

mathematical analysis

Question 120

An organizational structure where employees report to one functional manager and at least one project manager. Functional managers assign employees to projects and carry out administrative duties, while project managers assign tasks associated with the project to team members and execute the project.

Answer 120

matrix organization