Definitions Flashcards
Accepted Deliverables
Products, results, or capabilities produced by a project and validated by the project customer or sponsors as meeting their specified acceptance criteria.
Acceptance Criiteria
A set of conditions that is required to be met before deliverables are accepted.
Accuracy
Within the quality management system, accuracy is an assessment of correctness.
Acquire Project Team
The process of confirming human resources availability and obtaining the team necessary.
Acquistion
Obtaining human and material resources necessary to perform project activities. Acquisition implies a cost of resources, and is not necessarily financial.
Activity
A distinct, scheduled portion of work performed during the course of a project.
Activity Attributes
Multiple attributes associated with each schedule activity that can be included within the activity list. Activity attributes include activity codes, predecessor activities, successor activities, logical relationships, leads and lags, resource requirements, imposed dates, constraints, and assumptions.
Activity Code
One or more numerical or text values that identify characteristics of the work or in some way categorize the schedule activity that allows filtering and ordering of activities of activities within reports.
Activity Cost Estimates
The projected cost of the schedule activity that includes the cost for all resources required to perform and complete the activity, including all cost types and cost components.
Activity Duration
The time in calendar units between the start and finish of a schedule activity. See also duration
Business Value
The sum of all of the things your company is made o, from desks and chairs to people and the intellectual property they produce.
Activity Duration Estimate
The quantitive assessments of the likely number of time periods that are required to complete an activity.
Activity Identifier
A short, unique numeric or text identification assigned to each schedule activity to differentiate that project activity form other activities. Typically unique within any one project schedule network.
Activity List
A documented tabulation of schedule activities that shows the activity description, activity identifier, and a sufficiently so detailed scope of work description so project team members understand wat work is to be performed.
Activity Network Diagram/Project Schedule Network Diagram
A graphical representation of the logical relationships among the project schedule activities.
Activity-on-Node/Precedence diagraming method (PDM)
A technique used for constructing a schedule model in which activities are represented by nodes and are graphically linked by one or more logic relationships to show the sequence in which the activities are to be performed.
Activity Resource Requirements
The types and quantities of resources required for each activity in a work package.
Actual Cost (AC)
The realized cost incurred for the work on an activity during a specific time period.
Actual Duration
The time in calendar units between the actual start date of the schedule activity and either the data date of the project schedule if the schedule activity is in progress or the actual finish date if the schedule activity is complete.
Adaptive Life Cycle
A project life cycle, also known as change-driven or agile methods, that is intended to facilitate change and require a high degree of ongoing stakeholder involvment. Adaptive life cycles are also iterative and incremental, but differ in that the iterations are very rapid (usually 2-4 weeks in length) and are fixed in time and resources.
Additional Quality Planning Tools
A set of tools used to define the quality requirements and to plan effective quality management activites. They include, but not limited to: brainstorming, force field analysis, nominal group techniques and quality management and control tools.
Adjusting Leads and Lags
At technique used to find ways to bring project activities that are behind into alignment with plan during project execution.
Advertising
The process of calling public attention to a project or effort.
Affinity Diagram
A group creativity technique that allows large numbers of ideas to be classified into groups for review and analysis.
Agreements
Any document or communication that defines the initial intentions of a project. This can take the form of a contract, memorandum of understanding (MOU), letters of agreement, verbal agreements, emails, etc.
Alternative Analysis
A technique used to evaluate identified options in order to select which options or approaches to use to execute and perform the work of the project.
Alternative Generation
A technique used to develop as many potential options as possible in order to identify different approaches to execute and perform the work of the project.
Analogous Estimating
A technique for estimating the duration or cost of an activity or a project using historical data from a similar activity or project.
Analytical Technique
Various techniques used to evaluate, analyze, or forecast potential outcomes based on possible variations of project or environment variables and their relationships with other variables.
Application Area
A category of projects that have common components significant in such projects, but not needed for present in all projects. Application areas are usually defined in terms of either the product (ie. by similar technologies or production methods) or the type of customer (i.e. internal versus external, government versus commercial) or industry sector (i.e. utilities, automotive, aerospace, information technologies, etv.) Application areas can overlap.
Applying Leads and Lags
A technique that is used to adjust the amount of time between predecessor and successor activitities.
Apportioned Effort
An activity where effort is allotted proportionately across certain discrete efforts and not divisible into discrete efforts. [Note: Apportioned effort is one of three earned value management (EVM) types of activities used to measure work performance].
Approved Change Request
A change request that has been processed through the integrated change control process and approved.
Approved Change Requests Review
A review of the change requests to verify that these were implemented as approved.
Assumption
A factor in the planning process that is considered to be true, real, or certain, without proof or demonstration.
Assumptions Analysis
A technique that explores the accuracy of assumptions and identifies risks to the project from inaccuracy, inconsistency, or incompleteness of assumptions.
Attribute Sampling
Method of measuring quality that consists of noting the presence (or absence) of some characteristics (attribute) in each of the unites under consideration. After each unit is inspected, the decision is made to accept a lot, reject it, or inspect another unit.
Authority
The right to apply project resources, expend funds, make decisions, or give approvals.
Backlog
A listing of product requirements and deliverables to be completed, written as stories, and prioritized by the business to manage and organize the project’s work.
Backward Pass
A critical path method technique for calculating the late start and late finish dates by working backward through the schedule model from the project end date. (Backward design)
Bar Chart/Gantt Chart
A graphic display of schedule-related information. In the typical bar chart, schedule activities or work breakdown structure components are listed down the left side of the chart, dates are shown across the top, and activity durations are shown as date-placed horizontal bars. Gantt Chart a bar chart of schedule information where activities are listed on the vertical axis, dates are shown on the horizontal axis, and activity duration are shown as horizontal bars placed according to start and finish dates.
Baseline
The approved version of a work product that can be changed only through formal change control procedures and is used as a basis for comparison.
Basis Estimates
Supporting documentation outlining the details used in establishing project estimates such as assumptions, constraints, level of detail, ranges and confidence levels.
Benchmarking
Benchmarking is the comparison of actual planned practices such as processes and operations, to those of comparable organizations to identify best practices, generates ideas for improvement, and provide a basis for measuring performance.
Bidder conference
The meetings with prospective sellers prior to the preparation of a bid or proposal to ensure all prospective vendors have a clear and common understanding of the procurement. Also known as conferences, vendor conferences, or pre-paid conferences.
botton-Up Estimating
A method of estimating project duration or cost by aggregating the estimates of the lower-level components of the work breakdown structure (WBS).
Brainstorming
A general data gathering and creativity technique that can be used to identify risks, ideas, or solutions to issues by a group team members of subject experts.
Budget
The approved estimate to the project or any work breakdown structure component or any schedule activity.
Budget at Completion (BAC)
The sum of all budgets established for the work to be performed.
Buffer/RESERVE
A provision in the project management plan to mitigate cost and/or schedule risk. Often used with a modifier (e.g. management reserve, contingency reserve) to provide further detail on what type of risk are meant to be mitigated.
Business Case
A documented economic feasibility study used to establish validity to the benefits of a selected component lacking sufficient definition that is used as a basis for the authorization of further project management activities.
Business Value
A concept that is unique to each organization and includes tangible and intangible elements. Through the effective use of project, program, portfolio management disciplines, organizations will possess the ability to employ reliable, established processes to meet enterprise objectives and obtain greater business value from their investments.
Buyer
The acquirer of products, services, or results for an organization.
Cause and Effect Diagram
A decomposition (break down) technique that helps trace an undesirable effect back to its root cause.
Central Tendency
A property of the central limit theorem predicting that the data observations is a distribution will tend to group around a central location. The three typical measures of central tendency are the mean, median and mode.
Change Control
A process whereby modifications to documents, deliverables, or baseline associated with the project are identified, documented, approved, or rejected.