Definitions "C"

Question 1

Capital Resources

Answer 1

Money or financing to charter new projects, purchase equipment, contract labor or other physical resources.

Question 2

Cause and Effect Diagrams

Answer 2

Diagrams that are used for root cause analyses of what factors are creating the risks within the project. The goal is to identify and treat the root of the problem, not the symptom. Also called Ishikawa diagrams and fishbone diagrams.

Question 3

Centralized Contracting

Answer 3

All contracts for all projects need to be approved through a central contacting unit within the performing organization.

Question 4

Champion

Answer 4

The individual who defends the project, ensures resources for the project work, and has authority over the project resources. The champion works with the project manager, and project team to ensure that the project is successful in the environment. This person is often the project sponsor but could also be the project customer.

Question 5

Change Control Board (CCB)

Answer 5

Determines the validity and need for project change request and approves or denies them.

Question 6

Change Control System (CCS)

Answer 6

An internal process the project manager can user to block anyone, including management, from changing the deliverables of a project without proper justification. Change control requires the requestor to have an excellent reason to attempt a change, and then it evaluates the proposed changes impact on all facets of the project.

Question 7

Change Impact Statement

Answer 7

A formal response from the project manager to the originator of a Project Change Request form. It is a summary of the project managers proposed plan to incorporate the changes. Usually this is a listing of the paths and trade-offs the project manager is willing to implement.

Question 8

Change Log

Answer 8

A document that records all proposed changes in the project, the effect of each change, the change request status, and relevant information about each change request.

Question 9

Chart of Accounts

Answer 9

A coding system used by the performing organizations accounting system to assign the cost for project work. This is a predefined table of costs for project or organization use for commonly completed activities. Ex: a programmers time is worth $150 per hour regardless of which programmer is assigned to the project.

Question 10

Checklist

Answer 10

A list of activities that workers check to ensure the work has been completed consistently. Checklists are used in quality control.

Question 11

Closing

Answer 11

The period when a project or phase moves through formal acceptance to bring the project or phase to an orderly conclusion.

Question 12

Cloud-based Solutions vs On-premises solutions

Answer 12

Cloud-based solutions are technical solutions that are provided via web technologies, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Google Cloud. On-premises solutions are also technical solutions but are provided via local hardware and solutions on the organizations private network.

Question 13

Code of Accounts

Answer 13

A numbering system that shows the different levels of WBS components and identifies which components belong to which parts of the WBS.

Question 14

Coercive Power

Answer 14

The type of power that comes with the authority to discipline the project team members. Also known as penalty power. It is generally used to describe the power structure when the team is afraid of the project manager.

Question 15

Collective Bargaining Agreements

Answer 15

Contractual agreements initiated by employee groups, unions, or other labor organizations. They may act as a constraint on the project.

Question 16

Communication Channel Formula

Answer 16

A formula to predict the number of communication channels within a project; the formula is N (N-1) / 2, where N represents the number of stakeholders.

Question 17

Communications Management Plan

Answer 17

A plan that documents and organizes stakeholder needs for communication. This plan covers the communications system, its documentation, the flow of communication, modalities of communication, schedules for communications, information retrieval, and any other stakeholder requirements for communications. The plan may also address communications for virtual teams and consider time zone differences, language differences, and cultural norms in each location where the project exists.

Question 18

Compromising

Answer 18

A conflict resolution method that requires both parties to give up something. The decision ultimately made is a blend of both sides of the argument. Because neither party completely wins, it is considered a lose-lose solution.

Question 19

Conferencing Platforms

Answer 19

Web conferencing software, such as Zoom, that allows organizations to collaborate online without the need to be co-located to have the meeting.

Question 20

Configuration Management

Answer 20

Activities focusing on controlling the characteristics of a product or service. A documented process of controlling the features, attributes, and technical configuration of any product or service. It is sometimes considered a rigorous change control system.

Question 21

Constrained Optimization Methods

Answer 21

Complex mathematical formulas and algorithms that are use to predict the success of projects, variables within projects and tendencies to move forward with selected project investments. Examples include linear programming, integer algorithms, and multi-objective programming.

Question 22

Consultative Decision-Making Process

Answer 22

Occurs when the project team meets with the project manager, and together they may arrive at several viable solutions. The project manager can then take the proposed solutions and make a decision based on what they think is best for the project.

Question 23

Contingency Plan

Answer 23

A predetermined decision that will be enacted should the project go awry.

Question 24

Contingency Reserve

Answer 24

A time or dollar amount allotted as a response to risk events that may occur within a project.

Question 25

Contingency/Fallback Plans

Answer 25

Plans often used in technical projects to fall back or roll back to the last known good status of the environment should something go awry when the solution is implemented into production.

Question 26

Continuous Quality Improvement

Answer 26

The theory that all practices within an organization are processes and that processes can be infinitely improved.

Question 27

Contract

Answer 27

A legal, binding agreement, preferably written, between a buyer and seller detailing the requirements and obligations of both parties. It must include an offer, an acceptance, and a consideration.

Question 28

Contract Administation

Answer 28

The process of ensuring that the buyer and the seller both perform to the specifications within the contract.

Question 29

Contract Change Control System

Answer 29

System that defines the procedures for how contacts may be changed. Includes the paperwork, tracking, conditions, dispute resolution procedures, and the procedures for getting the changes approved within the performing organization.

Question 30

Contract Closeout

Answer 30

A process for confirming that the obligations of the contract have been met as expected. The project manger, customer , key stakeholder, and, in some instances, seller complete the product verification together to confirm the contract has been completed.

Question 31

Contract File

Answer 31

A complete indexed set of records of the procurement process incorporated into the administrative closure process. These records include financial information as well as information on the performance and acceptance of the procured work.

Question 32

Control Account Plans

Answer 32

A control tool within the project that represents the integration of the project scope, project schedule, and budget. It allows management to measure the progress of a project.

Question 33

Control Charts

Answer 33

Charts that illustrate the performance of a project over time. They map the results of inspections against a chart. Control charts are typically used in projects or operations that have repetitive activities such as manufacturing, test series, or help desk functions. Upper and lower control limits indicate whether values are within control or out of control.

Question 34

Controlling

Answer 34

The project is controlled and managed. The project manager controls the project scope and changes, and monitors changes to the project budget, schedule, and scope by comparing plans to actual results and taking corrective action as necessary.

Question 35

Cost Baseline

Answer 35

Shows what the project is expected to spend. It’s usually shown in an S-curve and allows the project manger and management to predict when the project will be spending monies and over what duration. The purpose of the cost baseline is to measure and predict project performance.

Question 36

Cost Budgeting

Answer 36

A process of aggregating the assigned cost to arrive at a budget for the entire project. This process shows costs over the execution of the project. The cost budget results in an S-curve that becomes the cost baseline for the project.

Question 37

Cost Change Control

Answer 37

Part of the integrated change control system that documents the procedures to request, approve, and incorporate changes to project costs.

Question 38

Cost Control

Answer 38

An active process to control causes of cost change, document cost changes, and monitor cost fluctuations within the project. When approved changes occur, the cost baseline must be updated. Unapproved changes are usually seen as a variance from the cost baseline.

Question 39

Cost Estimating

Answer 39

The process of calculating the costs, by category, of the identified resources to complete the project work.

Question 40

Cost Management Plan

Answer 40

A plan that details how changes to cost within the project will be estimated, planned, and controlled and what procedure will be used to report and document cost changes.

Question 41

Cost of Conformance

Answer 41

The cost of completing the project work to satisfy the project scope and the expected level of quality. Examples include training, safety measures, and quality management activities.

Question 42

Cost of Nonconformance

Answer 42

The cost of completing the project work without meeting the quality standards. The biggest issue here is the money lost by having to redo the project work; it’s always more cost effective to do the work right the first time. Other nonconformance costs are loss of sales, loss of customers, downtime, and corrective actions to fix problems cause by the incorrect work.

Question 43

Cost Performance Index (CPI)

Answer 43

A ratio of the amount of actual cumulative dollars spent on a projects work and how closely that value is to the predicted budgeted amount. The CPI formula is earned value/actual costs.

Question 44

Cost Variance

Answer 44

The difference in the amount of budgeted expense and actual expense. A negative variance means that more money was spent on the service or goods than was budgeted for it. The cost variance formula is earned value - actual costs.

Question 45

Cost-benefit analysis

Answer 45

The ratio of the number of costs (not just financial) and the number of benefits to help an organization decide on the value of an implementation or solution. These are sometimes called cost-benefit ratios (CBR).

Question 46

Cost -plus Contract

Answer 46

A contract that represents a set fee for the procured work plus a fee for the actual cost of the work. Some unscrupulous vendors try to use a cost plus a percentage of costs contract where they expect the project manager to pay for the cost of the materials plus a percentage fee for the materials. Cost-plus contacts are risky for buyers, as the vendor can drive the price up by actually wasting materials. There are some cost-plus contacts that include incentives and penalties if the vendor finishes early or late - though the project manger can add these terms to a fixed-fee contract.

Question 47

Crashing

Answer 47

The addition of more resources to activities on the critical path in order to complete the project earlier. Crashing results in higher project costs.

Question 48

Critical Path

Answer 48

Shows the latest finish and the early finish for the project activities. The critical path will reveal the project duration. The critical path is represented in a project network diagram as one or more paths that equate to the longest duration of sequenced activities to reach the completion of all activities in the project.

Question 49

Critical Path Method (CPM)

Answer 49

The most common approach to calculating when a project may finish. It uses “forward” and “backward” paths to reveal which activities are considered critical and which contain float. If activities on the critical path are delayed, the project end date will be delayed.

Question 50

Customers and End-User Stakeholders

Answer 50

These stakeholders could be internal to the organization or quite literally customers that purchase the deliverable the project creates.