Glossary of Terms 101-200 Flashcards by Justin Kelley

An analytical technique to determine the information needs of the project stakeholders through interviews, workshops, or study of lessons learned from previous projects, etc.

Communication Requirements Analysis

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A technique to identify the preferred communication method, format, and content for stakeholders for planned communication activities.

Communication Styles Assessment

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Specific tools, automated systems, computer programs, etc., used to transfer information among project stakeholders.

Communication Technology

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A component of the project, program, or portfolio management plan that describes how, when, and by whom information about the project will be administered and disseminated.

Communications Management Plan

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As described by E. Wenger in his book, Cultivating Communities of Practice, the CoP uses the same basic idea as used by Shell in their offshore drilling platforms to establish local forums of “experts” with the specific mandate to create an arena in which project managers would feel comfortable sharing their findings and learnings from their projects.

Community of Practice (CoP)

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A type of contract that is completed when the vendor delivers the product to the buyer and the buyer accepts the product.

Completion Contract

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A characteristic of a program, project, or its environment, which is difficult to manage due to human behavior, system behavior, or ambiguity.

Complexity

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The state of meeting—or being in accord with—organizational, legal, certification or other relevant regulations.

Compliance

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An option in conflict management in which both parties give up something to reach an agreement.

Compromise

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The process of obtaining seller responses, selecting a seller, and awarding a contract.

Conduct Procurement Process

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Agile term describing the difficulty of estimating early due to unknowns and how that should improve over time.

Cone of Uncertainty

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Any component or project element that needs to be managed to ensure the successful delivery of the project, services, or result.

Configuration Item

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A tool used to manage changes to a product or service being produced as well as changes to any of the project documents—for example, schedule updates.

Configuration Management

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A component of the project management plan that describes how to identify and account for project artifacts under configuration control and how to record and report changes to them.

Configuration Management Plan

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A collection of procedures used to track project artifacts and monitor and control changes to these artifacts.

Configuration Management System

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Difference of opinion or agenda on a project amongst team members, stakeholders, or customers.

Conflict

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The application of one or more strategies for dealing with disagreements that may be detrimental to team performance.

Conflict Management

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The process of working to reach an agreement after a conflict situation arises.

Conflict Resolution

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Group decision technique in which the group agrees to support an outcome even if the individuals do not agree with the decision.

Consensus

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An external factor that limits the ability to plan. Constraints and assumptions are closely linked.

Constraint

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A visual depiction of the product scope showing a business system (process, equipment, computer system, etc.), and how people and other systems (actors) interact with it.

Context Diagram

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A risk response strategy developed in advance before risks occur; it is meant to be used if and when identified risks become reality.

Contingency Plan

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Time or money allocated in the schedule or cost baseline for known risks with active response strategies.

Contingency Reserve

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A theory credited to Fred. E. Fielder which states that the set of skills and attributes that helped a project manager in one environment may work against them in another environment.

Contingency Theory

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The ongoing effort to improve products, services, or processes.

Continuous Improvement (CI)

The practice of regularly merging all software code into a shared environment, several times a day, to check code quality and functionality.

Continuous Integration

The systematic, ongoing effort to improve products, services, or processes in an organization.

Continuous Process Improvement

A mutually binding agreement that obligates the seller to provide the specified project or service or result and obligates the buyer to pay for it.

Contract

The system used to collect, track, adjudicate, and communicate changes to a contract.

Contract Change Control System

A management control point at which scope, budget, actual cost, and schedule are integrated and compared to earned value for performance measurement.

Control Account

A graphic display of process data over time and against established control limits, which has a centerline that assists in detecting a trend of plotted values toward either control limit. These charts are often associated with control limits, specification limits, means, and standard deviation. Control charts are used to analyze and communicate the variability of a process or project activity over time. See also “Variability Control Charts”.

Control Charts

Monitor and control project costs to ensure they align with the cost baseline/budget.

Control Costs Process

The process of managing procurement relationships, monitoring contract performance, making changes and corrections as appropriate, and closing out contracts.

Control Procurements Process

Part of the Monitoring and Controlling Process Group, this process is performed by the buyer to ensure compliance by the seller and the other party; it compares the terms in the agreement/contract.

Control Procurements Process

Part of the Monitoring and Controlling Process Group, this process focuses on the quality of deliverables.

Control Quality Process

Part of the Monitoring and Controlling Process Group, this process ensures that the flow and usage of physical resources line up with the plan.

Control Resources Process

Part of the Monitoring and Controlling Process Group, this process compares the planned work to the actual work.

Control Schedule Process

Part of the Monitoring and Controlling Process Group, this process ensures that changes to scope are properly controlled.

Control Scope Process

A type of PMO that provides support and requires compliance through various means. Compliance may involve adopting project management frameworks or methodologies; using specific templates, forms, and tools; or conformance to governance.

Controlling PMO

Steps (action) to bring future results in line with the plan; this can change the plan or the way the plan is being executed.

Corrective Action

Summing the lower-level cost estimates associated with the various work packages for a given level within the project’s WBS or for a given cost control account.

Cost Aggregation

The approved version of the time-phased project budget, excluding any management reserves, which can be changed only through formal change control procedures and is used as a basis for comparison to actual results. See also “Budget”.

Cost Baseline

A financial analysis method used to determine the benefits provided by a project against its costs.

Cost-Benefit Analysis

Cost estimates adjusted based on performance—i.e., Estimate at complete, budget at completion, estimate to complete, etc.

Cost Forecast

A component of a project or program management plan that describes how costs will be planned, structured, and controlled.

Cost Management Plan

The money spent during a project to avoid failures. This includes prevention costs that build a quality product and appraisal costs that assess the quality.

Cost of Conformance

The money spent after a project is complete because of failures. This includes internal and external failure costs.

Cost of Non-Conformance

All costs incurred over the life of the product by investment in preventing nonconformance to requirements, appraisal of the product or service for conformance to requirements, and failure to meet requirements.

Cost of Quality (CoQ)

A measure of the cost efficiency of budgeted resources expressed as the ratio of earned value to actual cost.

Cost Performance Index (CPI)

A category of contract that involves payments to the seller for all legitimate actual costs incurred for completed work, plus an award fee representing seller profit.

Cost Plus Award Fee (CPAF) contract

A type of cost-reimbursable contract in which the buyer reimburses the seller for the seller’s allowable costs (allowable costs are defined by the contract) plus a fixed amount of profit (fee).

Cost Plus Fixed Fee (CPFF) contract

A type of cost-reimbursable contract in which the buyer reimburses the seller for the seller’s allowable costs (allowable costs are defined by the contract), and the seller earns its profit if it meets defined performance criteria.

Cost Plus Incentive Fee (CPIF) contract

The amount of budget deficit or surplus at a given point in time, expressed as the difference between the earned value and the actual cost.

Cost Variance (CV)

This type of analysis allows project managers to compare if the benefits of an action outweigh the costs or, conversely, if the costs outweigh the benefits. This can be an important criterion in decision making.

Cost-Benefit Analysis

A type of contract involving payment to the seller for the seller’s actual costs, plus a fee typically representing the seller’s profit.

Cost-Reimbursable Contract

Applying additional resources to one or more tasks/activities to complete the work more quickly. Crashing usually increases costs more than risks. In comparison, fast-tracking increases risks. See also “Fast Tracking”.

Crashing

A planning processes that involves creating the work-break-down (WBS) structure, along with the WBS dictionary. This process produces the schedule baseline, which consists of the WBS, WBS dictionary and the scope statement. The scope statement is produced from the Define Scope process.

Create WBS Process

The sequence of activities that represents the longest path through a project, which determines the shortest possible duration.

Critical Path

Any activity on the critical path in a project schedule.

Critical Path Activity

A technique of schedule analysis in which the schedule activities are evaluated to determine the float or slack for each activity and the overall schedule. To calculate critical path, use the forward and backward pass along with float analysis to identify all network paths, including critical.

Critical Path Method (CPM)

Teams that have all the capabilities to deliver the work they’ve been assigned. Team members can specialize in certain skills, but the team can deliver what they’ve been called on to build. See also “self-organizing teams.”

Cross-Functional Team

A collection of lightweight agile software development methods focused on adaptability to a particular circumstance.

Crystal Family of Methodologies.

Understanding the cultural differences of the individuals, groups, and organizations in the project stakeholder community to adapt communication strategies to avoid or reduce miscommunication and misunderstandings.

Cultural Awareness

The individual or organization that will accept the deliverable(s) or product. They can be internal organizational groups or external to an organization.

Customer

Refers to the period from the time a team starts a task until the time it is completed. See also “lead time.”

Cycle Time

A short, 15-minute meeting in which the complete team gets together for a quick status update while standing in a circle. Also referred to as a “daily scrum” or “standup”.

Daily Standup

Refers to gathered empirical information, especially facts and numbers.

Data

The act of scrutinizing facts and numbers for typical purposes of decision-making, verification, validation, or assessment.

Data Analysis

Techniques used to solicit and document ideas—i.e., brainstorming, interviews, focus groups, questionnaires, surveys, and so on.

Data Gathering

A way of depicting data visually to aid in its communication/comprehension to various audiences.

Data Representation

Regulations that are widely accepted and adopted through use.

De Facto Regulations

Regulations that are mandated by law or have been approved by a recognized body of experts.

De Jure Regulations

An informal, collaborative means of discussing the positives and the negatives of a project, what worked, and what will be done differently next time. This discussion includes technology issues, people issues, vendor relationships, and organizational culture.

Debriefing

The process of selecting a course of action from among multiple options.

Decision Making

A diagramming and calculation technique for evaluating the implications of a chain of multiple options in the presence of uncertainty.

Decision Tree Analysis

A technique used for dividing and subdividing the project scope and project deliverables into smaller, more manageable parts.

Decomposition

An acronym used in agile projects that describes desirable attributes of a product backlog.

DEEP (Detailed, Estimable, Emergent and Prioritize)

Part of the Planning Process Group, this process defines the activities (tasks) necessary to complete work packages/stories.

Define Activities Process

Part of the Planning Process Group, this process produces the scope statement that depicts a detailed and complete understanding of the project’s vision.

Define Scope Process

A team’s checklist of all the criteria required to be met so that a deliverable can be considered ready for customer use.

Definition of Done (DoD)

A team’s checklist for a user-centric requirement that has all the information the team needs to be able to begin working on it.

Definition of Ready (DoR)

Any unique and verifiable product, result, or capability used to perform a service and that is required to be produced to complete a process, phase, or projects.

Deliverable

A form of gathering expert opinions in which members of a group are asked or polled anonymously.

Delphi Technique

A review at the end of each iteration with the product owner and other customer stakeholders to review the progress of the product, get early feedback, and review an acceptance from the product owner of the stories delivered in the iteration. See also “Sprint Review”. Dependency A relationship between one or more tasks/activities. A dependency may be mandatory or discretionary, internal or external. See also “start-to-start”; “start-to-finish”; “finish-to-start”; and “finish-to-finish”.

Demo

A set of technical guidelines that may be applied during the design of a product for the optimization of a specific aspect of the design. DfX can control or even improve the product’s final characteristics.

Design for X (DfX)

A data analysis technique to determine the optimal condition; typically used with multiple variables.

Design of Experiments (DoE)

Part of the Planning Process Group, this process produces the cost baseline/project budget.

Determine Budget Process

A collection of practices for creating a smooth flow of delivery by improving collaboration between development and operations staff.

DevOps

Part of the Initiating Process Group, this process produces the project charter, which officially starts the project.

Develop Project Charter

A planning process which is a guide on how the project will be managed. It is composed of 19 components.

Develop Project Management Plan Process

Part of the Planning Process Group, this process arranges activities to create the schedule baseline.

Develop Schedule Process

Part of the Executing Process Group, this process enhances and empowers the team to improve teamwork and individual skills.

Develop Team Process

Various means of depicting a system or virtual concept such as a business or process flow that indicate entities, relationships, and interactions.

Diagramming Techniques

A group decision technique in which one person makes the decision for the entire group.

Dictatorship

A Monitoring and Controlling process that reviews the entire project and analyzes what is planned vs. actual (with schedule forecast and cost forecast as an input) to determine the overall project status.

Direct and Manage Project Work Process

Costs that are reported against the project, which may include salaries for resources, materials, and other expenses. It does not include shared expenses or overhead expenses.

Direct Cost

A classification model that groups stakeholders based on how they influence the project and/or the project team: upwards (senior management); downwards (team or specialists); outwards (external); sidewards (project manager’s peers).

Directions of Influence

A type of PMO that takes control of projects by directly managing the projects.

Directive PMO

Breaking down epics or large stories into smaller stories. This is similar to decomposition on predictive projects.

Disaggregation

A relationship that is established based on knowledge of best practices within a particular application area or an aspect of the project in which a specific sequence is desired.

Discretionary Dependency