Important PMP Abbreviations / Acronyms

Question 1

AC

Answer 1

Actual Cost
is the actual expenditure made to acquire an asset, which includes the supplier-invoiced expense, plus the costs to deliver, set up, and test the asset. This is the cost of an asset when it is initially recorded in the financial statements as a fixed asset.

Question 2

ADM

Answer 2

Arrow Diagramming Method
refers to a schedule network diagramming technique in which the schedule activites within a given project are represented by the use of arrows. The beginning of the schedule activity is represented by the tail, or base, of the arrow.

Question 3

ADR

Answer 3

Alternative Dispute Resolution

refers to any means of settling disputes outside of the courtroom.

Question 4

AE

Answer 4

Apportioned Effort
is a method of planning and measuring the earned value for effort that is related in direct proportion to measured effort and is not readily measurable or broken into discrete work packages. Inspection is the most typical use of this method.

Question 5

AOA

Answer 5

Activity-on-Arrow
network, activities are represented by a line between two circles. The first circle represents the start of the activity and is known as the start event (sometimes called the i-node). … A network diagram is created by connecting activities according to their dependence upon each other.

Question 6

AON

Answer 6

Activity-on-Node

refers to a precedence diagramming method which uses boxes to denote schedule activities.

Question 7

BAC

Answer 7

Budget at Completion
refers to the sum of all budget values that have been previously established for the work to be performed on a project, or on components within a project such as a schedule activity or work breakdown structure component.

Question 8

BCR

Answer 8

Benefit Cost Ratio
is a ratio used in a cost-benefit analysis to summarize the overall relationship between the relative costs and benefits of a proposed project.

Question 9

BOM

Answer 9

Bill Of Materials
is a comprehensive inventory of the raw materials, assemblies, subassemblies, parts and components, as well as the quantities of each, needed to manufacture a product.

Question 10

CA

Answer 10

Control Account

an account used to record the balances on a number of subsidiary accounts and to provide a cross-check on them.

Question 11

CBR

Answer 11

Cost Benefit Ratio
used in a cost-benefit analysis to summarize the overall relationship between the relative costs and benefits of a proposed project.

Question 12

CCB

Answer 12

Change Control Board
is a committee that consists of Subject Matter Experts (SME) and Technical Chiefs, who will make decisions regarding whether or not proposed changes to a software project should be implemented.

Question 13

COC

Answer 13

Cost of Conformance

is the total cost of ensuring that a product is of good Quality.

Question 14

CONC

Answer 14

Cost of Non-Conformance
is comprised of those costs incurred as the result of a failure to meet the quality standards for a product. These costs are triggered when problems in the production process cause imperfections that render products unusable.

Question 15

COQ

Answer 15

Cost of Quality
is defined as a methodology that allows an organization to determine the extent to which its resources are used for activities that prevent poor quality, that appraise the quality of the organization’s products or services, and that result from internal and external failures.

Question 16

CPAF

Answer 16

Cost Plus Award Fee (Contract)
is a cost-reimbursement contract that provides for a fee consisting of (a) a base amount (which may be zero) fixed at inception of the contract and (b) an award amount, based upon a judgmental evaluation by the Government, sufficient to provide motivation for excellence in contract …

Question 17

CPF

Answer 17

Cost Plus Fee (Contract)
is a cost reimbursable contract in which the buyer provides reimbursement to the selling party for the allowable costs that have been accrued by the seller in the commission of the service, the creation, manufacture, delivery of the product, or in any other performance of the contracted work

Question 18

CPFF

Answer 18

Cost Plus Fixed Fee (Contract)
is a specific type of contract wherein the contractor is paid for the normal expenses for a project, plus an additional fixed fee for their services. These allow the contractor to collect a profit on the project, and they encourage economic production in various industries.

Question 19

CPI

Answer 19

Cost Performance Index
is a measure of the financial effectiveness and efficiency of a project. It represents the amount of completed work for every unit of cost spent. As a ratio it is calculated by dividing the budgeted cost of work completed, or earned value, by the actual cost of the work performed.

Question 20

CPIF

Answer 20

Cost Plus Incentive Fee (Contract)
is a cost-reimbursement contract that provides for an initially negotiated fee to be adjusted later by a formula based on the relationship of total allowable costs to total target costs.

Question 21

CPM

Answer 21

Critical Path Method
is an algorithm for scheduling a set of project activities. … A critical path is determined by identifying the longest stretch of dependent activities and measuring the time required to complete them from start to finish.

Question 22

CPPC

Answer 22

Cost Plus Percentage of Cost
is a type of contract that requires the buyer to reimburse all legitimate project costs towards the seller. Aside from reimbursing costs, the buyer also needs to pay a percentage cost as stipulated and agreed upon in the contract.

Question 23

CR

Answer 23

Change Request
is a document containing a call for an adjustment of a system; it is of great importance in the change management process. A change request is declarative, i.e. it states what needs to be accomplished, but leaves out how the change should be carried out.

Question 24

CV

Answer 24

Cost Variance
is the difference between the cost actually incurred and the budgeted or planned amount of cost that should have been incurred. … These variances form a standard part of many management reporting systems.

Question 25

CWBS

Answer 25

Contract Work Breakdown Structure
refers to the specific portion of he work breakdown structure that has been associated with a specific project that as been developed and is currently being maintained by the seller in is process of attempting to deliver a subproject or project component to the buyer.

Question 26

EAC

Answer 26

Estimate at Completion
is the forecasted cost of the project, as the project progresses. There are a number of different ways to determine the EAC. The most common way to determine EAC is a “bottoms-up” formula where the actual costs (AC) are added to the forecasted remaining spending – the estimate to complete (ETC).

Question 27

EEF

Answer 27

Enterprise Environmental Factors
include all policies, practices, procedures, and legislation that exist both inside and outside of the organization that will impact the way you manage a project.

Question 28

EF

Answer 28

Early Finish
represents the earliest date an activity can possibly finish, if all predecessors and successors also finish on their respective early finish dates. ​When you first create a task, its early start and early finish dates are the same as the scheduled start and finish dates.

Question 29

EMV

Answer 29

Expected Monetary Value

Question 30

EPV

Answer 30

Expected Present Value
is a ballpark figure that shows how much money a plaintiff can reasonably expect in mediation. … To calculate EMV, multiply the dollar value of each possible outcome by each outcome’s chance of occurring (percentage), and total the results.

Question 31

ES

Answer 31

Early Start

Question 32

ETC

Answer 32

Estimate to Complete
is the total cost of the project at the end, while the Estimate to Complete is the cost required to complete the remaining work. When the project starts, the EAC is equal to the ETC.

Question 33

EV

Answer 33

Earned Value
is an approach where you monitor the project plan, actual work, and work completed value to see if a project is on track. Earned Value shows how much of the budget and time should have been spent, considering the amount of work done so far.

Question 34

EVA

Answer 34

Earned Value Analysis
is a method that allows the project manager to measure the amount of work actually performed on a project beyond the basic review of cost and schedule reports. … Oftentimes the term “earned value” is defined as the “budgeted cost of worked performed” or BCWP.

Question 35

EVM

Answer 35

Earned Value Management
helps project managers to measure project performance. It is a systematic project management process used to find variances in projects based on the comparison of worked performed and work planned. EVM is used on the cost and schedule control and can be very useful in project forecasting.

Question 36

EVT

Answer 36

Earned Value Technique
is an excellent way to track the Project Progress against the Project Plan. It’s a method of objectively measuring project performance against the Project baseline. Result from an Earned Value analysis indicates deviation of the Project from cost and schedule baselines.

Question 37

FF

Answer 37

Finish-to-Finish

is a Logical Relationship in which a Successor Activity cannot finish until a Predecessor Activity has finished.

Question 38

FFP

Answer 38

Firm Fixed Price (Contract)
provides for a price that is not subject to any adjustment on the basis of the contractor’s cost experience in performing the contract. This contract type places upon the contractor maximum risk and full responsibility for all costs and resulting profit or loss.

Question 39

FMEA

Answer 39

Failure Mode and Effect Analysis
is a structured approach to discovering potential failures that may exist within the design of a product or process. Failure modes are the ways in which a process can fail. Effects are the ways that these failures can lead to waste, defects or harmful outcomes for the customer.

Question 40

FPEPA

Answer 40

Fixed Price with Economic Price Adjustment (Contract)

Question 41

FPIF

Answer 41

Fixed Price Incentive Fee (Contract)
is a type of contract wherein the buyer pays the reseller a fixed price that has already been decided on and is stipulated in the contract. This particular contract allows pre-defined adjustment to the price or rate of the contract.

Question 42

FS

Answer 42

Finish-to-Start
is a Logical Relationship in which a Successor Activity cannot start until a Predecessor Activity has finished. PMBOK Guide. In simple words we can say that, the Start of a Successor Activity is Dependent on Finish of the Predecessor Activity.

Question 43

IFB

Answer 43

Invitation for Bid
is a call to contractors to submit a proposal on a project for a specific product or service. It is usually for requirements over $100,000.

Question 44

IRR

Answer 44

Internal Rate of Return
is a measure of an investment’s rate of return. The term internal refers to the fact that the calculation excludes external factors, such as the risk-free rate, inflation, the cost of capital, or various financial risks. It is also called the discounted cash flow rate of return.

Question 45

ITTO

Answer 45

Inputs, Tools, Techniques, and Outputs
Simply put they define what you need to start the process, how you perform the activities in the process and then what you will end up with once you are done.

Question 46

JIT

Answer 46

Just in Time
is a methodology aimed primarily at reducing times within the production system as well as response times from suppliers and to customers.

Question 47

LF

Answer 47

Late Finish
represents the latest date an activity can finish, without delaying the finish of the project. Likewise, late start represents the latest an activity can start without affecting the planned project finish date.

Question 48

LS

Answer 48

Late Start
refers specifically to a specific point of time that takes place as part of the Critical Path Method. … The determination of the late start date takes place through the calculation of the backward pass of the project schedule network in question.

Question 49

NPV

Answer 49

Net Present Value
is the difference between the present value of cash inflows and the present value of cash outflows over a period of time. NPV is used in capital budgeting and investment planning to analyze the profitability of a projected investment or project.

Question 50

OBS

Answer 50

Organizational Breakdown Structure
is a document that your business can use in conjunction with its workflow schedule and resource breakdown to organize the people who will be working on a particular project. The OBS details who reports to whom, the details of the hierarchy and the reporting structure

Question 51

OPA

Answer 51

Organizational Process Assets
“are the plans, processes, policies, procedures, and knowledge bases specific to and used by the performing organization” (PMBOK Guide, 27). PMBOK further breaks OPAs down into (1) process and procedures and (2) corporate knowledge base.

Question 52

OPM3

Answer 52

Organizational Project Management Maturity Model

to suggest the way to improve and measure business processes related to project management inside organizations

Question 53

PDCA

Answer 53

Plan Do Check Act
is an iterative four-step management method used in business for the control and continuous improvement of processes and products. It is also known as the Deming circle/cycle/wheel, the Shewhart cycle, the control circle/cycle, or plan–do–study–act. Another version of this PDCA cycle is OPDCA.

Question 54

PDM

Answer 54

Precedence Diagramming Method
is a tool for scheduling activities in a project plan. It is a method of constructing a project schedule network diagram that uses boxes, referred to as nodes, to represent activities and connects them with arrows that show the dependencies.

Question 55

PDU

Answer 55

Professional Development Unit
are one-hour blocks of time that you spend learning, teaching others or volunteering.” These are the measuring unit used to quantify approved learning and professional service activities.

Question 56

PERT

Answer 56

Program Evaluation and Review Technique
is a statistical tool used in project management, which was designed to analyze and represent the tasks involved in completing a given project.

Question 57

PM

Answer 57

Project Manager
is a person who has the overall responsibility for the successful initiation, planning, design, execution, monitoring, controlling and closure of a project. … Most of the issues that impact a project result in one way or another from risk.

Question 58

PMB

Answer 58

Performance Measurement Baseline
is a time-phased resourced plan against which the accomplishment of authorized work can be measured. Source: DoD Earned Value Management System Interpretation Guide (EVMSIG) It includes the budgets assigned to scheduled control accounts and the applicable indirect budgets.

Question 59

PMBOK® Guide

Answer 59

A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge
is a set of standard terminology and guidelines for project management. The body of knowledge evolves over time and is presented in A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, a book whose sixth edition was released in 2017.

Question 60

PMI

Answer 60

Project Management Institute

is a global nonprofit professional organization for project management.

Question 61

PMIS

Answer 61

Project Management Information System
is the coherent organization of the information required for an organization to execute projects successfully. A PMIS is typically one or more software applications and a methodical process for collecting and using project information.

Question 62

PMO

Answer 62

Project Management Office
is a group or department within a business, government agency, or enterprise that defines and maintains standards for project management within the organization. The PMO strives to standardize and introduce economies of repetition in the execution of projects.

Question 63

PMP

Answer 63

Project Management Professional.
is an internationally recognized professional designation offered by the Project Management Institute. As of August 2019, there are 932,720 active PMP certified individuals and 300 chartered chapters across 218 countries and territories worldwide.

Question 64

PS

Answer 64

Planned Start Date
It the period of time for which the Change has to be completed in. It’s the planned time. Actual Start and End times are the times the assignee actually started and finished working on the change.

Question 65

PTA

Answer 65

Point of Total Assumption
is a point on the cost line of the profit-cost curve determined by the contract elements associated with a fixed price plus incentive-Firm Target (FPI) contract above which the seller effectively bears all the costs of a cost overrun.

Question 66

PV

Answer 66

Planned Value or Present Value
is the approved value of the work to be completed in a given time. According to the PMBOK Guide, “Planned Value (PV) is the authorized budget assigned to work to be accomplished for an activity or WBS component.” … Planned Value is also called Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled (BCWS).

Question 67

QA

Answer 67

Quality Assurance
is a way of preventing mistakes and defects in manufactured products and avoiding problems when delivering products or services to customers; which ISO 9000 defines as “part of quality management focused on providing confidence that quality requirements will be fulfilled”.

Question 68

QC

Answer 68

Quality Control
is a process by which entities review the quality of all factors involved in production. ISO 9000 defines quality control as “A part of quality management focused on fulfilling quality requirements”.

Question 69

QFD

Answer 69

Quality Function Deployment
is a method developed in Japan beginning in 1966 to help transform the voice of the customer into engineering characteristics for a product.

Question 70

RACI

Answer 70

Responsible, Accountable, Consult, Inform
also known as RACI matrix or linear responsibility chart, describes the participation by various roles in completing tasks or deliverables for a project or business process.

Question 71

RAM

Answer 71

Responsibility Assignment Matrix
describes the participation by various organizations, people and roles in completing tasks or deliverables for a project. It’s used by the Program Manager (PM) in clarifying roles and responsibilities in cross-functional team, projects and processes.

Question 72

RBS

Answer 72

Resource Breakdown Structure or Risk Breakdown Structure

Question 73

RFI

Answer 73

Request for Information
is a common business process whose purpose is to collect written information about the capabilities of various suppliers.

Question 74

RFP

Answer 74

Request for Proposal
is a business document that announces and provides details about a project, as well as solicits bids from contractors who will help complete the project. Most organizations prefer using RFPs, and, in many cases, governments only use requests for proposal.

Question 75

RFQ

Answer 75

Request for Quotation
is a business process in which a company or public entity requests a quote from a supplier for the purchase of specific products or services. RfQ generally means the same thing as Call for bids and Invitation for bid. An RfQ typically involves more than the price per item.

Question 76

ROI

Answer 76

Return on Investment
is a ratio between net profit and cost of investment. A high ROI means the investment’s gains compare favorably to its cost. As a performance measure, ROI is used to evaluate the efficiency of an investment or to compare the efficiencies of several different investments.

Question 77

ROM

Answer 77

Rough Order of Magnitude
is an estimation of a project’s level of effort and cost to complete. A ROM estimate takes place very early in a project’s life cycle — during the project selection and approval period and prior to project initiation in most cases.

Question 78

SF

Answer 78

Start-to-Finish
In this case, a successor task cannot start until the predecessor task has started, and this is implemented in a start-to-finish (SF) model. This is the most logical path to follow when planning a project.

Question 79

SME

Answer 79

Subject Matter Experts
is a person who is an authority in a particular area or topic. The term domain expert is frequently used in expert systems software development, and there the term always refers to the domain other than the software domain.

Question 80

SOW

Answer 80

Statement of Work
is a document routinely employed in the field of project management. It is the narrative description of a project’s work requirement. It defines project-specific activities, deliverables and timelines for a vendor providing services to the client.

Question 81

SPI

Answer 81

Schedule Performance Index
is a measure of how close the project is to being completed compared to the schedule. As a ratio it is calculated by dividing the budgeted cost of work performed, or earned value, by the planned value.

Question 82

SS

Answer 82

Start-to-Start
is a Logical Relationship in which a Successor Activity cannot start until a Predecessor Activity has started. PMBOK Guide. In simple words we can say that, the Start of a Successor Activity is Dependent on Start of the Predecessor Activity.

Question 83

SV

Answer 83

Schedule Variance
is an indicator of whether a project schedule is ahead or behind and is typically used within Earned Value Management (EVM). Schedule Variance can be calculated by subtracting the Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled (BCWS) from the Budgeted Cost of Work Performed (BCWP).

Question 84

SWOT Analysis

Answer 84

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats Analysis
is a strategic planning technique used to help a person or organization identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats related to business competition or project planning.

Question 85

T&M

Answer 85

Time and Material
is a standard phrase in a contract for construction, product development or any other piece of work in which the employer agrees to pay the contractor based upon the time spent by the contractor’s employees and subcontractors employees to perform the work, and for materials used in the construction (plus the contractor’s mark up on the materials used), no matter how much work is required to complete construction. Time and Materials is generally used in projects in which it is not possible to accurately estimate the size of the project, or when it is expected that the project requirements would most likely change.[1]

This is opposed to a fixed-price contract in which the owner agrees to pay the contractor a lump sum for fulfillment of the contract no matter what the contractors pay their employees, sub-contractors and suppliers.

Question 86

TCPI

Answer 86

To-Complete Performance Index
is a comparative Earn Value Management (EVM) metric used primarily to determine if an independent estimate at completion is reasonable. It computes the future required cost efficiency needed to achieve a target Estimate at Completion

Question 87

TQM

Answer 87

Total Quality Management
consists of organization-wide efforts to “install and make permanent climate where employees continuously improve their ability to provide on demand products and services that customers will find of particular value.

Question 88

TS

Answer 88

Target Start Date
The actual TS is not when these initial steps begin but refers instead to the full implementation of the project even if it’s the first phase of a multi-staged project.

Question 89

VAC

Answer 89

Variance at Completion
is a projection of the budget surplus or deficit. It is expressed as the difference of the Budget at Completion (BAC) to the Estimate At Completion (EAC). … If the result is negative, then it means that the project will be over budget.

Question 90

VE

Answer 90

Value Engineering
is a systematic and organized approach to providing the necessary functions in a project at the lowest cost. Value engineering promotes the substitution of materials and methods with less expensive alternatives, without sacrificing functionality.

Question 91

VOC

Answer 91

Voice of the Customer
is a term used in business and Information Technology to describe the in-depth process of capturing customer’s expectations, preferences and aversions.

Question 92

WAS

Answer 92

Work Authorization System
A subsystem of the overall project management system. It is a collection of formal documented procedures that defines how project work will be authorized (committed) to ensure that the work is done by the identified organization, at the right time, and in the proper sequence.

Question 93

WBS

Answer 93

Work Breakdown Structure
is a deliverable-oriented hierarchical decomposition of the work to be executed by the project team to accomplish the project objectives and create the required deliverables. … All the work contained within the WBS is to be identified, estimated, scheduled, and budgeted.

Question 94

RTM

Answer 94

REQUIREMENTS TRACEABILITY MATRIX
The requirements traceability matrix is a grid that links product requirements from their origin to the deliverables that satisfy them.