Key Terms A-C

Question 1

acceptance

Answer 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.

Question 2

acceptance criteria

Answer 2

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

Question 3

activity definition

Answer 3

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

Question 4

activity duration

Answer 4

Assessing the number of work periods needed to complete the project
activities. Work periods are usually expressed in hours or days. Large projects might
express duration in weeks or months

Question 5

activity list

Answer 5

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.

Question 6

activity sequencing

Answer 6

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

Question 7

actual cost (AC)

Answer 7

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

Question 8

addition

Answer 8

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

Question 9

Administrative Closure

Answer 9

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.

Question 10

analogous estimating

Answer 10

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

Question 11

appraisal costs

Answer 11

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

Question 12

assumption

Answer 12

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

Question 13

avoiding

Answer 13

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 .

Question 14

backward pass

Answer 14

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

Question 15

benchmarking

Answer 15

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 project.

Question 16

benefit measurement methods

Answer 16

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.

Question 17

bidder conference

Answer 17

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.

Question 18

bottom - up estimating

Answer 18

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.

Question 19

budget at completion (BAC)

Answer 19

The total amount of the project budget for a work package,

control account, or schedule activity, or for the project.

Question 20

business analyst

Answer 20

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.

Question 21

business case

Answer 21

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

Question 22

business process reengineering

Answer 22

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.

Question 23

business requirements

Answer 23

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

Question 24

cause - and - effect diagram

Answer 24

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 .

Question 25

change control board (CCB)

Answer 25

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.

Question 26

Close Procurements

Answer 26

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

Question 27

Closing

Answer 27

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.

Question 28

collocated

Answer 28

When team members work together at the same physical location.

Question 29

commercial off-the-shelf (COTS)

Answer 29

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

Question 30

common causes of variances

Answer 30

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.

Question 31

communications management plan

Answer 31

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

Question 32

comprehensive project plan

Answer 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.

Question 33

compromise

Answer 33

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

Question 34

configuration management

Answer 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.

Question 35

confronting

Answer 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.

Question 36

constrained optimization models

Answer 36

Decision models that use complex principles of

statistics and other mathematical concepts to assess a proposed project.

Question 37

constraint

Answer 37

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

Question 38

contingency reserve

Answer 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.

Question 39

contract

Answer 39

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

Question 40

contract administration

Answer 40

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

Question 41

contract closeout

Answer 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

Question 42

control chart

Answer 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.

Question 43

corrective actions

Answer 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.

Question 44

cost baseline

Answer 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.

Question 45

cost-benefit analysis

Answer 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.

Question 46

cost budgeting

Answer 46

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

Question 47

Cost Control

Answer 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.

Question 48

cost estimating

Answer 48

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

Question 49

cost of quality

Answer 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

Question 50

cost performance index (CPI)

Answer 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

Question 51

cost - reimbursable contract

Answer 51

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

Question 52

cost variance

Answer 52

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

Question 53

crashing

Answer 53

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

Question 54

critical path (CP)

Answer 54

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

Question 55

critical path method (CPM)

Answer 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

Question 56

critical success factor

Answer 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

Question 57

customer

Answer 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 .