Key Terms A-C Flashcards
acceptance
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.
acceptance criteria
The process and the criteria that will be used to determine whether
the deliverables are acceptable and satisfactory.
activity definition
Identifying the activities of the project that need to be performed to produce the product or service of the project.
activity duration
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
activity list
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.
activity sequencing
Sequencing activities in logical order and determining whether
dependencies exist among the activities.
actual cost (AC)
The cost to complete a component of work in a given time period. Actual
costs include direct and indirect costs.
addition
A type of project ending that occurs when projects evolve into ongoing
operations
Administrative Closure
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.
analogous estimating
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
appraisal costs
Costs of quality that cover the activities that keep the product defects from reaching the client, including inspection, testing, and formal quality audits.
assumption
An event or action believed to be true for planning purposes. Project assumptions should always be documented.
avoiding
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 .
backward pass
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
benchmarking
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.
benefit measurement methods
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.
bidder conference
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.
bottom - up estimating
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.
budget at completion (BAC)
The total amount of the project budget for a work package,
control account, or schedule activity, or for the project.
business analyst
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.
business case
Formally documents components of the project assessment, including a
description of the analysis method and the results.
business process reengineering
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.
business requirements
The requirements that describe how the business objectives of the
project will be met.
cause - and - effect diagram
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 .
change control board (CCB)
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.
Close Procurements
A process that concerns completing and settling the terms of the
contract and documenting its acceptance.
Closing
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.
collocated
When team members work together at the same physical location.
commercial off-the-shelf (COTS)
Describes a software application that is purchased from a reseller, vendor, or manufacturer.
common causes of variances
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.
communications management plan
Documents the types of information needs the
stakeholders have, when the information should be distributed, and how the information
will be delivered
comprehensive project plan
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.
compromise
A conflict - resolution technique where each party involved gives up
something to reach a resolution. This is not generally a permanent solution.
configuration management
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.
confronting
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.
constrained optimization models
Decision models that use complex principles of
statistics and other mathematical concepts to assess a proposed project.
constraint
Anything that either restricts the actions of the project team or dictates the
actions of the project team.
contingency reserve
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.
contract
A legally binding document that describes the work that will be performed, how the work will be compensated,and any penalties for noncompliance.
contract administration
The process of monitoring vendor performance and ensuring all the requirements of the contract are met.
contract closeout
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
control chart
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.
corrective actions
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.
cost baseline
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.
cost-benefit analysis
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.
cost budgeting
Assigning cost estimates to activities and creating the cost baseline, which measures the performance of the project throughout the project ’ s life.
Cost Control
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.
cost estimating
Developing an estimation of the cost of resources needed for each project
activity
cost of quality
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
cost performance index (CPI)
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
cost - reimbursable contract
Provides the seller with payment for all costs incurred to deliver or produce the product or service requested.
cost variance
The difference between a task ’ s value at the measurement date and its
actual cost. The formula is CV = EV – AC.
crashing
This is a schedule compression technique that adds resources to the project to
reduce the time it takes to complete the project.
critical path (CP)
The longest path through the project. Activities with zero float are
considered critical path tasks.
critical path method (CPM)
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
critical success factor
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
customer
The recipient of the product or service created by the project. In some organizations this stakeholder may also be referred to as the client .
