PM Fundamental Vocab Flashcards
Application Areas
The areas of expertise, industry, or function where a project is centered.
Examples of application areas include architecture, IT, health care, and manufacturing.
Business Value
A quantifiable return on investment. The return can be tangible, such as equipment, money, or market share. The return can also be intangible, such as brand recognition, trademarks, and reputation.
Cultural & Social Environment
Defines how a project affects people and how those people may affect the project. Cultural and social environments include the economic, educational, ethical, religious, demographic, and ethnic composition of the people affected by the project.
Deliverable
A product, service, or result created by a project. Projects can have multiple deliverables.
International & Political Environment
The consideration of the local and international laws, languages, communication challenges, time zone differences, and other non-collocated issues that affect a project’s ability to progress.
Iron Triangle of PM
A triangle with the characteristics of time, cost, and scope. Time, cost, and scope each constitute one side of the triangle; if any side of the Iron Triangle is not in balance with the other sides, the project will suffer. The Iron Triangle of Project Management is also known as the Triple Constraints of Project Management, as all projects are constrained by time, cost, and scope.
Process Groups
A collection of related processes in project management. There are five process groups and 49 project management processes. The five process groups are Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring and Controlling, and Closing.
Program
A collection of related projects working in unison toward a common deliverable.
Progressive Elaboration
The process of gathering project details. This process uses deductive reasoning, logic, and a series of information-gathering techniques to identify details about a project, product, or solution.
Project
A temporary endeavor to create a unique product, service, or result. The end result of a project is also called a deliverable.
Project benefits management plan
A documented created and maintained by the project sponsor and the project manager. The project benefits management plan defines what benefits the project will create, when the benefits will be realized, and how the benefits will be measured.
Project business case
Created and maintained by the project sponsor and shows the financial validity of why a project is chartered and launched within the organization. Typically, the project business case is created before the launch of the project and may be used as a go/no-go decision point.
Project life cycle
The phases that make up the project. Project life cycles are unique to the type of work being performed and are not universal to all projects.
Project portfolio management
The management and selection of projects that support an organization’s vision and mission. It is the balance of project priority, risk, reward, and return on investment. This is a senior management process.
Subprojects
A smaller project managed within a larger, parent project. Subprojects are often contracted work whose deliverable allows the larger project to progress.
