Project Management Glossary

Following glossary of project management terms and acronyms used by project managers and business professionals. Understanding these terms and acronyms is an important step towards success in project management.

Agile Project Management

The ideas from Agile software development applied to project management. Agile methods promote a process that encourages development iterations, teamwork, stakeholder involvement, objective metrics and effective controls.

Assumptions

Any factors that you are assuming to be in place that will contribute to the successful outcome of the project.

Balanced Scorecard

A performance management tool which began as a concept for measuring whether the smaller-scale operational activities of a company are aligned with its larger-scale objectives in terms of vision and strategy.

Baseline

A baseline is an approved configuration item, for example a project plan that has been signed off for execution. The baseline records the planned costs, schedule and technical requirements against which a project is measured.

BOSCARD

A strategic planning tool used to provide the terms-of-reference for new projects. The BOSCARD acronym stands for Background, Objectives, Scope, Constraints, Assumptions, Risks and Deliverables. These headings are commonly found in terms-of-reference and project initiation documents.

Business Case

A document recording the justification for starting a project. It describes the benefits, costs and impact, plus a calculation of the financial case.

CAPM

Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) is a certification in project management managed by the Project Management Institute in accordance with their published ANSI standard A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, shortened to PMBOK Guide.

Change Control

The practice of identifying, documenting, approving and carrying out changes within a project.

Constraints

The factors that you will need to consider during the life of the project that you are not able to change. These may include deadlines, regulatory requirements and dependencies on other projects to deliver.

Cost Benefit Analysis

The cost benefit analysis is used to demonstrate that the expected benefits of a project are sufficient to warrant the cost of carrying it out. Monetary units are usually used for the comparison.

Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM)

A method of planning and managing projects that puts more emphasis on the resources required to execute project tasks. It is the Theory of Constraints (TOC) applied to projects.

Critical Path

The critical path is the sequence of activities that must be completed on time for the entire project to be completed on schedule. It is the longest duration path through the workplan. If an activity on the critical path is delayed by one day, the entire project will be delayed by one day unless another activity on the critical path can be finished a day earlier than planned.

Critical Path Method (CPM)

A technique used to predict project duration by analysing which sequence of activities has the least amount of scheduling flexibility.

Critical Success Factor

A factor identified as essential to achieving a successful project.

Deliverable

A tangible or intangible object produced through project execution. A deliverable can be created from multiple smaller deliverables.

Dependencies

Any events or work that are either dependent on the outcome of the project, or the project will depend on.

Earned Value

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, with regards to the amount of work done.

Estimating

Estimating uses a range of tools and techniques to produce estimates. An estimate is an approximation of a projects timescale and cost that is refined throughout the project.

Float

The time a task can be delayed without delaying the project. Tasks on the critical path have no float.

Gantt Chart

A popular bar chart that aims to show the timing of tasks or activities as they occur across time. Although the Gantt chart did not initially show the relationships between activities, this has become more common in current use as both timing and interdependencies between tasks can be identified.

Logic Network

A diagram showing the sequence of activities in a project across time. It shows which activity logically precedes or follows another activity. It can be used to identify the milestones and critical path of a project.

Milestone

A key event during the life of a project, usually completing project deliverables or other noteworthy achievement.

Monte Carlo Simulation

The Monte Carlo Simulation is a technique used to estimate the likely range of outcomes from a complex process by simulating the process under randomly selected conditions a large number of times.

MoSCoW

A prioritisation method is used to determine which project requirements must be implemented first and which must come later or will not be implemented at all. MoSCoW stands for Must, Should, Could, Would. The o's are added to make the acronym pronounceable

Murphy's Law

The law that says; "if anything can go wrong, it will" named after Capt. Edward A Murphy, an engineer working on US Air Force Project MX981 in 1949.

P3M3

P3M3, also known as the Portfolio, Programme and Project Management Maturity Model is a reference guide for structured best practice. It breaks down the broad disciplines of portfolio, programme and project management into a hierarchy of Key Process Areas (KPAs). P3M3 is owned by the Office of Government Commerce (OGC).

Pareto Principle

Named after Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, the Pareto Principle is the idea that by doing 20% of the work you can produce 80% of the benefit of doing the whole job. Or for quality improvement, most problems are produced by a few key causes.

Parkinson's Law

The law that says; "work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion" by Cyril Northcote Parkinson as the first sentence of a humorous essay published in The Economist in 1955.

PERT Chart

A tool used to schedule, organise and co-ordinate tasks within a project. PERT stands for Program Evaluation Review Technique, a method developed by the United States Navy in the 1950s to manage the Polaris submarine missile programme. Also known as a precedence diagram, a network chart and logic diagram.

PEST Analysis

A strategic planning tool used to evaluate the impact Political, Economic, Social, and Technological factors might have on a project. It involves an organisation considering the external environment before starting a project.

PMBOK

Owned by the Project Management Institute (PMI) the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) is a collection of processes and knowledge areas accepted as best practice within the project management discipline.

PMP

Project Management Professional (PMP) is a globally recognised certification in project management. It is managed by the Project Management Institute and is based on the PMP Examination Specification published by PMI in 2005. Most exam questions reference to PMI's ANSI standard A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, shortened to PMBOK Guide.

Portfolio Management

The co-ordinated management of a portfolio of projects to achieve a set of business objectives.

PRINCE2

PRINCE2 is an approach to project management, released in 1996 as a generic project management method. It provides a method for managing projects within a clearly defined framework. PRINCE2 describes procedures to co-ordinate people and activities in a project, how to design and supervise the project, and what to do if the project has to be adjusted if it doesn't develop as planned.

Project Management

Project management is the discipline of planning, organising and managing resources to bring about the successful completion of specific project goals and objectives. The Project Management Institute (PMI) defines project management as "the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities in order to meet or exceed stakeholder needs and expectations."

Project Management Office (PMO)

An organisation or department that oversees and mentors groups of projects. Often the PMO is responsible for setting up policies and standards for the projects in the organisation, reviewing and consolidating project reports for external stakeholders, and checking project performance against the organisation's standards.

Project Manager

The person who has the overall responsibility for the successful planning, execution and closure of a project. Project Managers work in the construction industry, architecture, information technology and many different occupations that produce a product or service.

RACI Chart

A RACI chart is a matrix of all the activities or decision making authorities undertaken in an organisation set against all the people or roles. At each intersection of activity and role it is possible to assign somebody Responsible, Accountable, Consulted or Informed for that activity or decision.

Resources

Everything needed to complete the project, but in particular people and money.

Risk

There may be potential external events that will have a negative impact on your project if they occur. Risk refers to the combined likelihood the event will occur and the impact on the project if the event does occur. If the combined likelihood of the event happening and impact to the project are both high, you should identify the potential event as a risk and put a plan in place to manage it.

Risk Management

A subset of project management that includes risk identification, risk quantification, risk response development and risk response control used to identify, analyse and respond to project risks.

Scope

The overall definition of what the project should achieve and a specific description of what the result should be. A major ingredient of scope is the quality of the final product.

Scope Creep

The uncontrolled growth of the project scope resulting from constant changes to requirements without consideration to the impact on resources or timescale.

Scrum

An agile methodology for software project management. Scrum was invented in 1993 by Jeff Sutherland, John Scumniotales and Jeff McKenna.

Six Sigma

Six Sigma is a management philosophy developed by Motorola that emphasises setting extremely high objectives, collecting data, and analysing results to a fine degree as a way to reduce defects in products and services. See Six Sigma Terminology

Sponsor

The person who has authority over the project, provides funding, approves scope changes, provides high-level direction and champions the project within an organisation.

Stakeholder

A stakeholder is anyone, internal or external to an organisation that has an interest in a project or will be affected by its deliverables.

Statement of Work (SOW)

The Statement of Work is the bible for the work the project must produce. The SOW is a key governance tool whether it is being used to direct work for a vendor or contractor, or used to direct the work internally, the SOW must contain a description of all the work that is expected.

Student Syndrome

The type of procrastination students are prone to when facing a test or exam, typically leaving their revision until the last minute no matter how much time they had to prepare.

SWOT Analysis

A strategic planning tool used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats to a project. It involves specifying the objective of the project and identifying the internal and external factors that are favourable and unfavourable to achieving that objective.

Use Case

The specification of tests that are conducted from the end-user perspective. Use cases tend to focus on operating software as an end-user would during their day-to-day activities.

Waterfall Model

A sequential development process, in which development flows steadily downwards (like a waterfall) through the phases of initiation, analysis, design, build, test and maintenance. To follow the waterfall model, you move from one phase to the next sequentially, with no overlapping or iterative steps.

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

An exhaustive, hierarchical tree structure of deliverables and tasks that need to be performed to complete a project. A work breakdown structure is a common project management tool and the basis for much project planning.

Memory Aids - PMBOK 4th Edition - Part 2

Project Human Resource Management Overview

• 9.1 Develop Human Resource Plan - NOO
• N - Networking
• O - Organization charts & position descriptions
• O - Organizational theory
• 9.2 Acquire Project Team - Present NAV
• P - Pre-assignment
• N - Negotiation
• A - Acquisition
• V - Virtual team
• 9.3 Develop Project Team - Ground rules In Training & Team-building Reduce Controversies
• 9.4 Manage Project Team - PIO Card for Indians

Project Communications Management OverviewCommunication methods is tool & technique in all the communication management processes except identify stakeholders.

• 10.1 Identify Stakeholders - Expert System
• E - Expert judgement
• S - Stakeholder analysis
• 10.2 Plan communications - Communication methods + Requirement Traceability Matrix
• R - Requirement analysis (Communication)
• T - Technology (Communication)
• M - Models (Communication)
  
• 10.3 Distribute Information - Communication method + Information distribution tools
• 10.4 Manage Stakeholder Expectations - Communication method + Instant Messenger
• I - Interpersonal skills
• M - Management skills
• 10.5 Report Performance - Communication method + Report for Variance & Forecasting
• R - Reporting system
• V - Variance analysis
• F - Forecasting methods

Memory Aids - PMBOK 4th Edition - Part 1

One of the changes done in PMBOK 4th edition is that all the processes names are changed to reflect the verb-noun format i.e. earlier if the process name was scope control, it is now changed to control scope, earlier if the process name was Human Resource Planning it is now changed to Develop Human Resource Plan. For more changes in PMBOK Guide 4th edition read this.

Below are some tips to memorize Tools & Techniques for PMBOK Guide 4th edition processes.

Project Time Management Overview

• 6.1 Define Activities - DRTE - Defence Research Telecommunication Establishments (a part of Canadian Defence Research Board)
• D - Decomposition
• R - Rolling Wave Planning
• T - Templates
• E - Expert Judgement
• 6.2 Sequence Activities - PADS
• P - Precedence diagramming method
• A - Applying leads & lags
• D - Dependency determination
• S - Schedule network templates
• 6.3 Estimate Activity Resources - BEAPP
• B - Bottom up estimating
• E - Expert judgement
• A - Alternatives analysis
• P - Published estimating data
• P - Project management software
• 6.4 Estimate Activity Durations - TAPER
• T - Three point estimates
• A - Analogous estimating
• P - Parametric estimating
• E - Expert judgement
• R - Reserve Analysis
• 6.5 Develop Schedule - SCC WARSS or Schedule may Change With Stakkeholder's Approved Scope ChangeRequest
• 6.6 Control Schedule - VPP WARSS

Project Quality Management Overview

• 8.1 Plan Quality - CCB Decides Strategy For Changes
• 8.2 Perform Quality Assurance - PQ
• 8.3 Perform quality control - Sensors Help In detecting Fire And Cause Remote Sirens to Play Continously

Key Concept and Formulas for PMP Exam

Key Concept and Formulas for PMP Exam
Earn Value Formulas	Project Selection Financials
PV (Planned Value) = BCWS (Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled EV (Earned Value) = BCWP (Budgeted Cost of Work Performed) AC (Actual Cost) = ACWP (Actual Cost of Work Performed) SV = EV – PV (minus is behind schedule) CV = EV – AC (minus is over budget) SPI = EV/PV (Less than 1 is behind schedule) CPI = EV/AC (Less than 1 is over budget) EAC = AC + (BAC-EV)    Use when variances are atypical EAC = AC + [(BAC-EV)/CPI]   Use when variances are typical (Note: This is the same as EAC = BAC/CPI) VAC = BAC – EAC ETC = BAC – EV   Use when variances are atypical ETC = (BAC – EV)/CPI   Use when variances are typical ETC = EAC – AC    Use when original estimates were flawed	NPV (Net Present Value) = FV/(1+r)n  FV= Future Value, r= interest rate, n= no. of time periods Higher NPV is better IRR (Internal Rate of Return) = Solve the NPV equation for “r” Also called Hurdle Rate Higher IRR percentage is better BCR (Benefit/Cost Ratio) Higher BCR is better. Beware, exam can call it CBR, where lower is better ROI (Return on Investment) = Earnings/Investment Higher ROI is better Payback Period = Time to recover cost of the project Lower payback period is better Cash Flow = Cash In – Cash Out
Network Diagram	Calculating Stackor Float
Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM) Also called Activity on Node (AON): Activities are in boxes Most commonly used today Has 4 relationships: F-S, S-S, F-F, S-F No “dummies” (zero duration dependencies) allowed Can analyze using either Three-Point Estimates or CPM Arrow Diagramming Method (ADM) Also called Activity on Arrow (AOA) Only 1 relationship: F-S Can have “dummies” Can analyze using either Three-Point Estimates or CPM Graphical Evaluation and Review Technique (GERT) Allows loops and repetitive activities	Total Float (also called Slack, Float, or Project Float) is the total amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying the project finish date. Free Float/Slack is the amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying its successor (following activity). LS – ES:    Calculates slack with forward pass LF – EF:    Calculates slack with backwards pass Lag Time:  Inserted wait time between activities Lead Time: Overlapping activities, also called paralleling or fast tracking. “Lead In; Lag Out”
Three Point Estimates, or PERT	Accuracy of Estimates
PERT = PROGRAM Evaluation and Review Technique Holds schedule and lets cost float 3 estimates for each task: Optimistic, Pessimistic, and Most Likely Mean Estimate = (O + 4*ML + P)/6 Standard Deviation (s) = (P – O)/6 Variance = s2 , or [(P – O)/6]2 Standard deviation of tasks on CP =     Sum of variances	Order of Magnitude:-25% to +75% Budget Estimate:-10% to +25% Definitive Estimate:-5% to +10%
Powers of a Project Manager	Conflict Resolution (Best to Worst)
1. Expert: Best, earned on your own 2. Reward: Next best. Based on PM position 3. Formal: Power, based on PM position 4. Referent: Referring to positions of others 5. Penalty: Worst. Based on PM position	1.Problem Solving: Also called Confronting 2. Compromising: Solutions satisfy both parties 3. Withdrawal: Postponing a decision 4. Smoothing: Emphasis on agreement 5. Forcing: One viewpoint at expense of another.
Sources of Conflict (Order of Priority)	Herzberg’s Motivators
1. Schedules 2. Project Priorities 3. Resources 4. Technical Opinions 5. Administrative Procedures 6. Cost 7. Personality	1. Achievement 2. Recognition 3. Challenge of the work itself 4. Responsibility 5. Advancement 6. Growth
Channels of Communication	Closing
Between Team Members = N(N-1)/2	Project is closed when administrative closure is complete. Administrative closure is done at end of each Project Phase and at the end of the Project. Contract closure: verification that deliverables were acceptable; it is done once at the end of the contract. Contract Closure Procedure is produced under “Close Project”

1.0 What is PMBOK?

Project Integration Framework– Terms and Concepts

Important Terms and Concepts (Take printouts and Fold at the center to make Flashcards for quick reference)
1	Control Account	A management control point where the resource plans, scope, schedule and actual cost are integrated and compared to earned value for performance measurement.
2	Organizational Policies	Formal and informal policies that are required for project plan development. Organizational policies include quality management, personnel administration and financial controls.
3	Constraints	An applicable restriction that will affect the performance of the project/process.
4	Assumptions	Factors which, for planning purposes, are considered to be true, real or certain.
5	Project Planning Methodology	Structured method to guide the project team during development of project plan. Standard forms and templates or even complicated simulations may be used.
6	Project Management Information Systems (PMIS)	It consists of tools and techniques used to gather, integrate and disseminate the outputs of project management processes. Supports all aspects of the project from initiating through closing, and can include both manual and automated systems.
7	Project Plan	A formal, approved document used to define how the project is executed, controlled and monitored. It can either be at a detailed or high level and may contain one or more subsidiary plans.
8	Corrective Action	An accepted action performed to bring projected future project performance in line with the project plan. These actions have to be documented.
9	Work Authorization System	A formal procedure for authorizing project work to ensure that work is done by the identified organization at the right time and in proper sequence.
11	Status Review Meetings	Meetings that are regularly scheduled to exchange and analyze information about the project and its performance.
12	Work Results	Outcome of activities performed to accomplish the project.
13	Change Control System	A collection of formal (note: not informal) documented procedures, which defines how the documentation and project deliverables will be managed, changed and approved.
15	Configuration Management System	A group of documented procedure used to apply technical and administrative direction and surveillance to: a) Identify and document the system’s functional and physical characteristics b)Control any changes to such characteristics c) Record and report the change and its implementation status and d) Audit the items and systems to verify compliance to requirements
20	Project Plan Updates	Any modification to the contents of the project plan or the supporting details.
21	Lessons Learned	Specify lessons that can be learned from each and every project, even from projects which are failures. They need to be documented. Most companies prefer post-implementation meetings and case studies to document Lessons Learned

Kathy Schwalbe 6e PPT

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