PMP GLOSSARY (from O to Q )

Objective. Something toward which work is to be directed, a strategic position to be attained, a purpose to be achieved, a result to be obtained, a product to be produced, or a service to be performed.

Observations. A technique that provides a direct way of viewing individuals in their environment performing their jobs or tasks and carrying out processes.

Opportunity. A risk that would have a positive effect on one or more project objectives.

Optimistic Duration. An estimate of the shortest activity duration that takes into account all of the known variables that could affect performance.

Organizational Breakdown Structure (OBS). A hierarchical representation of the project organization that illustrates the relationship between project activities and the organizational units that will perform those activities.

Organizational Process Assets. Plans, processes, policies, procedures, and knowledge bases that are specific to and used by the performing organization.

Organizational Project Management Maturity. The level of an organization’s ability to deliver the desired strategic outcomes in a predictable, controllable, and reliable manner.

Output. A product, result, or service generated by a process. May be an input to a successor process.

Parametric Estimating. An estimating technique in which an algorithm is used to calculate cost or duration based on historical data and project parameters.

Pareto Diagram. A histogram, ordered by frequency of occurrence, that shows how many results were generated by each identified cause.

Path Convergence. A relationship in which a schedule activity has more than one predecessor.

Path Divergence. A relationship in which a schedule activity has more than one successor.

Payment Systems. The system used to provide and track supplier’s invoices and payments for services and products.

Percent Complete. An estimate expressed as a percent of the amount of work that has been completed on an activity or a work breakdown structure component.

Perform Integrated Change Control. The process of and managing changes to deliverables, organizational management plan; and communicating their disposition.

reviewing all change requests; approving changes process assets, project documents, and the project

Perform Qualitative Risk Analysis. The process of prioritizing risks for further analysis or action by assessing and combining their probability of occurrence and impact.

Perform Quality Assurance. The process of auditing the quality requirements and the results from quality control measurements to ensure that appropriate quality standards and operational definitions are used.

Perform Quantitative Risk Analysis. The process of numerically analyzing the effect of identified risks on overall project objectives.

Performance Measurement Baseline. An approved, integrated scope-schedule-cost plan for the project work against which project execution is compared to measure and manage performance. The PMB includes contingency reserve, but excludes management reserve.

Performance Reporting. See work performance reports.

Performance Reports. See work performance reports.

Performance Reviews. A technique that is used to measure, compare, and analyze actual performance of work in progress on the project against the baseline.

Performing Organization. An enterprise whose personnel are most directly involved in doing the work of the project or program.

Pessimistic Duration. Estimate of the longest activity duration that takes into account all of the known variables that could affect performance.

Phase. See project phase.

Phase Gate. A review at the end of a phase in which a decision is made to continue to the next phase, to continue with modification, or to end a project or program.

Plan Communications Management. The process of developing an appropriate approach and plan for project communications based on stakeholder’s information needs and requirements and available organizational assets.

Plan Cost Management. The process that establishes the policies, procedures, and documentation for planning, managing, expending, and controlling project costs.

Plan Human Resource Management. The process of identifying and documenting project roles, responsibilities, required skills, reporting relationships, and creating a staffing management plan.

Plan Procurement Management. The process of documenting project procurement decisions, specifying the approach, and identifying potential sellers.

Plan Quality Management. The process of identifying quality requirements and/or standards for the project and its deliverables, and documenting how the project will demonstrate compliance with quality requirements.

Plan Risk Management. The process of defining how to conduct risk management activities for a project.

Plan Risk Responses. The process of developing options and actions to enhance opportunities and to reduce threats to project objectives.

Plan Schedule Management. The process of establishing the policies, procedures, and documentation for planning, developing, managing, executing, and controlling the project schedule.

Plan Scope Management. The process of creating a scope management plan that documents how the project scope will be defined, validated, and controlled.

Plan Stakeholder Management. The process of developing appropriate management strategies to effectively engage stakeholders throughout the project life cycle, based on the analysis of their needs, interests, and potential impact on project success.

Planned Value (PV). The authorized budget assigned to scheduled work.

Planning Package. A work breakdown structure component below the control account with known work content but without detailed schedule activities. See also control account.

Planning Process Group. Those processes required to establish the scope of the project, refine the objectives, and define the course of action required to attain the objectives that the project was undertaken to achieve.

Plurality. Decisions made by the largest block in a group, even if a majority is not achieved.

Policy. A structured pattern of actions adopted by an organization such that the organization’s policy can be explained as a set of basic principles that govern the organization’s conduct.

Portfolio. Projects, programs, subportfolios, and operations managed as a group to achieve strategic objectives.

Portfolio Management. The centralized management of one or more portfolios to achieve strategic objectives.

Practice. A specific type of professional or management activity that contributes to the execution of a process and that may employ one or more techniques and tools.

Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM). A technique used for constructing a schedule model in which activities are represented by nodes and are graphically linked by one or more logical relationships to show the sequence in which the activities are to be performed.

Precedence Relationship. The term used in the precedence diagramming method for a logical relationship. In current usage, however, precedence relationship, logical relationship, and dependency are widely used interchangeably, regardless of the diagramming method used. See also logical relationship.

Precision. Within the quality management system, precision is a measure of exactness.

Predecessor Activity. An activity that logically comes before a dependent activity in a schedule.

Predictive Life Cycle. A form of project life cycle in which the project scope, and the time and cost required to deliver that scope, are determined as early in the life cycle as possible.

Preferential Logic. See discretionary dependency.

Preferred Logic. See discretionary dependency.

Preventive Action. An intentional activity that ensures the future performance of the project work is aligned with the project management plan.

Prioritization Matrices. A quality management planning tool used to identify key issues and evaluate suitable alternatives to define a set of implementation priorities.

Probability and Impact Matrix. A grid for mapping the probability of each risk occurrence and its impact on project objectives if that risk occurs.

Procedure. An established method of accomplishing a consistent performance or result, a procedure typically can be described as the sequence of steps that will be used to execute a process.

Process. A systematic series of activities directed towards causing an end result such that one or more inputs will be acted upon to create one or more outputs.

Process Analysis. A process analysis follows the steps outlined in the process improvement plan to identify needed improvements.

Process Decision Program Charts (PDPC). The PDPC is used to understand a goal in relation to the steps for getting to the goal.

Process Improvement Plan. A subsidiary plan of the project management plan. It details the steps for analyzing processes to identify activities that enhance their value.

Procurement Audits. The review of contracts and contracting processes for completeness, accuracy, and effectiveness.

Procurement Documents. The documents utilized in bid and proposal activities, which include the buyer’s Invitation for Bid, Invitation for Negotiations, Request for Information, Request for Quotation, Request for Proposal, and seller’s responses.

Procurement Management Plan. A component of the project or program management plan that describes how a project team will acquire goods and services from outside the performing organization.

Procurement Performance Reviews. A structured review of the seller’s progress to deliver project scope and quality, within cost and on schedule, as compared to the contract.

Procurement Statement of Work. Describes the procurement item in sufficient detail to allow prospective sellers to determine if they are capable of providing the products, services, or results.

Product. An artifact that is produced, is quantifiable, and can be either an end item in itself or a component item. Additional words for products are material and goods. Contrast with result. See also deliverable.

Product Analysis. For projects that have a product as a deliverable, it is a tool to define scope that generally means asking questions about a product and forming answers to describe the use, characteristics, and other the relevant aspects of what is going to be manufactured.

Product Life Cycle. The series of phases that represent the evolution of a product, from concept through delivery, growth, maturity, and to retirement.

Product Scope. The features and functions that characterize a product, service, or result.

Product Scope Description. The documented narrative description of the product scope.

Program. A group of related projects, subprograms, and program activities managed in a coordinated way to obtain benefits not available from managing them individually.

Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT). A technique for estimating that applies a weighted average of optimistic, pessimistic, and most likely estimates when there is uncertainty with the individual activity estimates.

Program Management. The application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to a program to meet the program requirements and to obtain benefits and control not available by managing projects individually.

Progressive Elaboration. The iterative process of increasing the level of detail in a project management plan as greater amounts of information and more accurate estimates become available.

Project. A temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result.

Project-Based Organizations (PBOs). A variety of organizational forms that involve the creation of temporary systems for the performance of projects. PBOs conduct the majority of their activities as projects and/or provide project over functional approaches.

Project Calendar. A calendar that identifies working days and shifts that are available for scheduled activities.

Project Charter. A document issued by the project initiator or sponsor that formally authorizes the existence of a project and provides the project manager with the authority to apply organizational resources to project activities.

Project Communications Management. Project Communications Management includes the processes that are required to ensure timely and appropriate planning, collection, creation, distribution, storage, retrieval, management, control, monitoring, and the ultimate disposition of project information.

Project Cost Management. Project Cost Management includes the processes involved in planning, estimating, budgeting, financing, funding, managing, and controlling costs so that the project can be completed within the approved budget.

Project Funding Requirements. Forecast project costs to be paid that are derived from the cost baseline for total or periodic requirements, including projected expenditures plus anticipated liabilities.

Project Governance. The alignment of project objectives with the strategy of the larger organization by the project sponsor and project team. A project’s governance is defined by and is required to fit within the larger context of the program or organization sponsoring it, but is separate from organizational governance.

Project Human Resource Management. Project Human Resource Management includes the processes that organize, manage, and lead the project team.

Project Initiation. Launching a process that can result in the authorization of a new project.

Project Integration Management. Project Integration Management includes the processes and activities needed to identify, define, combine, unify, and coordinate the various processes and project management activities within the Project Management Process Groups.

Project Life Cycle. The series of phases that a project passes through from its initiation to its closure.

Project Management. The application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements.

Project Management Body of Knowledge. An inclusive term that describes the sum of knowledge within the profession of project management. As with other professions, such as law, medicine, and accounting, the body of knowledge rests with the practitioners and academics that apply and advance it. The complete project management body of knowledge includes proven traditional practices that are widely applied and innovative practices that are emerging in the profession. The body of knowledge includes both published and unpublished materials. This body of knowledge is constantly evolving. PMI’s PMBOK^® Guide identifies a subset of the project management body of knowledge that is generally recognized as good practice.

Project Management Information System. An information system consisting of the tools and techniques used to gather, integrate, and disseminate the outputs of project management processes. It is used to support all aspects of the project from initiating through closing, and can include both manual and automated systems.

Project Management Knowledge Area. An identified area of project management defined by its knowledge requirements and described in terms of its component processes, practices, inputs, outputs, tools, and techniques.

Project Management Office (PMO). An organizational structure that standardizes the project-related governance processes and facilitates the sharing of resources, methodologies, tools, and techniques.

Project Management Plan. The document that describes how the project will be executed monitored, and controlled.

Project Management Process Group. A logical grouping of project management inputs, tools and techniques, and outputs. The Project Management Process Groups include initiating processes, planning processes, executing processes, monitoring and controlling processes, and closing processes. Project Management Process Groups are not project phases.

 

Project Management Staff. The members of the project team who perform project management activities such as schedule, communications, risk management, etc.

Project Management System. The aggregation of the processes, tools, techniques, methodologies, resources, and procedures to manage a project.

Project Management Team. The members of the project team who are directly involved in project management activities. On some smaller projects, the project management team may include virtually all of the project team members.

Project Manager (PM). The person assigned by the performing organization to lead the team that is responsible for achieving the project objectives.

Project Organization Chart. A document that graphically depicts the project team members and their interrelationships for a specific project.

Project Phase. A collection of logically related project activities that culminates in the completion of one or more deliverables.

Project Procurement Management. Project Procurement Management includes the processes necessary to purchase or acquire products, services, or results needed from outside the project team.

Project Quality Management. Project Quality Management includes the processes and activities of the performing organization that determine quality policies, objectives, and responsibilities so that the project will satisfy the needs for which it was undertaken.

Project Risk Management. Project Risk Management includes the processes of conducting risk management planning, identification, analysis, response planning, and controlling risk on a project.

Project Schedule. An output of a schedule model that presents linked activities with planned dates, durations, milestones, and resources.

Project Schedule Network Diagram. A graphical representation of the logical relationships among the project schedule activities.

Project Scope. The work performed to deliver a product, service, or result with the specified features and functions.

Project Scope Management. Project Scope Management includes the processes required to ensure that the project includes all the work required, and only the work required, to complete the project successfully.

 

Project Scope Statement. The description of the project scope, major deliverables, assumptions, and constraints.

Project Stakeholder Management. Project Stakeholder Management includes the processes required to identify all people or organizations impacted by the project, analyzing stakeholder expectations and impact on the project, and developing appropriate management strategies for effectively engaging stakeholders in project decisions and execution.

Project Statement of Work. See statement of work.

Project Team. A set of individuals who support the project manager in performing the work of the project to achieve its objectives.

Project Team Directory. A documented list of project team members, their project roles, and communication information.

Project Time Management. Project Time Management includes the processes required to manage the timely completion of the project.

Projectized Organization. Any organizational structure in which the project manager has full authority to assign priorities, apply resources, and direct the work of persons assigned to the project.

Proposal Evaluation Techniques. The process of reviewing proposals provided by suppliers to support contract award decisions.

Prototypes. A method of obtaining early feedback on requirements by providing a working model of the expected product before actually building it.

Quality. The degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfills requirements.

Quality Audits. A quality audit is a structured, independent process to determine if project activities comply with organizational and project policies, processes, and procedures.

Quality Checklists. A structured tool used to verify that a set of required steps has been performed.

Quality Control Measurements. The documented results of control quality activities.

Quality Function Deployment (QFD). A facilitated workshop technique that helps to determine critical characteristics for new product development.

Quality Management and Control Tools. They are a type of quality planning tools used to link and sequence the activities identified.

Quality Management Plan. A component of the project or program management plan that describes how an organization’s quality policies will be implemented.

Quality Management System. The organizational framework whose structure provides the policies, processes, procedures, and resources required to implement the quality management plan. The typical project quality management plan should be compatible to the organization’s quality management system.

Quality Metrics. A description of a project or product attribute and how to measure it.

Quality Policy. A policy specific to the Project Quality Management Knowledge Area, it establishes the basic principles that should govern the organization’s actions as it implements its system for quality management.

Quality Requirement. A condition or capability that will be used to assess conformance by validating the acceptability of an attribute for the quality of a result.

Quantitative Risk Analysis and Modeling Techniques. Commonly used techniques for both event-oriented and project-oriented analysis approaches.

Questionnaires and Surveys. Written sets of questions designed to quickly accumulate information from a large number of respondents.