PMP GLOSSARY (from A to C )

Acceptance Criteria. A set of conditions that is required to be met before deliverables are accepted.

Accepted Deliverables. Products, results, or capabilities produced by a project and validated by the project customer or sponsors as meeting their specified acceptance criteria.

Accuracy. Within the quality management system, accuracy is an assessment of correctness.

Acquire Project Team. The process of confirming human resource availability and obtaining the team necessary to complete project activities.

Acquisition. Obtaining human and material resources necessary to perform project activities. Acquisition implies a cost of resources, and is not necessarily financial.

Activity. A distinct, scheduled portion of work performed during the course of a project.

Activity Attributes. Multiple attributes associated with each schedule activity that can be included within the activity list. Activity attributes include activity codes, predecessor activities, successor activities, logical relationships, leads and lags, resource requirements, imposed dates, constraints, and assumptions.

Activity Code. One or more numerical or text values that identify characteristics of the work or in some way categorize the schedule activity that allows filtering and ordering of activities within reports.

Activity Cost Estimates. The projected cost of the schedule activity that includes the cost for all resources required to perform and complete the activity, including all cost types and cost components.

Activity Duration. The time in calendar units between the start and finish of a schedule activity. See also duration.

Activity Duration Estimate. A quantitative assessment of the likely amount or outcome for the duration of an activity.

Activity Identifier. A short, unique numeric or text identification assigned to each schedule activity to differentiate that project activity from other activities. Typically unique within any one project schedule network diagram.

Activity List. A documented tabulation of schedule activities that shows the activity description, activity identifier, and a sufficiently detailed scope of work description so project team members understand what work is to be performed.

Activity Network Diagrams. See project schedule network diagram.

Activity-on-Node (AON). See precedence diagramming method (PDM).

Activity Resource Requirements. The types and quantities of resources required for each activity in a work package.

Actual Cost (AC). The realized cost incurred for the work performed on an activity during a specific time period.

Actual Duration. The time in calendar units between the actual start date of the schedule activity and either the data date of the project schedule if the schedule activity is in progress or the actual finish date if the schedule activity is complete.

Adaptive Life Cycle. A project life cycle, also known as change-driven or agile methods, that is intended to facilitate change and require a high degree of ongoing stakeholder involvement. Adaptive life cycles are also iterative and incremental, but differ in that iterations are very rapid (usually 2–4 weeks in length) and are fixed in time and resources.

Additional Quality Planning Tools. A set of tools used to define the quality requirements and to plan effective quality management activities. They include, but are not limited to: brainstorming, force field analysis, nominal group techniques and quality management and control tools.

Adjusting Leads and Lags. A technique used to find ways to bring project activities that are behind into alignment with plan during project execution.

Advertising. The process of calling public attention to a project or effort.

 

Affinity Diagram. A group creativity technique that allows large numbers of ideas to be classified into groups for review and analysis.

Agreements. Any document or communication that defines the initial intentions of a project. This can take the form of a contract, memorandum of understanding (MOU), letters of agreement, verbal agreements, email, etc.

Alternative Analysis. A technique used to evaluate identified options in order to select which options or approaches to use to execute and perform the work of the project.

Alternatives Generation. A technique used to develop as many potential options as possible in order to identify different approaches to execute and perform the work of the project.

Analogous Estimating. A technique for estimating the duration or cost of an activity or a project using historical data from a similar activity or project.

Analytical Techniques. Various techniques used to evaluate, analyze, or forecast potential outcomes based on possible variations of project or environmental variables and their relationships with other variables.

Application Area. A category of projects that have common components significant in such projects, but are not needed or present in all projects. Application areas are usually defined in terms of either the product (i.e., by similar technologies or production methods) or the type of customer (i.e., internal versus external, government versus commercial) or industry sector (i.e., utilities, automotive, aerospace, information technologies, etc.). Application areas can overlap.

Applying Leads and Lags. A technique that is used to adjust the amount of time between predecessor and successor activities.

Apportioned Effort. An activity where effort is allotted proportionately across certain discrete efforts and not divisible into discrete efforts. [Note: Apportioned effort is one of three earned value management (EVM) types of activities used to measure work performance.]

Approved Change Request. A change request that has been processed through the integrated change control process and approved.

Approved Change Requests Review. A review of the change requests to verify that these were implemented as approved.

Assumption. A factor in the planning process that is considered to be true, real, or certain, without proof or demonstration.

Assumptions Analysis. A technique that explores the accuracy of assumptions and identifies risks to the project from inaccuracy, inconsistency, or incompleteness of assumptions.

Attribute Sampling. Method of measuring quality that consists of noting the presence (or absence) of some characteristic (attribute) in each of the units under consideration. After each unit is inspected, the decision is made to accept a lot, reject it, or inspect another unit.

Authority. The right to apply project resources, expend funds, make decisions, or give approvals.

Backlog. A listing of product requirements and deliverables to be completed, written as stories, and prioritized by the business to manage and organize the project’s work.

Backward Pass. A critical path method technique for calculating the late start and late finish dates by working backward through the schedule model from the project end date.

Bar Chart. A graphic display of schedule-related information. In the typical bar chart, schedule activities or work breakdown structure components are listed down the left side of the chart, dates are shown across the top, and activity durations are shown as date-placed horizontal bars. See also Gantt chart.

Baseline. The approved version of a work product that can be changed only through formal change control procedures and is used as a basis for comparison.

Basis of Estimates. Supporting documentation outlining the details used in establishing project estimates such as assumptions, constraints, level of detail, ranges, and confidence levels.

Benchmarking. Benchmarking is the comparison of actual or planned practices, such as processes and operations, to those of comparable organizations to identify best practices, generate ideas for improvement, and provide a basis for measuring performance.

Bidder Conference. The meetings with prospective sellers prior to the preparation of a bid or proposal to ensure all prospective vendors have a clear and common understanding of the procurement. Also known as contractor conferences, vendor conferences, or pre-bid conferences.

Bottom-Up Estimating. A method of estimating project duration or cost by aggregating the estimates of the lower-level components of the work breakdown structure (WBS).

Brainstorming. A general data gathering and creativity technique that can be used to identify risks, ideas, or solutions to issues by using a group of team members or subject matter experts.

Budget. The approved estimate for the project or any work breakdown structure component or any schedule activity.

Budget at Completion (BAC). The sum of all budgets established for the work to be performed.

Buffer. See reserve.

Business Case. A documented economic feasibility study used to establish validity of the benefits of a selected component lacking sufficient definition and that is used as a basis for the authorization of further project management activities.

Business Value. A concept that is unique to each organization and includes tangible and intangible elements. Through the effective use of project, program, and portfolio management disciplines, organizations will possess the ability to employ reliable, established processes to meet enterprise objectives and obtain greater business value from their investments.

Buyer. The acquirer of products, services, or results for an organization.

Cause and Effect Diagram. A decomposition technique that helps trace an undesirable effect back to its root cause.

Central Tendency. A property of the central limit theorem predicting that the data observations in a distribution will tend to group around a central location. The three typical measures of central tendency are the mean, median, and mode.

Change Control. A process whereby modifications to documents, deliverables, or baselines associated with the project are identified, documented, approved, or rejected.

Change Control Board (CCB). A formally chartered group responsible for reviewing, evaluating, approving, delaying, or rejecting changes to the project, and for recording and communicating such decisions.

Change Control System. A set of procedures that describes how modifications to the project deliverables and documentation are managed and controlled.

Change Control Tools. Manual or automated tools to assist with change and/or configuration management. At a minimum, the tools should support the activities of the CCB.

Change Log. A comprehensive list of changes made during the project. This typically includes dates of the change and impacts in terms of time, cost, and risk.

Change Request. A formal proposal to modify any document, deliverable, or baseline.

Charter. See project charter.

Checklist Analysis. A technique for systematically reviewing materials using a list for accuracy and completeness.

Checksheets. A tally sheet that can be used as a checklist when gathering data.

Claim. A request, demand, or assertion of rights by a seller against a buyer, or vice versa, for consideration, compensation, or payment under the terms of a legally binding contract, such as for a disputed change.

Claims Administration. The process of processing, adjudicating, and communicating contract claims.

Close Procurements. The process of completing each project procurement.

Close Project or Phase. The process of finalizing all activities across all of the Project Management Process Groups to formally complete a project or phase.

Closed Procurements. Project contracts or other procurement agreements that have been formally acknowledged by the proper authorizing agent as being finalized and signed off.

Closing Process Group. Those processes performed to finalize all activities across all Process Groups to formally close a project or phase.

Code of Accounts. A numbering system used to uniquely identify each component of the work breakdown structure (WBS).

Collect Requirements. The process of determining, documenting, and managing stakeholder needs and requirements to meet project objectives.

Colocation. An organizational placement strategy where the project team members are physically located close to one another in order to improve communication, working relationships, and productivity.

Communication Constraints. Restrictions on the content, timing, audience, or individual who will deliver a communication usually stemming from specific legislation or regulation, technology, or organizational policies.

Communication Methods. A systematic procedure, technique, or process used to transfer information among project stakeholders.

Communication Models. A description, analogy or schematic used to represent how the communication process will be performed for the project.

Communication Requirements Analysis. An analytical technique to determine the information needs of the project stakeholders through interviews, workshops, study of lessons learned from previous projects, etc.

Communication Technology. Specific tools, systems, computer programs, etc., used to transfer information among project stakeholders.

Communications Management Plan. A component of the project, program, or portfolio management plan that describes how, when, and by whom information about the project will be administered and disseminated.

Compliance. A general concept of conforming to a rule, standard, law, or requirement such that the assessment of compliance results in a binomial result stated as “compliant” or “noncompliant.”

Conduct Procurements. The process of obtaining seller responses, selecting a seller, and awarding a contract.

Configuration Management System. A subsystem of the overall project management system. It is a collection of formal documented procedures used to apply technical and administrative direction and surveillance to: identify and document the functional and physical characteristics of a product, result, service, or component; control any changes to such characteristics; record and report each change and its implementation status; and support the audit of the products, results, or components to verify conformance to requirements. It includes the documentation, tracking systems, and defined approval levels necessary for authorizing and controlling changes.

Conflict Management. Handling, controlling, and guiding a conflictual situation to achieve a resolution.

Conformance. Within the quality management system, conformance is a general concept of delivering results that fall within the limits that define acceptable variation for a quality requirement.

Conformance Work. In the cost of quality framework, conformance work is done to compensate for imperfections that prevent organizations from completing planned activities correctly as essential first-time work. Conformance work consists of actions that are related to prevention and inspection.

Constraint. A limiting factor that affects the execution of a project, program, portfolio, or process.

Context Diagrams. A visual depiction of the product scope showing a business system (process, equipment, computer system, etc.), and how people and other systems (actors) interact with it.

Contingency. An event or occurrence that could affect the execution of the project that may be accounted for with a reserve.

Contingency Allowance. See reserve.

Contingency Reserve. Budget within the cost baseline or performance measurement baseline that is allocated for identified risks that are accepted and for which contingent or mitigating responses are developed.

Contingent Response Strategies. Responses provided which may be used in the event that a specific trigger occurs.

Contract. A contract is a mutually binding agreement that obligates the seller to provide the specified product or service or result and obligates the buyer to pay for it.

Contract Change Control System. The system used to collect, track, adjudicate, and communicate changes to a contract.

Control. Comparing actual performance with planned performance, analyzing variances, assessing trends to effect process improvements, evaluating possible alternatives, and recommending appropriate corrective action as needed.

Control Account. A management control point where scope, budget, actual cost, and schedule are integrated and compared to earned value for performance measurement.

Control Chart. A graphic display of process data over time and against established control limits, which has a centerline that assists in detecting a trend of plotted values toward either control limit.

Control Communications. The process of monitoring and controlling communications throughout the entire project life cycle to ensure the information needs of the project stakeholders are met.

Control Costs. The process of monitoring the status of the project to update the project costs and managing changes to the cost baseline.

Control Limits. The area composed of three standard deviations on either side of the centerline or mean of a normal distribution of data plotted on a control chart, which reflects the expected variation in the data. See also specification limits.

Control Procurements. The process of managing procurement relationships, monitoring contract performance, and making changes and corrections as appropriate.

Control Quality. The process of monitoring and recording results of executing the quality activities to assess performance and recommend necessary changes.

Control Risks. The process of implementing risk response plans, tracking identified risks, monitoring residual risks, identifying new risks, and evaluating risk process effectiveness throughout the project.

Control Schedule. The process of monitoring the status of project activities to update project progress and manage changes to the schedule baseline to achieve the plan.

Control Scope. The process of monitoring the status of the project and product scope and managing changes to the scope baseline.

Control Stakeholder Engagement. The process of monitoring overall project stakeholder relationships and adjusting strategies and plans for engaging stakeholders.

Corrective Action. An intentional activity that realigns the performance of the project work with the project management plan.

Cost Aggregation. Summing the lower-level cost estimates associated with the various work packages for a given level within the project’s WBS or for a given cost control account.

Cost Baseline. The approved version of the time-phased project budget, excluding any management reserves, which can be changed only through formal change control procedures and is used as a basis for comparison to actual results.

Cost Management Plan. A component of a project or program management plan that describes how costs will be planned, structured, and controlled.

Cost of Quality. A method of determining the costs incurred to ensure quality. Prevention and appraisal costs (cost of conformance) include costs for quality planning, quality control (QC), and quality assurance to ensure compliance to requirements (i.e., training, QC systems, etc.). Failure costs (cost of nonconformance) include costs to rework products, components, or processes that are non-compliant, costs of warranty work and waste, and loss of reputation.

Cost Performance Index (CPI). A measure of the cost efficiency of budgeted resources expressed as the ratio of earned value to actual cost.

Cost Plus Award Fee Contracts (CPAF). A category of contract that involves payments to the seller for all legitimate actual costs incurred for completed work, plus an award fee representing seller profit.

Cost Plus Fixed Fee Contract (CPFF). A type of cost-reimbursable contract where the buyer reimburses the seller for the seller’s allowable costs (allowable costs are defined by the contract) plus a fixed amount of profit (fee).

Cost Plus Incentive Fee Contract (CPIF). A type of cost-reimbursable contract where the buyer reimburses the seller for the seller’s allowable costs (allowable costs are defined by the contract), and the seller earns its profit if it meets defined performance criteria.

Cost Variance (CV). The amount of budget deficit or surplus at a given point in time, expressed as the difference between the earned value and the actual cost.

Cost-Benefit Analysis. A financial analysis tool used to determine the benefits provided by a project against its costs.

Cost-Reimbursable Contract. A type of contract involving payment to the seller for the seller’s actual costs, plus a fee typically representing seller’s profit. Cost-reimbursable contracts often include incentive clauses where, if the seller meets or exceeds selected project objectives, such as schedule targets or total cost, then the seller receives from the buyer an incentive or bonus payment.

Crashing. A technique used to shorten the schedule duration for the least incremental cost by adding resources.

Create WBS. The process of subdividing project deliverables and project work into smaller, more manageable components.

Criteria. Standards, rules, or tests on which a judgment or decision can be based or by which a product, service, result, or process can be evaluated.

Critical Chain Method. A schedule method that allows the project team to place buffers on any project schedule path to account for limited resources and project uncertainties.

Critical Path. The sequence of activities that represents the longest path through a project, which determines the shortest possible duration.

Critical Path Activity. Any activity on the critical path in a project schedule.

Critical Path Method. A method used to estimate the minimum project duration and determine the amount of scheduling flexibility on the logical network paths within the schedule model.

Customer. Customer is the person(s) or organization(s) that will pay for the project’s product, service, or result. Customers can be internal or external to the performing organization.

Customer Satisfaction. Within the quality management system, a state of fulfillment in which the needs of a customer are met or exceeded for the customer’s expected experiences as assessed by the customer at the moment of evaluation.