Glossary
A glossary of project management terms found on this website. Submissions welcome.
Assumptions
Any factors that you are assuming to be in place that will contribute to the successful outcome of the project.
Baseline
A baseline is an approved configuration item, e.g. 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.
Business Case
A document detailing the justification for starting a project. It describes the benefits, costs and impacts, 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, abbreviated as PMBOK Guide.
Change Control
The practice of identifying, documenting, approving and implementing changes within a project.
Constraints
The factors that you will need to take into consideration 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.
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 the achievement of a successful project.
Deliverable
A tangible or intangible object produced as a result of 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 that 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 indicates how much of the budget and time should have been spent, with regards to the amount of work done to date.
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 amount of time a task can be delayed without delaying the project. Tasks on the critical path have no float.
Gantt Chart
A popular type of bar chart that aims to show the timing of tasks or activities as they occur over time. Although the Gantt chart did not initially indicate the relationships between activities this has become more common in current usage 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 the accomplishment of project deliverables or other note worthy achievements.
Monte Carlo Simulation
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.
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, it is the idea that by doing 20% of the work you can generate 80% of the benefit of doing the whole job. Or in terms of quality improvement, a large majority of problems are produced by a few key causes.
PERT Chart
A tool used to schedule, organise and co-ordinate tasks within a project. PERT stands for Programme Evaluation Review Technique, a methodology 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.
PMBOK
Owned by the Project Management Institute (PMI) the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) is a collection of processes and knowledge areas generally 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, abbreviated to PMBOK Guide.
Portfolio Management
The co-ordinated management of a portfolio of projects to achieve a set of business objectives.
PRINCE2™
The UK de-facto standard for project management developed by the Government and used in both the public and private sectors. The acronym stands for PRojects IN Controlled Environments - the "2" refers to its relaunch in October 1996.
Project Manager
The person who has the overall responsibility for the successful planning, execution and closure of a project. This title is used in the construction industry, architecture, information technology and many different occupations that are based on production of a product or service.
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 combination of the probability the event will occur and the impact on the project if the event occurs. If the combination of the probability of the occurrence and the impact to the project is too high, you should identify the potential event as a risk and put a proactive plan in place to manage the risk.
Scope
The overall definition of what the project is supposed to accomplish and a specific description of what the end result should be. A major component 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.
Six Sigma
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.
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
Anyone, internal or external to an organisation that has an interest in a project or will be affected by its deliverables or outputs.
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
An exhaustive, hierarchical tree structure of deliverables and tasks that need to be performed to complete a project. Work breakdown structure is a very common project management tool and the basis for much project planning.