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PROJECT MANAGEMENT TERMINOLOGY

 A B C D E F G H  I J K L M N O  P Q R S T  U V W X Y Z

50-50 Rule    At beginning, charge 50% of its BCWS to the account.  Charge remaining at completion.


Change Request is the most effective way of handling the disconnect between what users actually want and what management thinks they want. The project manager’s role related to project change is to influence the factors that affect change. He should ask for a change order and look for impacts to the triple constraint. Scope Changes on project can be minimized by spending more time developing the scope baseline.


Acceptance   Accept or retain consequences. 2 types: Active Acceptance (develop a contingency plan) or Passive Acceptance (no action).


Activity – consumes time (eg testing)


Activity-on-Arc (AOA) is also known as Activity-on-Arrow (because an arc is sometimes called an arrow). When you use AOA, you use arcs or arrows, called activities, to connect events. Consequently, AOA is event-oriented. This means that all arcs or arrows leading to (pointing to) a node must be completed before the event (represented by a node) is considered complete


Activity-on-Node (AON) is the most popular project management network scheduling technique for complex, large projects. Instead of circles and labels on arcs, AON uses a user-friendly flowcharting approach. AON is preferred because of its clarity and similarity to other tools. When you use AON, there are no restrictions regarding the two lines that connect two boxes. There is no need for dummy activities. An activity exists inside a construct (a node/box), so nodes are more important and arcs (lines/arrows) are less important


Activity Definition – defines activities that must take place to produce project deliverables


ACWP (AC)   How much did the “is done” work cost?


AD    Work Quantity (scope of the activity) / Production rate


Analogous Estimating Top down; based on similar projects. Represents a form of expert judgment. Gives project team an understanding of management’s expectations (part of cost budgeting and cost estimating)


Arrow Diagramming Method is a method of constructing a project network diagram using arrows to represent the activities and connected at nodes to show the dependencies


Assignable Causes Data point on a control chart that requires investigation


Assumptions – factors that, for planning purposes, are considered to be true, real or certain


Attribute Sampling Measures whether or not the results conforms to specifications  variables sampling determines the degree of conformity


Avoidance (elimination/abatement) Eliminating cause eliminates risk. Can be done by changing the Project Plan or protecting project objectives from its impact.

 

BAC Budget at Completion – How much is budgeted for the total job? BAC would change every time there is a funded scope change approved for activity to be performed in the future.


BCWP (EV)   How much work is done? (Progress) Budgeted cost of work performed. Value of the work completed in terms of what you budgeted (your baseline)


BCWS (PV)     How much should be done?  This is the performance measurement baseline.
 

Behaviorism – people behavior can be modified through manipulation of rewards and punishments


Benchmarking  Compares practices of other projects. Provides a standard to measure performance (time consuming). (e.g. investigating quality standards that other companies are using)


Beneficial Efficiency – when the work is being used for the intended purpose and has been certified


Benefit Cost Ratio Expected Revenues / Expected Costs. Measure benefits (payback) to costs; not just profits. The higher the better (if rating over 1, the benefits are greater than the costs)


better quality provides Improved Cost Effectiveness, Better Customer Satisfaction,  Increase in Productivity


Bidder Conferences (which is a Tool/Technique for Solicitation) are meetings with prospective sellers prior to preparation of the proposal. They are used to ensure that all the prospective sellers have a clear, common understanding of the procurement (technical requirements, contract requirements etc.)

 

Blake and Mouton – ref to managerial grid (Concern for People Vs Concern for Production), whereas 1,1 is laissez faire mgmnt, 1,9 is Country Club mgmnt, 9,1 is Task oriented mgmnt, 5,5 is Compromise mgmnt and 9,9 is team mgmnt.


Bottom-up Estimating    Detailed cost estimates of work packages are aggregated, provides best overall quality of the estimate.


Brainstorming

Brainstorming is a way to spontaneously produce many ideas in a short period of time. While you can brainstorm alone, a group generates more ideas.


Brain writing

Brain writing is a means of increasing group participation. It is especially useful when one or more members tend to monopolize idea generation or when people are reluctant to participate. Also, brainwriting is suitable for topics that are just too "hot" (volatile) for discussion using traditional brainstorming.


Budget tampering - presenting anything besides your original estimate to allocate more to the


Budget updates   Should be the next steps after an approved cost baseline has changed because of a major change on a project.

Benefit/cost Analysis involves estimating tangible and intangible costs(outlays) and benefits (returns) of various project and product alternatives, and then using financial measures such as return on investment or payback period to assess relative desirability of the identified alternatives

 

Cause and Effect Diagrams, also called Ishikawa diagrams or fishbone diagrams illustrate how various factors might be linked to potential problems or effects


cause of variances, reasoning behind the corrective actions taken and other type of lessons learned from scope change control should be documented, so that this information becomes part of the historical database for both this project and other projects of the performing organization


Change Requests may occur in many forms - oral or written, direct or indirect, externally or internally initiated, and legally mandated or optional. Please note that change requests are always "formal"


Change Control System – must also include procedures to handle changes that may be approved without prior review


Changes - if the functional manager wants to make a change to time associated to a task (change in goals and objectives of the Charter) and there is not enough reserve, senior management (not the Project Manager) should authorize the change. The best method to control changes on the project is to look for sources of change. The best method to deal with changes is to direct the changes to the Change Control Board. Change Control System :.includes the paperwork, tracking systems, processes and approval levels necessary for authorizing changes


Checklists    Used to verify that a set of required steps has been performed in quality control process checklist is a structured tool, usually item-specific, used to verify that a set of required steps has been performed


Check sheets. Check sheets are a very easy and understandable method to collect data. Many of you may have used this method at one time or another (even if you did not know it by name).Check sheets reflect occurrence of conditions, events, problems, and defects. They also help determine patterns for a small volume of events.


Code of Accounts - any numbering system used to uniquely identify each element of the WBS.


Company and Customer’s Interest - professional responsibility requires the investigation of any instances where the legitimate interests of the customer may be compromised. If such compromise is found, action must be taken. Protect your company’s interests


Company Policies - It is the project manager’s professional responsibility to ensure that company policies are followed during the project.


Configuration Management - a means of monitoring and controlling emerging project scope against the scope baseline; its purpose is to control change throughout the project. It is any documented procedures used to apply technical and administrative direction and surveillance to audit the items and system to verify conformance requirements. . It documents the physical characteristics of formal project documents and steps required to control changes to them


Constrained optimization – includes analytic hierarchy process, logical framework analysis and multi-objective programming.


Contingency Reserve    Separate quantity of time/money for known unknowns. Designed to cover specific risk events previously identified and measured in the Risk Management Process.


Contract Control System vs Project Control System – they both include procedures. The contract control system requires more documentation and more signoff.


Control Chart helps  newly assigned project manager determine whether the project is out of control (in order to verify quality level)., Can be used to monitor project management


Copyright laws – do not violate


Core Process Some planning processes have clear dependencies that require them to be performed in essentially the same order on most projects.


Corrective action - in project time management primarily concerns expediting to ensure that activities remain on schedule. Is anything done to bring expected future schedule performance in line with the project plan.

 

Cost Account – one level above the Work Package.


Cost accounts Represent the basic level at which project performance is measured and reported. The purpose of cost accounts is to monitor and report on project performance.


Cost Change Control Systems        Includes the documentation, tracking systems, and approval levels needed to authorize a change.


Cost Management Plan – The action taken by the project manager for all variances are described in the Cost Management Plan


Cost Performance Index     EV/AC [BCWP / ACWP]     I am getting  ____ out of each dollar. (>1 good; <1 bad)


Cost Plus Fixed Fee (CPFF)    Used for research and development contracts (which generally have low level of detail in the scope); fixed fee can change if there is a change to the contract (usually through change orders). The risk rests with the buyer.


Cost Plus Incentive Fee CPIF)     Buyer and seller share in savings based on predetermined %s; long performance periods and substantial development and test requirements (incentive to the vendor to perform on or ahead of time)


Cost Plus Percentage of Cost (CPPC)            No valid for federal contracts


Cost Variance in %                        CV/EV


Cost Variance                                 EV – AC [BCWP – ACWP]   Variance = planned – actual


Cost/Benefit analysis – technique used to validate that the project can meet the technical/business objectives set forth by Sr. Management

 

CPI Cumulative CPI does not change by more than 10% once a project is approximately 20% complete. The CPI provides a quick statistical forecast of final project costs.


Crashing – when you are worried about time, not so much about costs.


Critical Path – longest path (almost always have no float)


Cost Value CV analysis (also known as break-even analysis helps you evaluate different options. The name break-even analysis comes from the fact that this technique calculates the precise point where total revenues equal total costs and profits are zero. CV analysis focuses on relationships between cost, revenue, and different volume of outputs. Its purpose is estimate profits or losses that occur under different conditions and pick the best choice.

Use CV analysis to generate both a mathematical and graphical solution

Total cost equals fixed cost plus the units multiplied by the variable cost, TC = FC + (U × VC)

Total revenue equals the selling price multiplied by the number of units, TR = SP × U

break-even point occurs where total revenue equals total cost, therefore, for the break-even point TR = TC.

Substituting equations one and two into equation three gives us a break-even point of:FC + (U × VC) = SP × U

Subtract (U × VC) from both sides of the equation:FC = (SP × U) - (U × VC)

Simplify by factoring out U from the right side of the equation:FC = U (SP − VC)

Divide both sides of the equation by SP − VC:FC ÷ (SP − VC) = U

Reverse the equation: U = FC ÷ (SP − VC)


Control charts are a graphic display over time of a process. They are used to determine if the process is "in control" (e.g. are differences in results created by random variations, or are unusual events occurring whose causes must be identified and corrected)?

Correspondence: Contract Terms and conditions often require written documentation of certain aspects of the buyer/seller communications, such as warnings of unsatisfactory performance and contract changes or clarifications


Cost of quality refers to the total cost of all efforts to achieve product/service quality, and includes all work to ensure conformance to requirements. There are three types of costs that are incurred :prevention costs, appraisal costs and failure costs


Collocation is widely used in larger projects and can also be used on smaller projects (e.g. with a war room, where the team congregates and posts schedules, updates etc.