Criteria

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.criteria.Fixed Price with Economic Price Adjustment Contracts (FP-EPA). A fixed-price contract, but with a specialprovision allowing for predefined final adjustments to the contract price due to changed conditions, such as inflationchanges, or cost increases (or decreases) for specific commodities.Fixed-Price Contracts. An agreement that sets the fee that will be paid for a defined scope of work regardless ofthe cost or effort to deliver it.Float. Also called slack. See total float and free float.Flowchart. The depiction in a diagram format of the inputs, process actions, and outputs of one or more processeswithin a system.Focus Groups. An elicitation technique that brings together prequalified stakeholders and subject matter expertsto learn about their expectations and attitudes about a proposed product, service, or result.Forecast. An estimate or prediction of conditions and events in the project?s future based on information andknowledge available at the time of the forecast. The information is based on the project?s past performance andexpected future performance, and includes information that could impact the project in the future, such as estimateat completion and estimate to complete.Forward Pass. A critical path method technique for calculating the early start and early finish dates by workingforward through the schedule model from the project start date or a given point in time.Free Float. The amount of time that a schedule activity can be delayed without delaying the early start date of anysuccessor or violating a schedule constraint.Functional Manager. Someone with management authority over an organizational unit within a functionalorganization. The manager of any group that actually makes a product or performs a service. Sometimes called aline manager.Functional Organization. A hierarchical organization where each employee has one clear superior, and staff aregrouped by areas of specialization and managed by a person with expertise in that area.GlossaryFunding Limit Reconciliation. The process of comparing the planned expenditure of project funds against anylimits on the commitment of funds for the project to identify any variances between the funding limits and theplanned expenditures.Gantt Chart. A bar chart of schedule information where activities are listed on the vertical axis, dates areshown on the horizontal axis, and activity durations are shown as horizontal bars placed according to start andfinish dates.Grade. A category or rank used to distinguish items that have the same functional use (e.g., ?hammer?) but donot share the same requirements for quality (e.g., different hammers may need to withstand different amounts offorce).Ground Rules. Expectations regarding acceptable behavior by project team members.Group Creativity Techniques. Techniques that are used to generate ideas within a group of stakeholders.Group Decision-Making Techniques. Techniques to assess multiple alternatives that will be used to generate,classify, and prioritize product requirements.Guideline. An official recommendation or advice that indicates policies, standards, or procedures for howsomething should be accomplished.Hammock Activity. See summary activity.Hard Logic. See mandatory dependency.Histogram. A special form of bar chart used to describe the central tendency, dispersion, and shape of astatistical distribution.Historical Information. Documents and data on prior projects including project files, records, correspondence,closed contracts, and closed projects.Human Resource Management Plan. A component of the project management plan that describes how theroles and responsibilities, reporting relationships, and staff management will be addressed and structured.Idea/Mind Mapping. Technique used to consolidate ideas created through individual brainstorming sessions intoa single map to reflect commonality and differences in understanding and to generate new ideas.Identify Risks. The process of determining which risks may affect the project and documenting their characteristics.GlossaryIdentify Stakeholders. The process of identifying the people, groups, or organizations that could impact or beimpacted by a decision, activity, or outcome of the project; and analyzing and documenting relevant informationregarding their interests, involvement, interdependencies, influence, and potential impact on project success.Imposed Date. A fixed date imposed on a schedule activity or schedule milestone, usually in the form of a?start no earlier than? and ?finish no later than? date.Incentive Fee. A set of financial incentives related to cost, schedule, or technical performance of the seller.Incremental Life Cycle. A project life cycle where the project scope is generally determined early in the projectlife cycle, but time and cost estimates are routinely modified as the project team?s understanding of the productincreases. Iterations develop the product through a series of repeated cycles, while increments successively add tothe functionality of the product.Independent Estimates. A process of using a third party to obtain and analyze information to support predictionof cost, schedule, or other items.Influence Diagram. A graphical representation of situations showing causal influences, time ordering of events,and other relationships among variables and outcomes.Information Gathering Techniques. Repeatable processes used to assemble and organize data across a spectrumof sources.Information Management Systems. Facilities, processes, and procedures used to collect, store, and distributeinformation between producers and consumers of information in physical or electronic format.Initiating Process Group. Those processes performed to define a new project or a new phase of an existing projectby obtaining authorization to start the project or phase.Input. Any item, whether internal or external to the project that is required by a process before that processproceeds. May be an output from a predecessor process.Inspection. Examining or measuring to verify whether an activity, component, product, result, or service conformsto specified requirements.Inspections and Audits. A process to observe performance of contracted work or a promised product againstagreed-upon requirements.GlossaryInterpersonal Skills. Ability to establish and maintain relationships with other people.Interrelationship Digraphs. A quality management planning tool, the interrelationship digraphs provide aprocess for creative problem-solving in moderately complex scenarios that possess intertwined logicalrelationships.Interviews. A formal or informal approach to elicit information from stakeholders by talking to them directly.Invitation for Bid (IFB). Generally, this term is equivalent to request for proposal. However, in some applicationareas, it may have a narrower or more specific meaning.Issue. A point or matter in question or in dispute, or a point or matter that is not settled and is under discussion orover which there are opposing views or disagreements.Issue Log. A project document used to document and monitor elements under discussion or in dispute betweenproject stakeholders.Iterative Life Cycle. A project life cycle where the project scope is generally determined early in the project lifecycle, but time and cost estimates are routinely modified as the project team?s understanding of the productincreases. Iterations develop the product through a series of repeated cycles, while increments successively add tothe functionality of the product.Lag. The amount of time whereby a successor activity is required to be delayed with respect to a predecessoractivity.Late Finish Date (LF). In the critical path method, the latest possible point in time when the uncompleted portionsof a schedule activity can finish based on the schedule network logic, the project completion date, and any scheduleconstraints.Late Start Date (LS). In the critical path method, the latest possible point in time when the uncompleted portionsof a schedule activity can start based on the schedule network logic, the project completion date, and any scheduleconstraints.Lead. The amount of time whereby a successor activity can be advanced with respect to a predecessor activity.Lessons Learned. The knowledge gained during a project which shows how project events were addressed orshould be addressed in the future with the purpose of improving future performance.Lessons Learned Knowledge Base. A store of historical information and lessons learned about both the outcomesof previous project selection decisions and previous project performance.GlossaryLevel of Effort (LOE). An activity that does not produce definitive end products and is measured by the passageof time. [Note: Level of effort is one of three earned valued management (EVM) types of activities used to measurework performance.]Leveling. See resource leveling.Life Cycle. See project life cycle.Log. A document used to record and describe or denote selected items identified during execution of a process oractivity. Usually used with a modifier, such as issue, quality control, action, or defect.Logical Relationship. A dependency between two activities, or between an activity and a milestone.Majority. Support from more than 50 percent of the members of the group.Make-or-Buy Analysis. The process of gathering and organizing data about product requirements and analyzingthem against available alternatives including the purchase or internal manufacture of the product.Make-or-Buy Decisions. Decisions made regarding the external purchase or internal manufacture of a product.Manage Communications. The process of creating, collecting, distributing, storing, retrieving, and the ultimatedisposition of project information in accordance with the communications management plan.Manage Project Team. The process of tracking team member performance, providing feedback, resolving issues,and managing team changes to optimize project performance.Manage Stakeholder Engagement. The process of communicating and working with stakeholders to meet theirneeds/expectations, address issues as they occur, and foster appropriate stakeholder engagement in projectactivities throughout the project life cycle.Management Reserve. An amount of the project budget withheld for management control purposes. Theseare budgets reserved for unforeseen work that is within scope of the project. The management reserve is notincluded in the performance measurement baseline (PMB).Management Skills. The ability to plan, organize, direct, and control individuals or groups of people to achievespecific goals.Mandatory Dependency. A relationship that is contractually required or inherent in the nature of the work.GlossaryMarket Research. The process of gathering information at conferences, online reviews, and a variety of sourcesto identify market capabilities.Master Schedule. A summary-level project schedule that identifies the major deliverables and work breakdownstructure components and key schedule milestones. See also milestone schedule.Material. The aggregate of things used by an organization in any undertaking, such as equipment, apparatus, tools,machinery, gear, material, and supplies.Matrix Diagrams. A quality management and control tool used to perform data analysis within the organizationalstructure created in the matrix. The matrix diagram seeks to show the strength of relationships between factors,causes, and objectives that exist between the rows and columns that form the matrix.Matrix Organization. Any organizational structure in which the project manager shares responsibility with thefunctional managers for assigning priorities and for directing the work of persons assigned to the project.Methodology. A system of practices, techniques, procedures, and rules used by those who work in a discipline.Milestone. A significant point or event in a project, program, or portfolio.Milestone List. A list identifying all project milestones and normally indicates whether the milestone is mandatoryor optional.Milestone Schedule. A summary-level schedule that identifies the major schedule milestones. See also masterschedule.Monitor. Collect project performance data with respect to a plan, produce performance measures, and report anddisseminate performance information.Monitor and Control Project Work. The process of tracking, reviewing, and reporting the progress to meet theperformance objectives defined in the project management plan.Monitoring and Controlling Process Group. Those processes required to track, review, and regulate the progressand performance of the project; identify any areas in which changes to the plan are required; and initiate thecorresponding changes.GlossaryMonte Carlo Simulation. A process which generates hundreds or thousands of probable performance outcomesbased on probability distributions for cost and schedule on individual tasks. The outcomes are then used to generatea probability distribution for the project as a whole.Most Likely Duration. An estimate of the most probable activity duration that takes into account all of the knownvariables that could affect performance.Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis. This technique utilizes a decision matrix to provide a systematic analyticalapproach for establishing criteria, such as risk levels, uncertainty, and valuation, to evaluate and rank many ideas.Near-Critical Activity. A schedule activity that has low total float. The concept of near-critical is equally applicableto a schedule activity or schedule network path. The limit below which total float is considered near critical issubject to expert judgment and varies from project to project.Negotiated Settlements. The process of reaching final equitable settlement of all outstanding issues, claims, anddisputes through negotiation.Negotiation. The process and activities to resolving disputes through consultations between involved parties.Network. See project schedule network diagram.Network Analysis. See schedule network analysis.Network Logic. The collection of schedule activity dependencies that makes up a project schedule networkdiagram.Network Path. Any continuous series of schedule activities connected with logical relationships in a projectschedule network diagram.Networking. Establishing connections and relationships with other people from the same or other organizations.Node. One of the defining points of a schedule network; a junction point joined to some or all of the other dependencylines.Nominal Group Technique. A technique that enhances brainstorming with a voting process used to rank themost useful ideas for further brainstorming or for prioritization.GlossaryNonconformance Work. In the cost of quality framework, nonconformance work is done to deal with theconsequences of errors and failures in doing activities correctly on the first attempt. In efficient quality managementsystems, the amount of nonconformance work will approach zero.Objective. Something toward which work is to be directed, a strategic position to be attained, a purpose to beachieved, 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 theirjobs 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 knownvariables that could affect performance.Organizational Breakdown Structure (OBS). A hierarchical representation of the project organization thatillustrates 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 toand used by the performing organization.Organizational Project Management Maturity. The level of an organization?s ability to deliver the desired strategicoutcomes 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 durationbased on historical data and project parameters.Pareto Diagram. A histogram, ordered by frequency of occurrence, that shows how many results weregenerated 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 andproducts.GlossaryPercent Complete. An estimate expressed as a percent of the amount of work that has been completed on anactivity or a work breakdown structure component.Perform Integrated Change Control. The process of reviewing all change requests; approving changesand managing changes to deliverables, organizational process assets, project documents, and the projectmanagement plan; and communicating their disposition.Perform Qualitative Risk Analysis. The process of prioritizing risks for further analysis or action by assessing andcombining their probability of occurrence and impact.Perform Quality Assurance. The process of auditing the quality requirements and the results from quality controlmeasurements 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 overallproject objectives.Performance Measurement Baseline. An approved, integrated scope-schedule-cost plan for the project workagainst which project execution is compared to measure and manage performance. The PMB includes contingencyreserve, 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 ofwork in progress on the project against the baseline.Performing Organization. An enterprise whose personnel are most directly involved in doing the work of theproject or program.Pessimistic Duration. Estimate of the longest activity duration that takes into account all of the known variablesthat 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, tocontinue with modification, or to end a project or program.Plan Communications Management. The process of developing an appropriate approach and plan for projectcommunications based on stakeholder?s information needs and requirements and available organizational assets.GlossaryPlan 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 theapproach, and identifying potential sellers.Plan Quality Management. The process of identifying quality requirements and/or standards for the project and itsdeliverables, 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 reducethreats to project objectives.Plan Schedule Management. The process of establishing the policies, procedures, and documentation forplanning, developing, managing, executing, and controlling the project schedule.Plan Scope Management. The process of creating a scope management plan that documents how the projectscope will be defined, validated, and controlled.Plan Stakeholder Management. The process of developing appropriate management strategies to effectivelyengage stakeholders throughout the project life cycle, based on the analysis of their needs, interests, and potentialimpact 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 workcontent 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, anddefine 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 beexplained as a set of basic principles that govern the organization?s conduct.GlossaryPortfolio. 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 processand that may employ one or more techniques and tools.Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM). A technique used for constructing a schedule model in whichactivities are represented by nodes and are graphically linked by one or more logical relationships to show thesequence in which the activities are to be performed.Precedence Relationship. The term used in the precedence diagramming method for a logical relationship. In currentusage, 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 todeliver 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 alignedwith the project management plan.Prioritization Matrices. A quality management planning tool used to identify key issues and evaluate suitablealternatives to define a set of implementation priorities.Probability and Impact Matrix. A grid for mapping the probability of each risk occurrence and its impact onproject objectives if that risk occurs.Procedure. An established method of accomplishing a consistent performance or result, a procedure typicallycan 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 inputswill be acted upon to create one or more outputs.GlossaryProcess Analysis. A process analysis follows the steps outlined in the process improvement plan to identifyneeded improvements.Process Decision Program Charts (PDPC). The PDPC is used to understand a goal in relation to the steps forgetting to the goal.Process Improvement Plan. A subsidiary plan of the project management plan. It details the steps for analyzingprocesses to identify activities that enhance their value.Procurement Audits. The review of contracts and contracting processes for completeness, accuracy, andeffectiveness.Procurement Documents. The documents utilized in bid and proposal activities, which include the buyer?sInvitation 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 describeshow 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 andquality, within cost and on schedule, as compared to the contract.Procurement Statement of Work. Describes the procurement item in sufficient detail to allow prospective sellersto 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 meansasking questions about a product and forming answers to describe the use, characteristics, and other the relevantaspects 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.GlossaryProgram. A group of related projects, subprograms, and program activities managed in a coordinated way toobtain benefits not available from managing them individually.Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT ). A technique for estimating that applies a weightedaverage of optimistic, pessimistic, and most likely estimates when there is uncertainty with the individual activityestimates.Program Management. The application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to a program to meet theprogram 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 asgreater 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 temporarysystems for the performance of projects. PBOs conduct the majority of their activities as projects and/or provideproject 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 existenceof a project and provides the project manager with the authority to apply organizational resources to projectactivities.Project Communications Management. Project Communications Management includes the processes thatare 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 theapproved budget.Project Funding Requirements. Forecast project costs to be paid that are derived from the cost baseline for totalor periodic requirements, including projected expenditures plus anticipated liabilities.Project Governance. The alignment of project objectives with the strategy of the larger organization by theproject sponsor and project team. A project?s governance is defined by and is required to fit within the largercontext of the program or organization sponsoring it, but is separate from organizational governance.GlossaryProject Human Resource Management. Project Human Resource Management includes the processes thatorganize, 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 neededto identify, define, combine, unify, and coordinate the various processes and project management activities withinthe 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 theproject requirements.Project Management Body of Knowledge. An inclusive term that describes the sum of knowledge withinthe profession of project management. As with other professions, such as law, medicine, and accounting, thebody of knowledge rests with the practitioners and academics that apply and advance it. The complete projectmanagement body of knowledge includes proven traditional practices that are widely applied and innovativepractices that are emerging in the profession. The body of knowledge includes both published and unpublishedmaterials. This body of knowledge is constantly evolving. PMI?s PMBOK© Guide identifies a subset of the projectmanagement body of knowledge that is generally recognized as good practice.Project Management Information System. An information system consisting of the tools and techniques used togather, integrate, and disseminate the outputs of project management processes. It is used to support all aspectsof 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 knowledgerequirements 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 governanceprocesses and facilitates the sharing of resources, methodologies, tools, and techniques.Project Management Plan. The document that describes how the project will be executed monitored, andcontrolled.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, executingprocesses, monitoring and controlling processes, and closing processes. Project Management Process Groups arenot project phases.GlossaryProject Management Staff. The members of the project team who perform project management activities such asschedule, communications, risk management, etc.Project Management System. The aggregation of the processes, tools, techniques, methodologies, resources, andprocedures to manage a project.Project Management Team. The members of the project team who are directly involved in project managementactivities. On some smaller projects, the project management team may include virtually all of the project teammembers.Project Manager (PM). The person assigned by the performing organization to lead the team that is responsiblefor achieving the project objectives.Project Organization Chart. A document that graphically depicts the project team members and theirinterrelationships for a specific project.Project Phase. A collection of logically related project activities that culminates in the completion of one ormore deliverables.Project Procurement Management. Project Procurement Management includes the processes necessary topurchase 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 performingorganization that determine quality policies, objectives, and responsibilities so that the project will satisfy the needsfor which it was undertaken.Project Risk Management. Project Risk Management includes the processes of conducting risk managementplanning, 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 projectschedule activities.Project Scope. The work performed to deliver a product, service, or result with the specified features and fu