Project

Project. A temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result.project.Requirements Management Plan. A component of the project or program management plan that describes howrequirements will be analyzed, documented, and managed.Requirements Traceability Matrix. A grid that links product requirements from their origin to the deliverablesthat satisfy them.Reserve. A provision in the project management plan to mitigate cost and/or schedule risk. Often used with amodifier (e.g., management reserve, contingency reserve) to provide further detail on what types of risk are meantto be mitigated.Reserve Analysis. An analytical technique to determine the essential features and relationships of components inthe project management plan to establish a reserve for the schedule duration, budget, estimated cost, or funds fora project.Residual Risk. A risk that remains after risk responses have been implemented.Resource. Skilled human resources (specific disciplines either individually or in crews or teams), equipment,services, supplies, commodities, material, budgets, or funds.Resource Breakdown Structure. A hierarchical representation of resources by category and type.Resource Calendar. A calendar that identifies the working days and shifts on which each specific resource isavailable.GlossaryResource Histogram. A bar chart showing the amount of time that a resource is scheduled to work over a series oftime periods. Resource availability may be depicted as a line for comparison purposes. Contrasting bars may showactual amounts of resources used as the project progresses.Resource Leveling. A technique in which start and finish dates are adjusted based on resource constraints withthe goal of balancing demand for resources with the available supply.Resource Optimization Techniques. A technique that is used to adjust the start and finish dates of activities thatadjust planned resource use to be equal to or less than resource availability.Resource Smoothing. A technique which adjusts the activities of a schedule model such that the requirement forresources on the project do not exceed certain predefined resource limits.Responsibility. An assignment that can be delegated within a project management plan such that the assignedresource incurs a duty to perform the requirements of the assignment.Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM). A grid that shows the project resources assigned to each workpackage.Result. An output from performing project management processes and activities. Results include outcomes(e.g., integrated systems, revised process, restructured organization, tests, trained personnel, etc.) and documents(e.g., policies, plans, studies, procedures, specifications, reports, etc.). Contrast with product. See also deliverable.Rework. Action taken to bring a defective or nonconforming component into compliance with requirements orspecifications.Risk. An uncertain event or condition that, if it occurs, has a positive or negative effect on one or more projectobjectives.Risk Acceptance. A risk response strategy whereby the project team decides to acknowledge the risk and nottake any action unless the risk occurs.Risk Appetite. The degree of uncertainty an entity is willing to take on, in anticipation of a reward.Risk Audits. Examination and documentation of the effectiveness of risk responses in dealing with identified risksand their root causes, as well as the effectiveness of the risk management process.Risk Avoidance. A risk response strategy whereby the project team acts to eliminate the threat or protect theproject from its impact.GlossaryRisk Breakdown Structure (RBS). A hierarchical representation of risks according to their risk categories.Risk Categorization. Organization by sources of risk (e.g., using the RBS), the area of the project affected (e.g.,using the WBS), or other useful category (e.g., project phase) to determine the areas of the project most exposedto the effects of uncertainty.Risk Category. A group of potential causes of risk.Risk Data Quality Assessment. Technique to evaluate the degree to which the data about risks is useful for riskmanagement.Risk Management Plan. A component of the project, program, or portfolio management plan that describes howrisk management activities will be structured and performed.Risk Mitigation. A risk response strategy whereby the project team acts to reduce the probability of occurrenceor impact of a risk.Risk Reassessment. Risk reassessment is the identification of new risks, reassessment of current risks, and theclosing of risks that are outdated.Risk Register. A document in which the results of risk analysis and risk response planning are recorded.Risk Threshold. Measure of the level of uncertainty or the level of impact at which a stakeholder may have aspecific interest. Below that risk threshold, the organization will accept the risk. Above that risk threshold, theorganization will not tolerate the risk.Risk Tolerance. The degree, amount, or volume of risk that an organization or individual will withstand.Risk Transference. A risk response strategy whereby the project team shifts the impact of a threat to a thirdparty, together with ownership of the response.Risk Urgency Assessment. Review and determination of the timing of actions that may need to occur sooner thanother risk items.Role. A defined function to be performed by a project team member, such as testing, filing, inspecting, or coding.Rolling Wave Planning. An iterative planning technique in which the work to be accomplished in the near termis planned in detail, while the work in the future is planned at a higher level.GlossaryRoot Cause Analysis. An analytical technique used to determine the basic underlying reason that causes avariance or a defect or a risk. A root cause may underlie more than one variance or defect or risk.Scatter Diagram. A correlation chart that uses a regression line to explain or to predict how the change in anindependent variable will change a dependent variable.Schedule. See project schedule and see also schedule model.Schedule Baseline. The approved version of a schedule model that can be changed only through formal changecontrol procedures and is used as a basis for comparison to actual results.Schedule Compression. Techniques used to shorten the schedule duration without reducing the project scope.Schedule Data. The collection of information for describing and controlling the schedule.Schedule Forecasts. Estimates or predictions of conditions and events in the project?s future based on informationand knowledge available at the time the schedule is calculated.Schedule Management Plan. A component of the project management plan that establishes the criteria and theactivities for developing, monitoring, and controlling the schedule.Schedule Model. A representation of the plan for executing the project?s activities including durations,dependencies, and other planning information, used to produce a project schedule along with other schedulingartifacts.Schedule Network Analysis. The technique of identifying early and late start dates, as well as early and late finishdates, for the uncompleted portions of project schedule activities. See also backward pass, critical path method,critical chain method, and resource leveling.Schedule Network Templates. A set of activities and relationships that have been established that can be usedrepeatedly for a particular application area or an aspect of the project where a prescribed sequence is desired.Schedule Performance Index (SPI). A measure of schedule efficiency expressed as the ratio of earned value toplanned value.Schedule Variance (SV). A measure of schedule performance expressed as the difference between the earnedvalue and the planned value.Scheduling Tool. A tool that provides schedule component names, definitions, structural relationships, andformats that support the application of a scheduling method.GlossaryScope. The sum of the products, services, and results to be provided as a project. See also project scope andproduct scope.Scope Baseline. The approved version of a scope statement, work breakdown structure (WBS), and its associatedWBS dictionary, that can be changed only through formal change control procedures and is used as a basis forcomparison.Scope Change. Any change to the project scope. A scope change almost always requires an adjustment to theproject cost or schedule.Scope Creep. The uncontrolled expansion to product or project scope without adjustments to time, cost, andresources.Scope Management Plan. A component of the project or program management plan that describes how thescope will be defined, developed, monitored, controlled, and verified.Secondary Risk. A risk that arises as a direct result of implementing a risk response.Selected Sellers. The sellers which have been selected to provide a contracted set of services or products.Seller. A provider or supplier of products, services, or results to an organization.Seller Proposals. Formal responses from sellers to a request for proposal or other procurement documentspecifying the price, commercial terms of sale, and technical specifications or capabilities the seller will do for therequesting organization that, if accepted, would bind the seller to perform the resulting agreement.Sensitivity Analysis. A quantitative risk analysis and modeling technique used to help determine which risks havethe most potential impact on the project. It examines the extent to which the uncertainty of each project elementaffects the objective being examined when all other uncertain elements are held at their baseline values. The typicaldisplay of results is in the form of a tornado diagram.Sequence Activities. The process of identifying and documenting relationships among the project activities.Seven Basic Quality Tools. A standard toolkit used by quality management professionals who are responsible forplanning, monitoring, and controlling the issues related to quality in an organization.Simulation. A simulation uses a project model that translates the uncertainties specified at a detailed level intotheir potential impact on objectives that are expressed at the level of the total project. Project simulations usecomputer models and estimates of risk, usually expressed as a probability distribution of possible costs or durationsat a detailed work level, and are typically performed using Monte Carlo analysis.GlossarySoft Logic. See discretionary dependency.Source Selection Criteria. A set of attributes desired by the buyer which a seller is required to meet or exceed tobe selected for a contract.Specification. A document that specifies, in a complete, precise, verifiable manner, the requirements, design,behavior, or other characteristics of a system, component, product, result, or service and the procedures fordetermining whether these provisions have been satisfied. Examples are: requirement specification, designspecification, product specification, and test specification.Specification Limits. The area, on either side of the centerline, or mean, of data plotted on a control chart thatmeets the customer?s requirements for a product or service. This area may be greater than or less than the areadefined by the control limits. See also control limits.Sponsor. A person or group who provides resources and support for the project, program, or portfolio and isaccountable for enabling success.Sponsoring Organization. The entity responsible for providing the project?s sponsor and a conduit for projectfunding or other project resources.Staffing Management Plan. A component of the human resource plan that describes when and how projectteam members will be acquired and how long they will be needed.Stakeholder. An individual, group, or organization who may affect, be affected by, or perceive itself to beaffected by a decision, activity, or outcome of a project.Stakeholder Analysis. A technique of systematically gathering and analyzing quantitative and qualitativeinformation to determine whose interests should be taken into account throughout the project.Stakeholder Management Plan. The stakeholder management plan is a subsidiary plan of the project managementplan that defines the processes, procedures, tools, and techniques to effectively engage stakeholders in projectdecisions and execution based on the analysis of their needs, interests, and potential impact.Stakeholder Register. A project document including the identification, assessment, and classification of projectstakeholders.Standard. A document that provides, for common and repeated use, rules, guidelines, or characteristics foractivities or their results, aimed at the achievement of the optimum degree of order in a given context.GlossaryStart Date. A point in time associated with a schedule activity?s start, usually qualified by one of the following:actual, planned, estimated, scheduled, early, late, target, baseline, or current.Start-to-Finish (SF). A logical relationship in which a successor activity cannot finish until a predecessor activityhas started.Start-to-Start (SS). A logical relationship in which a successor activity cannot start until a predecessor activity hasstarted.Statement of Work (SOW). A narrative description of products, services, or results to be delivered by the project.Statistical Sampling. Choosing part of a population of interest for inspection.Subnetwork. A subdivision (fragment) of a project schedule network diagram, usually representing a subprojector a work package. Often used to illustrate or study some potential or proposed schedule condition, such aschanges in preferential schedule logic or project scope.Subproject. A smaller portion of the overall project created when a project is subdivided into more manageablecomponents or pieces.Successor Activity. A dependent activity that logically comes after another activity in a schedule.Summary Activity. A group of related schedule activities aggregated and displayed as a single activity.SWOT Analysis. Analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of an organization, project,or option.Tailor. The act of carefully selecting process and related inputs and outputs contained within the PMBOK© Guideto determine a subset of specific processes that will be included within a project?s overall management approach.Team Members. See project team members.Technique. A defined systematic procedure employed by a human resource to perform an activity to produce aproduct or result or deliver a service, and that may employ one or more tools.Templates. A partially complete document in a predefined format that provides a defined structure for collecting,organizing, and presenting information and data.Threat. A risk that would have a negative effect on one or more project objectives.GlossaryThree-Point Estimate. A technique used to estimate cost or duration by applying an average of optimistic,pessimistic, and most likely estimates when there is uncertainty with the individual activity estimates.Threshold. A cost, time, quality, technical, or resource value used as a parameter, and which may be included inproduct specifications. Crossing the threshold should trigger some action, such as generating an exception report.Time and Material Contract (T&M). A type of contract that is a hybrid contractual arrangement containing aspectsof both cost-reimbursable and fixed-price contracts. Time and material contracts resemble cost-reimbursable typearrangements in that they have no definitive end, because the full value of the arrangement is not defined at thetime of the award. Thus, time and material contracts can grow in contract value as if they were cost-reimbursabletypearrangements. Conversely, time and material arrangements can also resemble fixed-price arrangements. Forexample, the unit rates are preset by the buyer and seller, when both parties agree on the rates for the category ofsenior engineers.Time-Scaled Schedule Network Diagram. Any project schedule network diagram drawn in such a way that thepositioning and length of the schedule activity represents its duration. Essentially, it is a bar chart that includesschedule network logic.To-Complete Performance Index (TCPI). A measure of the cost performance that is required to be achieved withthe remaining resources in order to meet a specified management goal, expressed as the ratio of the cost to finishthe outstanding work to the remaining budget.Tolerance. The quantified description of acceptable variation for a quality requirement.Tornado Diagram. A special type of bar chart used in sensitivity analysis for comparing the relative importance ofthe variables.Tool. Something tangible, such as a template or software program, used in performing an activity to produce aproduct or result.Total Float. The amount of time that a schedule activity can be delayed or extended from its early start date withoutdelaying the project finish date or violating a schedule constraint.Tree Diagram. A systematic diagram of a decomposition hierarchy used to visualize as parent-to-childrelationships a systematic set of rules.GlossaryTrend Analysis. An analytical technique that uses mathematical models to forecast future outcomes based onhistorical results. It is a method of determining the variance from a baseline of a budget, cost, schedule, or scopeparameter by using prior progress reporting periods? data and projecting how much that parameter?s variance frombaseline might be at some future point in the project if no changes are made in executing the project.Trigger Condition. An event or situation that indicates that a risk is about to occur.Unanimity. Agreement by everyone in the group on a single course of action.Validate Scope. The process of formalizing acceptance of the completed project deliverables.Validated Deliverables. Deliverables that are result of executing quality control process to determine correctness.Validation. The assurance that a product, service, or system meets the needs of the customer and other identifiedstakeholders. It often involves acceptance and suitability with external customers. Contrast with verification.Value Engineering. An approach used to optimize project life cycle costs, save time, increase profits, improvequality, expand market share, solve problems, and/or use resources more effectively.Variance. A quantifiable deviation, departure, or divergence away from a known baseline or expected value.Variance Analysis. A technique for determining the cause and degree of difference between the baseline andactual performance.Variance at Completion (VAC). A projection of the amount of budget deficit or surplus, expressed as thedifference between the budget at completion and the estimate at completion.Variation. An actual condition that is different from the expected condition that is contained in the baseline plan.Velocity. A measure of a team?s productivity rate at which the deliverables are produced, validated, andaccepted within a predefined interval. Velocity is a capacity planning approach frequently used to forecastfuture project work.Verification. The evaluation of whether or not a product, service, or system complies with a regulation, requirement,specification, or imposed condition. It is often an internal process. Contrast with validation.Voice of the Customer. A planning technique used to provide products, services, and results that truly reflectcustomer requirements by translating those customer requirements into the appropriate technical requirements foreach phase of project product development.GlossaryWBS Dictionary. A document that provides detailed deliverable, activity, and scheduling information about eachcomponent in the work breakdown structure.Weighted Milestone Method. An earned value method that divides a work package into measurable segments,each ending with an observable milestone, and then assigns a weighted value to the achievement of each milestone.What-If Scenario Analysis. The process of evaluating scenarios in order to predict their effect on project objectives.Work Authorization. A permission and direction, typically written, to begin work on a specific schedule activity orwork package or control account. It is a method for sanctioning project work to ensure that the work is done by theidentified organization, at the right time, and in the proper sequence.Work Authorization System. A subsystem of the overall project management system. It is a collection of formaldocumented procedures that defines how project work will be authorized (committed) to ensure that the work isdone by the identified organization, at the right time, and in the proper sequence. It includes the steps, documents,tracking system, and defined approval levels needed to issue work authorizations.Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). A hierarchical decomposition of the total scope of work to be carried out bythe project team to accomplish the project objectives and create the required deliverables.Work Breakdown Structure Component. An entry in the work breakdown structure that can be at any level.Work Package. The work defined at the lowest level of the work breakdown structure for which cost and durationcan be estimated and managed.Work Performance Data. The raw observations and measurements identified during activities being performed tocarry out the project work.Work Performance Information. The performance data collected from various controlling processes, analyzed incontext and integrated based on relationships across areas.Work Performance Reports. The physical or electronic representation of work performance information compiledin project documents, intended to generate decisions, actions, or awarenessWorkaround. A response to a threat that has occurred, for which a prior response had not been planned or wasnot effective.INDEXINDEXAAC. See Actual costAcceptance criteria, 123, 526

This definition was found in the PMBOK V5

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