PM Glossary
Terms that are in use on this site.
There are 32 entries in this glossary.All
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Assumption |
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 - Certification from PMI |
| 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 path(s) in a project network that has the longest duration. This represents the series of activities that determines the earliest completion of the project. There may be more than one critical path and the critical path(s) may change during the project. |
| Critical Success Factor |
A factor identified as essential to the achievement of a successful project. |
| Deliverable |
Any item produced as the outcome of a project or any part of a project. The project deliverable is differentiated from interim deliverables that result from activities within the project. A deliverable must be tangible and verifiable. Every element of the WBS (activity or task) must have one or more 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. |
| 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. |
| Milestone |
A milestone is a scheduling event that signifies the completion of a major deliverable or a set of related deliverables. |
| Pareto Principle |
Named after Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, the Pareto Principle 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 |
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. |