[11 Aug 2020]Project Management Terms

Accept - A decision to take no action against a threat. Project teams typically accept risks when they fall below risk thresholds or when the team thinks it best to act only if and when a threat occurs. (See also risk acceptance) Acceptance criteria - The specific requirements expected of project deliverables. To be formally accepted, deliverables must meet all acceptance criteria. Acceptance test - A test in which a team of end users runs a product through its full range of use to identify potential problems. Acquisition process - This process obtains the personnel and resources necessary for project work. Acquisitions are closely coordinated with project budgets and schedules. Action item - An activity or task that must be completed. Action item status - This tracks an action item’s progress from creation to closure. Since work packages comprise multiple action items, keeping action item statuses updated is important for project progress. Activity - The smallest unit of work necessary to complete a project work package (which includes multiple activities). Time, resources, and finances are required to complete each activity. Activity code - An alphanumeric value by which activities can be grouped and filtered. A code is assigned to each activity. Activity identifier - A unique alphanumeric value by which an individual activity can be distinguished. An activity identifier is assigned to each activity. Activity label - A short descriptor for an activity. Activity labels may be placed below arrows representing activities in activity-on-arrow (AOA) diagrams. Activity list - This documents all the activities necessary to complete a project. Each activity is accompanied by its activity identifier and a description of the work it entails. Activity-On-Arrow (AOA) - In this network diagram, arrows represent activities and nodes represent events or milestones. AOA diagrams can only indicate finish-to-start relationships. Activity-On-Node (AON) - In a network diagram of this nature, nodes represent activities and arrows illustrate logical relationships between activities. AON diagrams can illustrate four relationship types: start-to-start, start-to-finish, finish-to-start, and finish-to-finish. Actual cost of work performed (ACWP) - This represents the total cost incurred for work done in a given period of time. Actual duration - The length of time taken to complete an activity. Actual effort - The amount of labor performed to complete an activity. It is expressed in person-hours or similar units of work. Actual expenditure - The sum of costs paid from a budget. Actual progress - This measures the amount of work completed on a project. It is used to assess the comparison between project progress and project baselines and is usually stated as a percentage. Adaptive project framework (APF) - An approach to project management that rejects traditional, linear project management and instead accepts changing requirements and allows projects to be affected by external business environments. The ADF stresses flexibility in many aspects of project management and focuses on performing and evaluating project work in stages to allow room for replanning due to changing business goals, objectives, and requirements. Administrative closure - This refers to the set of formal requirements fulfilled to end a project. Among other things, it involves documenting the formal acceptance of deliverables and ensuring that all relevant information is sent to a project’s sponsor and stakeholders. Aggregate planning - This strategy uses demand forecasts to manage scheduling and planning for project activities between three and 18 months in advance, so that the necessary resources and personnel can be efficiently acquired or assigned. Agile - The Agile family of methodologies is a superset of iterative development approaches aimed at meeting ever-changing customer requirements. Agile development proceeds as a series of iterations, or sprints, with incremental improvements made in each sprint. Since agile projects do not have fixed scopes, agile methodologies are adaptive, and the iterative work is guided by user stories and customer involvement. Agile project management - Agile project management draws from concepts of agile software development. Agile approaches focus on teamwork, collaboration, and stakeholder involvement, as well as the use of iterative development methods. Agile software development - Agile software development originates from the Agile Manifesto, a set of principles that emphasizes meeting changing requirements through collaborative development and making ongoing improvements through iteration. It stresses the importance of being reactive to rapid changes in external environments. Allocation - The assigning of resources for scheduled activities in the most efficient way possible. (See also resource allocation) Alternative analysis - The evaluation of possible courses of action for project work in order to find the most suitable course of action. Analogous estimating - This technique uses historical project data to prepare time and cost estimates. It is considered the most inaccurate estimation technique. (See also top-down estimating) Analytical estimating - This technique computes total project time and cost estimates by preparing estimates for each project activity and adding them together. Analytical estimating is considered the most accurate estimation technique. (See also bottom-up estimating) Application area - The specific project category of which the project is a part. Application areas can be defined on the basis of project products’ characteristics or applications or by the projects’ customers or stakeholders. Apportioned effort - Project work associated with components of a work breakdown structure and performed in proportion, with discrete effort. Since the amount of apportioned effort (which includes activities such as quality assurance) depends directly on the amount of discrete effort, it cannot be considered separately from discrete effort. It is one of three types of activities used to measure work performance as part of earned value management. Approach analysis - During the project planning phase, this type of analysis is used to examine the various methods by which a project’s goals may be achieved. Arrow diagramming method (ADM) - A method of constructing a network diagram that uses arrows to represent activities and nodes to represent events or milestones. The ADM is used to construct activity-on-arrow (AOA) diagrams. Artifact - Items that support software development. Artifacts include both items associated with the process of development, such as project plans, and items used to support actual aspects of development, such as use cases and requirements. Assignment contouring - The process of assigning people to project work for changing numbers of hours per day as the project moves through different stages. Assignment contouring is typically done using project management software. Assumption - Factors deemed to be true during the project planning process, though proof of their validity is not available. A project’s assumptions can affect its risks and outcomes, so you must consider them carefully. Authorization - In general, authorization is the power to make decisions that the management grants. The specific remit for authorization varies on a case-by-case basis. Authorized work - Work that management or others in authority approve. Avoid - A response to a negative risk that seeks to ensure the risk does not occur or (if the risk cannot be eliminated) seeks to protect the project objectives from the negative risk’s impact. (See also risk avoidance)