PM Terms Midterm

Change Control Plan

A component of the project management plan that establishes the change control board, documents the extent of its authority, and describes how the change control system will be implemented.

Change Control System

A set of procedures that describes how modifications to the project deliverables and documentation are managed and controlled.

Change Log

A comprehensive list of changes submitted during the project and their current status.

Change Management

A comprehensive, cyclic, and structured approach for transitioning individuals, groups, and organizations from a current state to a future state with intended business benefits.

Change Request

A formal proposal to modify a document, deliverable, or baseline.

Check Sheet

A tally sheet that can be used as a checklist when gathering data.

Closing Process Group

The process(es) performed to formally complete or close a project, phase, or contract.

Communications Management Plan

A component of the project, program, or portfolio management plan that describes how, when, and by whom information about the project will be administered and disseminated.

Complexity

A characteristic of a program or project or its environment that is difficult to manage due to human behavior, system behavior, and ambiguity.

Confirmation Bias

A type of cognitive bias that confirms preexisting beliefs or hypotheses.

Conformance

The degree to which the results meet the set quality requirements.

Constraint

A limiting factor that affects the execution of a project, program, portfolio, or process.

Contingency

An event or occurrence that could affect the execution of the project, which may be accounted for with a reserve.

Contingency Reserve

Time or money allocated in the schedule or cost baseline for known risks with active response strategies.

Continuous Delivery

The practice of delivering feature increments immediately to customers, often through the use of small batches of work and automation technology.

Contract

A mutually binding agreement that obligates the seller to provide the specified product, service, or result and obligates the buyer to pay for it.

Control

The process of comparing actual performance with planned performance, analyzing variances, assessing trends to effect process improvements, evaluating possible alternatives, and recommending appropriate corrective action as needed.

Control Chart

A graphic display of process data over time and against established control limits.

Cost Baseline

The approved version of the time-phased project budget, excluding any management reserves.

Cost-Benefit Analysis

A financial analysis method used to determine the benefits provided by a project against its costs.

Cost Management Plan

A component of a project or program management plan that describes how costs will be planned, structured, and controlled.

Cost of Quality (COQ)

All costs incurred over the life of the product by investment in preventing nonconformance to requirements, appraisal of the product or service for conformance to requirements, and failure to meet requirements.

Cost Performance Index (CPI)

A measure of the cost efficiency of budgeted resources expressed as the ratio of earned value to actual cost.

Cost Plus Award Fee Contract (CPAF)

A category of contract that involves payments to the seller for all legitimate actual costs incurred for completed work, plus an award fee representing seller profit.

Critical Path

The sequence of activities that represents the longest path through a project, which determines the shortest possible duration.

Daily Standup

A brief, daily collaboration meeting in which the team reviews progress from the previous day, declares intentions for the current day, and highlights any obstacles encountered.

Deliverable

Any unique and verifiable product, result, or capability to perform a service that is required to be produced to complete a process, phase, or project.

Development Approach

A method used to create and evolve the product, service, or result during the project life cycle, such as a predictive, iterative, incremental, agile, or hybrid method.

Epic

A large, related body of work intended to hierarchically organize a set of requirements and deliver specific business outcomes.

Estimate

A quantitative assessment of the likely amount or outcome of a variable, such as project costs, resources, effort, or durations.

Expected Monetary Value (EMV)

The estimated value of an outcome expressed in monetary terms.

Fast Tracking

A schedule compression method in which activities or phases normally done in sequence are performed in parallel.

Firm Fixed Price Contract (FFP)

A type of fixed-price contract where the buyer pays the seller a set amount, regardless of the seller's costs.

Fixed Price with Economic Price Adjustment Contract (FPEPA)

A fixed-price contract with a special provision allowing for predefined final adjustments to the contract price due to changed conditions.

Gantt Chart

A bar chart of schedule information where activities are listed on the vertical axis, dates on the horizontal axis, and activity durations as horizontal bars.

Governance

The framework for directing and enabling an organization through its established policies, practices, and other relevant documentation.

Histogram

A bar chart that shows the graphical representation of numerical data.

Kickoff Meeting

A gathering of team members and other key stakeholders at the outset of a project to formally set expectations.

Lag

The amount of time whereby a successor activity will be delayed with respect to a predecessor activity.

Lead Time

The time between a customer request and the actual delivery.

Milestone

A significant point or event in a project, program, or portfolio.

Monitoring and Controlling Process Group

Those processes required to track, review, and regulate the progress and performance of the project.

Net Promoter Score®

An index that measures the willingness of customers to recommend an organization's products or services.

Opportunity

A risk that would have a positive effect on one or more project objectives.

Project Charter

A document issued by the project initiator or sponsor that formally authorizes the existence of a project.

Project Management Plan

The document that describes how the project will be executed, monitored and controlled, and closed.

Quality Management Plan

A component of the project or program management plan that describes how applicable policies, procedures, and guidelines will be implemented to achieve quality objectives.

Risk Management Plan

A component of the project, program, or portfolio management plan that describes how risk management activities will be structured and performed.

Stakeholder

An individual, group, or organization that may affect, be affected by, or perceive itself to be affected by a decision, activity, or outcome of a project.

Task Board

A visual representation of the progress of the planned work that allows everyone to see the status of tasks.

Value Proposition

The value of a product or service that an organization communicates to its customers.

Variance Analysis

A method for determining the cause and degree of difference between the baseline and actual performance.

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

A hierarchical decomposition of the total scope of work to be carried out by the project team.