Project Planning and Acquisition

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering project management fundamentals, proposal acquisition, work breakdown structures, network scheduling (CPM and PERT), crashing, and earned value analysis from Chapter 14.

Project

A collection of tasks aimed toward a single set of objectives, culminating in a definable end point and having a finite life span and budget; a one-of-a-kind activity producing an outcome that has never existed before.

Program

A comprehensive undertaking that consists of a series of related projects that collectively make up the endeavor to achieve strategic organizational objectives.

"Three-Legged Stool" of Successful Project Management

The balance maintained by a project manager among the three essential project considerations: time (project schedule), cost (dollars and other resources), and performance or quality (extent to which objectives are achieved).

Preliminary Bid Decision

A management decision determining whether to invest the necessary resources to prepare a major project proposal, based on assessing customer needs, firm capabilities, and competition.

Phases in Winning New Contracts

The sequential capture process in project-oriented business spanning: Identify new business opportunity, Assess and plan acquisition, Develop new opportunity, RFP release, Develop proposal and pricing, Negotiate contract, and Win.

Boilerplate

A stack of standard legal clauses covering regulations and requirements for doing business with the federal government, typically included in a U.S. government RFP.

Kickoff Meeting

A structured session launching the proposal effort where senior management and the proposal manager introduce the project, discuss customer intelligence, establish schedules, and allocate labor hours.

Management Proposal

A proposal volume describing the company, its organization structure, relevant experience, management and control systems, and the key personnel designated to lead the project.

Technical Proposal

A proposal document outlining the design concept proposed to fulfill client requirements, detailing the planned engineering approach to resolve critical technical challenges.

Cost Proposal

A proposal package containing a detailed price breakdown alongside considerations for inflation, contingencies, and contract change procedures.

Five Phases in Project Management

The standard process stages identified by the Project Management Institute (PMI): Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring and Controlling, and Closing.

Scope

A document defining the exact boundaries of a project—specifying what will and will not be accomplished—traditionally known in engineering as the statement of work.

Problem or Opportunity Statement

A factual statement within the project scope defining what the project addresses and setting management's priority.

Project Goal

A concise, single statement defining what the organization intends to do to address the problem or opportunity, establishing clear direction for all participants.

Project Objectives

Statements clarifying the project goal by setting explicit boundaries; each must contain an outcome, a time frame, a measure (metric), and an action.

Success Criteria

Quantifiable, measurable standards accepted by the customer that specify when the project is officially finished and indicate its contribution to company performance.

Scope Creep

The incremental addition of unapproved requirements and features beyond original project plans without corresponding adjustments to budget or schedule.

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

A product-oriented "family tree" providing a level-by-level subdivision of all work effort required to complete a project or contract.

Cost Account

The intersection point where a specific WBS deliverable element meets a functional organizational code (e.g., XYZ-1.1.1-2210), comprising one or more manageable work packages.

Work Package

The ultimate unit by which project work is monitored and controlled, incorporating a discrete set of tasks, a schedule, and a budget assigned to a single work package manager.

Milestone

A key scheduled calendar date representing the completion of a major phase or activity in a project, requiring coordinated prior deliverables and information handoffs.

Topping Off

A traditional milestone in construction marking the placement of the final structural beam atop a building, celebrated by mounting an American flag or a tree on the structure.

Gantt Chart (Bar Chart)

A scheduling chart initiated by Henry L. Gantt in $1915$ that plots activities or resources along the vertical axis against time on the horizontal axis.

Program Evaluation Review Technique (PERT)

A probabilistic network scheduling technique developed around $1958$ by Booz, Allen, and Hamilton and Lockheed Aircraft Corporation for the Polaris ballistic missile program.

Critical Path Method (CPM)

A deterministic network scheduling system developed around $1958$ by DuPont Company for chemical plant construction, commonly utilized in modern construction and software packages.

Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM)

A graphical network modeling technique wherein activities are depicted within nodes or circles and arrows represent precedence dependencies between them.

Dummy Activity

A dashed-line connector utilized in activity-on-arrow diagrams that indicates logical precedence without consuming time, dollars, or physical resources.

Critical Path

The longest continuous sequence of activities through a network schedule that determines the minimum completion time for the entire project.

Slack (Float)

The amount of scheduling flexibility available for non-critical activities, representing the time an activity can be delayed without altering project finish date.

Optimistic Time ($a$)

The shortest duration estimate in PERT that would be improved upon only once in $100$ attempts under ideal conditions.

Most Likely Time ($m$)

The duration estimate occurring most often if an activity were repeatedly executed under normal circumstances (the statistical mode).

Pessimistic Time ($b$)

The longest duration estimate in PERT that would be exceeded only once in $100$ attempts due to adverse conditions.

PERT Expected Activity Time ($t_e$)

The statistical mean duration derived from a beta distribution: $t_e = \frac{a + 4m + b}{6}$.

Activity Standard Deviation ($\sigma$)

The measure of dispersion for an individual activity duration in PERT, calculated as $\sigma = \frac{b - a}{6}$.

Total Project Critical Path Standard Deviation ($\sigma_T$)

The root mean square of standard deviations of activities situated along the critical path: $\sigma_T = \sqrt{\sum (\sigma^2)}$.

Normal Probability Distribution of Project Critical Path

The symmetrical bell curve resulting from the central limit theorem that models project completion probability, exhibiting $68\%$ within $\pm 1\sigma$, $95\%$ within $\pm 2\sigma$, and $99\%$ within $\pm 3\sigma$.

Monte Carlo Simulation

A computerized sampling technique that runs repeated trials of a project network to overcome optimistic bias caused by near-critical paths.

Resource Allocation

The scheduling process of smoothing worker levels and equipment demands over time to stay within available limits using heuristic rules.

Fast Tracking

A schedule compression technique where construction or manufacturing phases begin prior to the complete finalization of preceding design phases.

Crashing

Shortening an activity's duration along the critical path by applying additional resources, overtime, larger crews, or subcontractors at increased expense.

Crash Slope

The cost incurred per unit of time saved when compressing an activity: $\text{Slope} = \frac{C_c - C_n}{T_n - T_c}$.

Control (Management Function)

The management function defined simply as "compelling events to conform to plans."

Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled (BCWS)

The planned baseline value representing cumulative budgeted costs planned for execution against time.

Actual Cost of Work Performed (ACWP)

The recorded direct and indirect expenditures incurred in carrying out work completed up to a specific date.

Budgeted Cost of Work Performed (BCWP)

The earned value measure quantifying the baseline budgeted worth of tasks and task segments actually finished to date.

Cost Variance (CV)

The earned value metric comparing budgeted expenditures against actual costs: $CV = BCWP - ACWP$.

Schedule Variance (SV)

The earned value metric comparing completed work against scheduled work: $SV = BCWP - BCWS$.

Cost at Completion (CAC)

The projected final total expenditure of a project, calculated by extending the ACWP trend line to the revised project completion date.