Project Management Exam #2

scope

all the work involved in creating the products of the project and the processes used to create them

deliverable

a product produced as part of a project

project scope management

the process involved in defining and controlling what work is or is not included in a project; Collecting requirements, defining scope, creating the WBS, verifying scope, controlling scope

Requirement

A condition or capability that must be met or prossessed by a system, product, service,result, or component to satisfy a contract, standard, specification, or other formal document

Requirements management plan

Describes how project requirements will be analyzed, documented, and managed

Requirements traceability matrix

The table that lists requirements, various attributes of each requirement, in the status of the requirements to ensure that all requirements are addressed

Work breakdown structure

A deliverable-oriented grouping of the work involved in the project that defines the total scope of the project

Decomposition

Subdividing project deliverables into smaller pieces

Work package

A task and have the lowest level of the WBS

Analogy approach

Using a similar project's WBS as a starting point

Top-down approach

Start with the largest items of the project and break them down into their subordinate items

Bottom-up approach

The aggregation and organization of specific tasks into summary tasks, creating higher levels of a WBS

Approaches to developing workbreakdown structures

Using guidelines, analogy approach, the top-down and bottom-up approaches, and mind mapping

WBS dictionary

The document that describes detailed information about each WBS item

Scope baseline

the approved project scope statement and its associated WBS and WBS dictionary.

Scope creep

The tendency for project scope to keep getting bigger and bigger

Scope verification

Formal acceptance of the completed project scope by the stakeholders

Variance

The difference between planned and actual performance

Prototyping

Developing a working replica of the system or some aspect of the system

Use case modeling

The process for identifying and modeling business events, who initiated them, and how the system should respond to them

Joint application design

Use is highly organized an intensive workshops to bring together project stakeholders to jointly define and design information systems

activity

an element of work, normally found on the WBS, that has an expected duration and cost, and expected resource requirements: also called a task

activity attributes

information about each activity, such as predecessors, successors, logical relationships, leads and lags, resource requirements, constraints, imposed dates, and assumptions related to the activity

activity list

a tabulation of activities to be included on a project schedule

activity-on-arrow

a network diagramming technique in which activities are represented by arrows and connected at points called nodes to illustrate the sequence of activities; also called arrow diagramming method

arrow diagramming method

a network diagramming technique in which activities are represented by arrows and connected at points called nodes to illustrate the sequence of activities; also called activity-on-arrow

backward pass

a project network diagramming technique that determines the late start and late finish dates for each activity in a similar fashion

baseline dates

the planned schedule dates for activities in a Tracking Gantt chart

buffer

additional time to complete a task, added to an estimate to account for various factors

burst

when a single node is followed by two or more activities on a network diagram

crashing

a technique for making cost and schedule trade-offs to obtain the greatest amount of schedule compression for the least incremental cost

critical chain scheduling

a method of scheduling that takes limited resources into account when creating a project schedule and includes buffers to protect the project completion date

critical path

the series of activities in a network diagram that determines the earliest completion of the project; it is the longest path through the network diagram and has the least amount of slack or float

critical path method

a project network analysis technique used to predict total project duration

dependency

the sequencing of project activities to tasks

discretionary dependencies

sequencing of project activities or tasks defined by the project team and used with care since they may limit later scheduling options

dummy activities

activities with no duration and no resources used to show a logical relationship between two activities in the arrow diagramming method of project network diagrams

duration

the actual amount of time worked on an activity plus elapsed time

early finish date

the earliest possible time an activity can finish based on project network logic

early start date

the earliest possible time an activity can start based on project network logic

effort

the number of workdays or work hours required to complete a task

external dependencies

sequencing of project activities or tasks that involve relationships between project and non-project activities

fast tracking

a schedule compression technique in which you do activities in parallel that you would normally do in sequence

feeding buffers

additional time added before tasks on the critical path that are preceded by non-critical-path tasks

finish-to-finish dependency

a relationship on a project network diagram where the "from" activity must be finished before the "to" activity can be finished

finish-to-start dependency

the relationship on a project network diagram where the "from" activity must be finished before the "to" activity can be started

float

the amount of time a project activity may be delayed without delaying a succeeding activity or the project finish date; also called slack

forward pass

a network diagramming technique that determines the early start and early finish dates for each activity

free float (free slack)

the amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying the early start of any immediately following activities

Gantt chart

a standard format of displaying project schedule information by listing project activities and their corresponding start and finish dates in a calendar format

late finish date

the latest possible time an activity can be completed without delaying the project finish date

late start date

the latest possible time an activity may begin without delaying the project finish date

mandatory dependencies

sequencing of project activities or tasks that are inherent in the nature of the work begin done on the project

merge

when two or more nodes precede a single node on a network diagram

milestone

a significant event that normally has no duration on a project: serves as a marker to help in identifying necessary activities, setting schedule goals, and monitoring progress

multitasking

when a resource works on more than one task as a time

Murphy's Law

principle that if something can go wrong, it will

network diagram

a schematic display of the logical relationships or sequencing of project activities

node

the starting and ending point of an activity on a activity-on- arrows diagram

Parkinson's Law

principle that work expands to fill the time allotted

PERT weighted average

(optimistic time + 4*most likely time + pessimistic time)/ 6

Precedence Diagramming Method

a network diagramming technique in which boxes represent activities

probabilistic time estimates

duration estimates based on using optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic estimates of activity duration instead of using one specific or discrete estimate

Program Evaluation and Review Technique

a project network analysis technique used to estimate project duration when there is a high degree of uncertainty with the individual activity duration estimates

project buffer

additional time added before the project's due date

project time management

the process required to ensure timely completion of a project

relationship

the sequencing of project activities or tasks; also called dependency

resource breakdown structure

a hierarchical structure that identifies the project's resources by category and type

resources

people, equipment, and materials

schedule baseline

the approved planned schedule for the project

slack

the amount of time a project activity may be delayed without delaying a succeeding activity or the project finish date: also called float

slipped milestones

a milestone activity that is completed later than planned

SMART criteria

guidelines to help define milestones that are specific, measurable, assignable, realistic, and time-framed

start-to-finish dependency

a relationship on a project network diagram where the "from" activity cannot start before the "to" activity is finished

start-to-start dependency

a relationship on a project network diagram where the "from" activity cannot start before the "to" activity starts

task

an element of work, normally found on the WBS, that has an expected duration and cost, and expected resource requirements: also called an activity

Theory of Constraints

a management philosophy that states that any complex system at any point in time often has only one aspect or constraint that is limiting its ability to achieve more of its goal

three-point estimate

an estimate that includes an optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic estimate

total slack (total float)

the amount of time an activity may be delayed from its early start without delaying the planned project finish date

Tracking Gantt chart

a Gantt chart that compares planned and actual project schedule information

actual cost

the total of direct and indirect costs incurred in accomplishing work on a activity during a given period

analogous estimates

a cost estimate technique that uses the actual cost of a previous, similar project as the basis for estimating the cost of the current project, also called top-down estimates

baseline

the original project plan plus approved changes

bottom-up estimates

a cost estimating technique based on estimating individual work items and summing them to get a project total

budget at completion

the original total budget for a project

budgetary estimate

a cost estimate used to allocate money into an organization's budget

cash flow analysis

a method for determining the estimated annual costs and benefits for a project

contingency reserves

dollars included in a cost estimate to allow for future situations that may be partially planned for and are included in the project cost baseline

controlling costs

controlling changes to the project budget

cost baseline

a time-phased budget that project managers use to measure and monitor cost performance

cost management plan

a document that describes how cost variances will be managed on the project

cost performance index

the ratio of earned value to actual cost; can be used to estimate the projected cost to complete the project

cost variance

the earned value minus the actual cost

definitive estimate

a cost estimate that provides an accurate estimate of project costs

determining the budget

allocating the overall cost estimate to individual work items to establish a baseline for measuring performance

direct costs

costs that can be easily related to producing the products and services of the project

earned value

an estimate of the value of the physical work actually completed

earned value management

a project performance measurement technique that integrates scope, time, and cost data

estimate at completion

an estimate of what it will cost to complete the project based on performance to date

estimating costs

developing an approximation or estimate of the costs tof the resources needed to compete the project