0.14 A glossary of project management terms  (Page 8/8)

Resources

Resources are the people, equipment, and materials needed to complete the wrok of the project.

Risk

There may be potential external events that will have a negative impact on your project if they occur. Risk refers to the combination of the probability the event will occur and the impact on the project if the event occurs. If the combination of the probability of the occurrence and the impact to the project is too high, you should identify the potential event as a risk and put a proactive plan in place to manage the risk.

Risk management planning

The process that determines how risks will be managed for a project. It describes how risks are defined, monitored, and controlled throughout the project.

Schedule development

This process calculates and prepares the schedule of project activities, which becomes the schedule baseline. It determines activity start and finish dates, finalizes activity sequences and durations, and assigns resources to activities.

Scope

Scope is the way you describe the boundaries of the project. It defines what the project will deliver and what it will not deliver. High-level scope is set in your project definition (charter) and includes all of your deliverables and the boundaries of your project. The detailed scope is identified through your business requirements. Any changes to your project deliverables, boundaries, or requirements would require approval through scope change management.

Scope creep

Refers to uncontrolled changes in a project's scope. This phenomenon can occur when the scope of a project is not properly defined, documented, or controlled. It is generally considered a negative occurrence that is to be avoided.

Six sigma

A business management strategy, originally developed by Motorola, that today enjoys widespread application in many sectors of industry.

Sponsor (executive sponsor and project sponsor)

The sponsor is the person who has ultimate authority over the project. The executive sponsor provides project funding, resolves issues and scope changes, approves major deliverables, and provides high-level direction. He or she also champions the project within the organization. Depending on the project and the organizational level of the executive sponsor, he or she may delegate day-to-day tactical management to a project sponsor. If assigned, the project sponsor represents the executive sponsor on a day-to-day basis and makes most of the decisions requiring sponsor approval. If the decision is large enough, the project sponsor will take it to the executive sponsor.

Stakeholder

Specific people or groups who have a stake in the outcome of the project are stakeholders. Normally stakeholders are from within the company and may include internal clients, management, employees, administrators, etc. A project can also have external stakeholders, including suppliers, investors, community groups, and government organizations.

Steering committee

A steering committee is usually a group of high-level stakeholders who are responsible for providing guidance on overall strategic direction. They don't take the place of a sponsor but help spread the strategic input and buy-in to a larger portion of the organization. The steering committee is especially valuable if your project has an impact in multiple organizations because it allows input from those organizations into decisions that affect them.

Systems development lifecycle (sdlc)

Is any logical process used by a systems analyst to develop an information system, including requirements, validation, training, and user ownership. An SDLC should result in a high quality system that meets or exceeds customer expectations, within time and cost estimates, works effectively and efficiently in the current and planned information technology (IT) infrastructure, and is cheap to maintain and cost-effective to enhance.

Tasks

In project management a task is an activity that needs to be accomplished within a defined period of time.

Task analysis

The analysis or a breakdown of exactly how a task is accomplished, such as what sub-tasks are required.

Timeline

A graphical representation of a chronological sequence of events also referred to as a chronology. It can also mean a schedule of activities, such as a timetable.

Triple constraint

Triple constraint is called the scope triangle or the quality triangle. The triangle illustrates the relationship between three primary forces in a project. Project scope, time and cost--Project quality is affected by balancing these three factors.

Work

In project management is the amount of effort applied to produce a deliverable or to accomplish a task (a terminal element).

Work breakdown structure (wbs)

A task oriented family tree of activities which organizes, defines and graphically dispays the total work to be accomplished in order to achieve the final objectives of a project. It is a system for sub-dividing a project into manageable work packages.

Work package

A deliverable at the lowest level of a work breakdown structure (WBS). They are a group of related tasks that are defined at the same level within the WBS.

Work plan (schedule)

The project work plan tells you how you will complete the project. It describes the activities required, the sequence of the work, who is assigned to the work, an estimate of how much effort is required, when the work is due, and other information of interest to the project manager. The work plan allows the project manager to identify the work required to complete the project and also allows the project manager to monitor the work to determine whether the project is on schedule.