A best practice that suggests breaking down the work until it will take no more than 80 hours of work effort and no less than eight hours of work effort to accomplish the activity.

The changes in process performance that cannot be accounted for by typical day-to-day variation. Also referred to as nonrandom variation.

• A tool used to plan the most appropriate schedule for any complex task and all of its related subtasks.
• The diagram shows likely completion time and monitors all subtasks for adherence to the necessary schedule.
• This diagram is useful for familiar tasks with subtasks that are of a known duration.

• Data that count, not measure, the presence or absence of an attribute or characteristic for a response variable, sometimes expressed as the fraction of the sample having each attribute.
• Number of defects and defects per unit are attributes data.
• Used in contrast to variables data.

Distributes more funding at the end of an activity or project than toward the start.

Allocates more resources at the end of an activity or project than toward the start.

• A sampling based on distinct groups of data.
• Batch data may be separated by a common time of arrival or by some other characteristic.
• Also called lot sampling.

• A characteristic of a distribution having two modes or “humps.”
• Suggests that the distribution represents two distinct populations or processes.

Uses detailed tasks in the WBS and rolling up estimates to the top level to arrive at a project total.

Budget

Planned expenses and revenues

Budget Cost of Work Performed

(BCWP)

Measures the budgeted cost of work that has actually been performed, rather than the cost of work scheduled

Budget Cost of Work Scheduled

(BCWS)

The approved budget that has been allocated to complete a scheduled task (or Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) component) during a specific time period.

• The rule stating that regardless of the distribution of the population of individual measurements, the distribution of the averages of samples taken from that population will approach the normal distribution.
• The larger the samples, the more normal the distribution.

The characteristic of a pattern of data that shows a “hump” or grouping of data around a certain value.

The amount of funds, budget, or time needed above the estimate to reduce the risk of overruns of project objectives to a level acceptable to the organization.

Lines on a control chart used to judge whether the process is statistically out-of-control.

Cost performance index

(CPI)

A measure of cost efficiency on a project. It is the ratio of earned value (EV) to actual costs (AC).

CPI = EV / AC

Cost variance

(CV)

A measure of cost performance on a project. It is the difference between earned value (EV) and actual cost (AC).

CV = EV - AC

• A specific type of project schedule compression technique
• Performed by taking action to decrease the total project schedule duration after analyzing a number of alternatives to determine how to get the maximum schedule duration compression for the least additional cost.

• A discretionary cause of a dependency as defined by the project team; reflects a desired sequence of activities, not a mandatory sequence.
• Also referred to as preferred logic, preferential logic, or soft logic.

Early finish date

(EF)

The earliest possible point in time on which the uncompleted portions of a schedule activity can finish, based on the schedule network logic.

EF = ES + duration

Early start date

(ES)

The earliest possible point in time on which the uncompleted portions of a schedule activity can start, based on the schedule network logic.

Earned Schedule

(ES)

• Is an extension to Earned Value Management (EVM),
• Renames two traditional measures, to indicate clearly they are in units of currency or quantity, NOT time.

Earned Value Management

(EVM)

Measuring scope, schedule, and cost in a single integrated system.

Earned value

(EV)

• The value of work performed expressed terms of the approved budget assigned to that work for a schedule activity or work breakdown structure component.
• Also referred to as the budgeted cost of work performed (BCWP)

Estimate at completion

(EAC)

The expected total cost of a schedule, activity, a work breakdown structure component, or the project when the defined scope of work will be completed.

EAC = AC + ETC.

Estimate to complete

(ETC)

The expected cost needed to complete all the remaining work for a schedule activity, a group of activities, or the project.

(BAC - EV) / CPI.

Executing processes

The third of the five processes of project management.

During this process, the project manager directs the resources to carry out the plan and the schedule, ensuring all activities are effectively resourced.

Directing, managing, performing, and accomplishing the project work, providing the deliverables, and providing work performance information.”

A statistical technique that calculates the average outcome when the future includes scenarios that may or may not happen.” A common use for this technique is with decision tree analysis.

An analytical procedure in which each potential failure mode in every component of a product is analyzed to determine its effect on the reliability of that component and, by itself or in combination with other possible failure modes, on the reliability of the product or system and on the required function of the component; or the examination of a product (at the system and/or lower levels) for all ways that a failure may occur

A specific project schedule compression technique

Changes network logic to overlap phases that would normally be done in sequence

The “from” activity must finish before the “to” activity can finish. 

The logical relationship where completion of work of the successor activity cannot finish until the completion of work of the predecessor activity

The “from” activity must finish before the “to” activity can start.

The logical relationship where initiation of work of the successor activity depends upon the completion of work of the predecessor activity.

The funding/resources are distributed based on fixed points of time over the life of the activity or project

The amount of time that a task in a project network can be delayed without causing a delay to subsequent tasks and or the project completion date.

The amount of time that a schedule activity may be delayed from its early start date without delaying the project finish.

A method for identifying the driving and restraining forces that affect process performance.

Normally used with a pictorial diagram showing driving forces pushing up on a horizontal line and restraining forces on the top pushing down.

Removal of a restraining force or addition of another driving force causes the level of performance to improve

The calculation of the early start and early finish dates for the uncompleted portions of all network activities

Distributes more funding/resources at the start of an activity or project than toward the end

The integration of activities and events so that the impact of the expansion, compression, delay or acceleration of one element of the network schedule is reflected on all affected activities and events.

A graphic display of the logical relationships between customer requirements and product characteristics, and a comparison of the importance of each relationship relative to each other.

The common name for a Quality Function Deployment (QFD) matrix.

A measurement relating to performance which may be a predictor (“leading indicator’) of significant performance (e.g., gain in relative customer satisfaction is a leading indicator of market share gain).

Expenditures that are not necessarily due to the activity itself.

A delay in the successor activity. In some planning tools, this is also referred to as gap

Late finish date

(LF)

The latest an activity can finish without delaying project completion based on the end date.

Late start date

(LS)

The latest an activity can start without delaying project completion based on the project completion date.

LS = LF – DUR

An acceleration of the successor activity (prior to the predecessor activity’s finish). In some planning tools, this is also referred to as an overlap.

Support-type activity (e.g., vendor or customer liaison) that does not readily lend itself to measurement of discrete accomplishment.

It is generally characterized by a uniform rate of activity over a specific period of time.

Monitoring and controlling processes

The fourth of the five processes of project management.

In monitoring and controlling, the project manager monitors performance, resources, and budget, supports team members, and removes roadblocks.

Those processes required to track, review, and regulate the progress and performance of the project, identify any areas in which changes to the plan are required, and initiate the corresponding changes.

1. Identify all requirement

2. Prioritize desired requirements

3. Negotiate the scope

4. Validate the scope

A method of reaching team consensus. A structured decision-making process used to assign priorities to a list of items.

Fluctuations caused by factors that are few in number, intermittent, and large enough

The cost per unit of product or service or the annual cost incurred once a process is operating.

This does not include the investment or other implementation costs needed to design and implement a new process.

Organizational breakdown structure

(OBS)

A depiction of the project organization arranged so as to relate work deliverables to organizational units.

A histogram, ordered by frequency of occurrence, that shows how many results were generated by each identical cause.

Pareto’s law

(80/20 rule)

A relatively small number of causes will typically produce a large majority of the problems or defects.

This is often called the 80/20 Rule, where 80% of the problems are due to 20% of the causes

step 1: negotiate baseline scope

step 2: Mange scope uncertainties

step 3: Use scope clarification techniques

step 4: Select high-level WBS strategy

step 5: Review scope before proceeding

Planned value

(PV)

The authorized budget assigned to the scheduled work to be accomplished for a schedule activity or work breakdown structure component.

Also referred to as budgeted cost of work scheduled (BCWS).

Planning out as far as one can see and may be expressed as number of days, a project phase, or the next major milestone

The features and functions that characterize a product, service, or result

Functional requirements, (the whats)

A technique for estimating that applies a weighted average of optimistic, pessimistic, and most likely estimates when there is uncertainty with the individual activity estimates.

The work that needs to be accomplished to deliver a product, service, or result with the specified features and functions.

work-oriented, (the hows)

The processes involved in estimating, budgeting, and controlling costs so that the project can be completed within the approved budget.”

According to the PMBOK® Guide, the processes required to ensure that the project includes all the work required and only the work required, to complete the project successfully

Quality function deployment

(QFD)

A method for capturing and tracking customer requirements throughout the life-cycle of a product.

A document setting out the specific quality practices, resources, and sequence of activities relevant to a particular product, project, or contract and then determines how to satisfy those quality standards; part of the quality system required for ISO compliance

Responsibility assignment matrix

(RAM)

A structure that relates the project team members to the WBS to ensure that each element of the project’s scope of work is assigned to a responsible individual or role.

A graphic display of cumulative costs, labor hours, or other quantities, plotted against time.

The name derives from the S-like shape of the curve (flatter at the beginning and end, steeper in the middle) produced on a project that starts slowly, accelerates, and then tails off.

A specific version of the schedule model used to compare actual results to the plan to determine if preventive or corrective action is needed to meet the project objectives

Schedule performance Index

(SPI)

A measure of schedule efficiency on a project. It is the ratio of earned value (EV) to planned value (PV).

SPI = EV / PV.

Schedule variance

(SV)

A measure of schedule performance on a project. It is the difference between the earned value (EV) and the planned value(PV). 

SV = EV - PV

The sum of the products, services, and results to be provided as a project.

Adding features and functionality (project scope) without addressing the effects on time, costs, and resources, or without customer approval.

The limits that define acceptable performance for a process, expressed as a target, an upper limit, and a lower limit for an individual unit, for example, a specific time-to-pickup.

In business operations, customer requirements and business objectives establish specification limits.

Also called spec limits.

A measure of the variability of a distribution using all of the data points. Represented by the Greek lowercase letter sigma

The “from” activity must start before the “to” activity can finish.

The logical relationship where completion of the successor activity is dependent upon the initiation of the predecessor schedule activity

The “from” activity must start before the “to” activity can start.

The logical relationship where initiation of the work of the successor schedule activity depends upon the initiation of the work of the predecessor schedule activity.

Statistical process control

(SPC)

SPC methods such as control charts are used to determine if a process is in control and to keep it in control while working to achieve a new level of process performance.

Also called statistical quality control (SQC).

A method of designing a process or product aimed at reducing variability (deviations from product target performance) by reducing sensitivity to noise.

Similar to robust design.

Any project network diagram drawn in such a way that the positioning and length of the schedule activity represents its duration.

Essentially, it is a bar chart that includes schedule network logic

Top-down estimating

Using the actual cost of a previous similar project as the basis for estimating the costs for the project.

Also called analogous estimating.

Total quality approach

(TQA)

A strategy for integrating quality practices and tools into the management of all phases of the business.

A control chart for attributes data that plots the number of defects per unit (defect rate) for samples of varying size

The integration of activities and events so that the impact of the expansion, compression, delay or acceleration of any element of the lower level network schedule is reflected on all affected upper levels of the network schedule.

A method used to understand the marketplace in terms of customer needs, perceptions, preferences, requirements, and expectations, and to translate the collective insights into measurable objectives.

Questionnaires, storyboards, requirements workshop, interviewing, prototyping, gap analysis, use cases, role playing etc.

Work breakdown structure

(WBS)

A hierarchical list or diagram representing all the activities that must be completed in order to finish the project.

The WBS is a “deliverable-oriented hierarchical decomposition of the work to be executed by the project team, to accomplish the project objectives and create the required deliverables.”

Sometimes called “X bar & R chart.”

A type of control chart for variable data that plots sample means and sample ranges

A graphic portrayal, developed by Xerox Corporation, to characterize the performance gap between the current state of a process and that of best-in-class.

It is broken down into three essential components—historical trend, current gap, and the projected future performance level necessary to achieve superior or competitive performance