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Home > Tools > Glossary
Glossary of Terms
- Administrative Closeout
- The final steps of the program which ensure that all administrative activities
are completed including collection and archiving of program data.
- Appointment Letter
- Media used to communicate the appointment and authority of the Project
Manager and the Project Sponsor.
- Barrier
- Something preventing timely success of achieving an objective.
- Baseline
- A snapshot of the planned start and planned finish of every task in the
project. The Baseline is used to help measure the progress of
the project and to make more visible the areas that need attention.
Usually created in Microsoft Project.
- Business Review
- A review meeting held with the Sponsor, Key Stakeholders
and /or Funding Authorities to validate Project Plans or status against
business objectives and strategy and obtain approvals to proceed.
- Change Management Process
- A procedure to ensure that proposed changes are merited and will not adversely
affect other elements of the plan or interdependent plans.
- Change Request Form
- A formal mechanism for initiating the change management process.
- Completion Criteria
- A clear and binary definition of a task's output. The Completion Criteria
defines what "done" looks like.
- Concurrent Planning
- A planning methodology where some project work starts while planning is
still under way.
- Contigency Action
- Steps identified to be taken if a Risk event were to occur in the future.
- Core Team
- Individuals, representing different project functions, who are responsible
for project planning and making project decisions. Typically, the Core
Team is made up of the best available 5 to 7 individuals who are each
representing one or more of the functions that are most affected by,
or that most
affect,
the success of the project. Compare with Extended
Team.
- Critical Path
- The sequence of task on a project that have the greatest total duration.
Usually set in Microsoft Project.
- Culture Map
- A 4-quadrant map used in the prioritization process to identify strategic
objectives that result in the scoring model.
- Customer
- A customer is anyone who is a user of the project deliverable. Customers
can be internal or external. Customers can be existing or targeted.
- Cycle of Validation
- Formal presentation and approval of project planning outputs, as they relate
to stated objectives, with the project sponsor.
- Dashboard
- The Web tool developed by BYU in Provo to keep track of projects. Go
to the Dasboard.
- Dependencies
- The logical relationships between tasks. Often used for projects in a Program.
- Duration
- Time needed to complete a task.
- Executive Support
- Unwavering formal support and reinforcement of projects and the importance
of the TPO.
- Extended Team
- Individuals who perfomr project work or whose expertise may be needed during
the life of a project. Compare with Core Team.
- External Interface
- An interface where either the input is being received from outside the
project or the output is being delivered outside the project.
- External Risk
- Risks associated with forces external to the project, such as the economy.
- Extreme Project
- A project whose definition and scope are very much in flux and can be characterized
by an highly aggressive schedule, high risk, high stress, and significant
open issues.
- Flexibility Matrix
- A matrix indicating how the project team should address changes in scope,
schedule, and resources if project definition changes need to occur.
The team will apply the matrix as a tool to guide recommendations regarding
tradeoffs
in planning as well as guiding recommendations in dealing with issues
during execution.
- Float
- The calculated time that a scheduled non-critical task can delay before
it becomes a Critical Path task. Used in Microsoft
Project.
- Gannt Chart
- A tool developed in the late 1940s to visualize the sequencing of tasks
on a project. Microsoft Project uses Gannt charts
a lot.
- Goal
- An object or end the organization tries to attain.
- Implementation
- The exercise of installing a process in an organization, with a defined
schedule and a defined budget.
- Input
- A deliverable from outside a project upon which project work depends.
- Integrated Program Plan
- The objectives and goals for the overall program, along with the approaches,
strategies and tactics which detail how and when those objectives will
be met.
- Integrated Program Schedule
- A schedule for the entire program which shows major activities for the
projects within the program, key project or program milestones, and
interfaces between the projects.
- Interface
- A special type of dependency that exists between project or delverables.
- Internal Interface
- An interface where both the input and output are generated by projects
within the program.
- Internal Risk
- Risks that are associated with forces internal to the program such as human
resource risks.
- Is/Is Not List
- A tool used to differentiate between what is included versus what is not
included in the scope of a deliverable or any other item being defined.
- Issue
- A problem that is currently holding up a project
- Issues Log
- A table containing both open and closed issues and actions, who's responsible,
and due dates. Most of the time, the Issues Log resides on the Dashboard.
- Late Schedule
- The schedule view that shows the latest that every schedule non-critical
task can be delayed before they become critical path tasks. Usually
managed in Microsoft Project.
- LTP (Large Technology Project)
- This is a technology project that costs
more that $5000, requires more than 40 hours of work, and affects
multiple departments (at least 2 of the 3). Compare with STP.
- Major Deliverable
- A key project output. The Major Deliverables of a project are tangible
items that are created as a result of the project work and that fulfill
needs of internal and/or external customers.
- Microsoft Project
- The application of choice for the TPO to create the Project
Plan, used to track timelines, baselines, tasks, and resources of a
project.
- Milestone
- A point in time, marking a key event or accomplishment.
- Open Interface
- An “input” with no corresponding “output”, or an “output” with
no corresponding “input” .
- Operations
- The day-to-day, functional management of products and services.
- Output
- A deliverable created by the project which is needed outside of the project.
- PDD (Project Definition Document)
- This document contains all the information
about the project.
- PdM (Product Manager)
- The Product Manager oversees the operation and
maintenance of a product. A member of LIS, the Product Manager also
maps the long-term strategy of a product--upgrades, patches, new
opportunities, etc. The Product Manager initiates a Project
Proposal.
Once a project is completed, the Product Manager must sign off before
it
is released
to production.
- PjM (Project Manager)
- The Project Manager manages projects (duh), from
conception to completion. Working with the sponsor, the project coordinator,
the product manager, and the project team, the Project Manager oversees
the development of the project plan, keeps track of scheduled tasks,
plans for product release, and evaluates the success of the project.
- PMT (Priority Management Team)
- This team, composed of the President's
Council and the CIO Coordinating Council, prioritizes technology
projects. It also reviews any changes to projects that will drastically
affect schedule, scope, or resources.
- Portfolio
- The prioritized set of all projects and programs in an organization.
- POS (Project Objective Statement)
- The POS describes, in 25 words or
less, the scope, schedule, and resources of a project.
- PPD (Project Proposal Document)
- This document is created by the Product
Manager, in consultation with the sponsor. After completion, it goes
to the Product Portfolio Manager, who reviews it and submits it to
the Technology Projects Office.
- Predecessors
- The tasks that affect the beginning of a given task.
- Preliminary Project Plan
- Initial plans and schedules created by the individual project teams
which describe the scope, schedule and resource requirements for
completing the project. Preliminary plans are not baselined. Compare
with Project Plan.
- Product/Service
- A defined application or process available to customers under the
supervision of a Product Manager.
- Product Sponsor
- The Product Sponsor is typically a director or manager outside LIS who represents the end user. For example, the Product Sponsor for Web Registration is the Registrar Office.
- PpM (Product Portfolio Manager)
- Product Portfolio Managers oversee all the product managers
in their functional area. A director of LIS.
- Program
- Multiple interdependent projects.
- Project
- A unique effort with a defined beginning, a defined end, a specific
deliverable, and defined resource requirements.
- Project Community
- Anyone involved with the project, such as project team members,
stake holders within the organization, and customers/suppliers.
- Project Framework
- Checklist of question teams should ask themselves to establish
the team’s operating “rules” at the beginning of
the project.
- Project Plan
- The Project Plan is the Microsoft Project document
that tracks the schedule, tasks, baseline, and milestones of a project.
Compare with Preliminary Project
Plan.
- Project Team
- Anyone associated with the project, including the Sponsor, Project
Manager, Core Team, Extended
Team, and those who will be performing
tasks.
- Resource
- Anything with limited availability (i.e. people, equipment, or
materials).
- Rigor
- The extent of precision or flexibility with which each process
step in the Project Management model is applied.
- Risk
- An event that would threaten the success of the project if it were
to occur.
- Risk Assessment Matrix
- A table used to sequentially evaluate the magnitude of each identified
risk.
- Sponsor
- The sponsor of a project is (usually) someone from senior management
who champions the project, controls the budget, and coordinates the
project's success.
- STP (Small Technology Project)
- This is a technology project that costs
less than $5000, requires fewer than 40 hours of work, and affects
one or two departments. Compare with LTP.
- Success Criteria
- A matrix indicating how the project team should address changes
in scope, schedule, and resources if project definition changes need
to occur. The team will apply the matrix as a tool to guide recommendations
regarding tradeoffs in planning as well as guiding recommendations
in dealing with issues during execution.
- Successors
- The tasks that are dependent on the finish of a given task.
- Task Owner
- The individual who plans and manages a task--not necessarily the
person who performs the task.
- Team Roster
- A document showing the members of the Project
Team and their contact
information.
- Trigger
- A metric identified to signal the occurrence of a risk event.
- TLA (Three Letter Acronym)
- This is what you say when acronyms are flying
fast and furious, and everyone is getting lost, i.e., "Can we please
stop with the TLAs?"
- TPO (Technology Projects Office)
- Under the direction of the CIO, the
TPO coordinates product, priority, and project management.
- User Advocate
- This person is part of the core team, representing end users throughout the Project Management process.
- WBS (Work Breakdown Structure)
- As a project plan is defined, specific
tasks are identified by a WBS number, usually following outline form.
- WBS Dictionary
- A table documenting information about tasks.
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