APM BOK Glossary Flashcards
“Acceptance criteria”
“Acceptance criteria The requirements and
essential conditions that have to be achieved
before a deliverable is accepted.”
“Activity “
“Activity (1). A task, job, operation or
process consuming time and possibly other
resources. (2). The smallest self-contained
unit of work in a project.”
Actual Cost (AC)
Actual Cost (AC) This is what the work achieved actually cost. Also known as the actual cost of work performed (ACWP)
“Adoption”
“Adoption The optional additional phase in a
linear life cycle that facilitates the use of
project outputs to enable the acceptance and
use of benefits.”
“Agile.”
“Agile A family of development
methodologies where requirements and
solutions are developed iteratively and
incrementally throughout the life cycle.”
“Analogous estimating
“
"Analogous estimating An estimating technique based on the comparison with, and factoring from, the cost of similar, previous work. Also known as comparative estimating."
“Analytical estimating”
“Analytical estimating An estimating
technique that uses detailed specifications to
estimate time and cost for each product or
activity. Also known as bottom-up
estimating.”
“Assurance”
“Assurance The process of providing
confidence to stakeholders that projects,
programmes and portfolios will achieve their
objectives for beneficial change.”
“Baseline”
“Baseline The reference levels against which
a project, programme or portfolio is
monitored and controlled.”
“Benefit”
“Benefit A positive and measurable impact
of change.”
“Benefits management”
“Benefits management The identification,
definition, planning, tracking and realisation
of benefits.”
“Benefits realisation.”
“Benefits realisation The practice of
ensuring that benefits are derived from
outputs and outcomes.”
“Breakdown structure”
"Breakdown structure A hierarchical structure by which project elements are decomposed. Examples include: cost breakdown structure (CBS), organisational breakdown structure (OBS), product breakdown structure (PBS), and work breakdown structure (WBS)."
“Buffer”
“Buffer A term used in critical chain for the
centralised management of schedule
contingencies.”
“Business-as-usual.”
“Business-as-usual An organisation’s normal
day-to-day operations. Also referred to as
steady-state.”
“Business case”
“Business case Provides justification for
undertaking a project, programme or
portfolio. It evaluates the benefit, cost and
risk of alternative options and provides a
rationale for the preferred solution.”
“Business information modelling (BIM)”
"Business information modelling (BIM) involves the generation and management of digital representations of physical and proprietary data) which can be extracted,exchanged or networked to support decision-making regarding a building orother built asset. Related to configurationmanagement. functional characteristics of buildings and places. Building information models are digital files (often but not always inproprietary formats and containing"
“Business readiness”
“Business readiness is a continuous concern
and activity through the life of a project or
programme that seeks to understand
attitudes to change and any barriers so that
people are ready to accept outputs and
adopt new ways of working to realise
benefit.”
“Change control”
“Change control The process through which
all requests to change the approved baseline
of a project, programme or portfolio are
captured, evaluated and then approved,
rejected or deferred.”
“Change freeze”
“Change freeze A point after which nofurther changes to scope will beconsidered.”
“Change management”
“Change management The overarching
approach taken in an organisation to move
from the current to a future desirable state
using a coordinated and structured approach
in collaboration with stakeholders.”
“Change register (or log).”
“Change register (or log) A record of all
proposed changes to scope.”
“Change request”
“Change request A request to obtain formal
approval for changes to the approved baseline.”
“Closure”
“Closure The formal end point of a project,
programme or portfolio; either because
planned work has been completed or
because it has been terminated early.”
“Communication”
“Communication The process of exchanging
information and confirming there is shared
understanding.”
“Communities of practice”
“Communities of practice are a type of
learning network used within and between
organisations to maintain, develop and share
knowledge.”
“Complexity”
“Complexity Relates to the degree of
interaction of all the elements that make up a
project, programme or portfolio and is
dependent on such factors as the level of
uncertainty, interaction between
stakeholders and degree of innovation.”
“Concept”
“Concept The first phase in a linear life cycle
that develops an initial idea through initial
studies and high-level requirements
management, and assessment of viability
including an outline business case.”
“Configuration”
"Configuration The functional and physical characteristics of a product as defined in its specification and achieved through the deployment of project management plans."
“Configuration management
“Configuration management encompasses
the technical and administrative activities
concerned with the creation, maintenance,
controlled change and quality control of
the scope of work.”
“Conflict resolution”
“Conflict resolution The process of
identifying and addressing differences that if
left unmanaged would affect successful
completion of objectives.”
“Context “
“Context A collective term for the societal
and/or organisational setting of a project,
programme or portfolio. Also known as
environment.”
“Contingency”
“Contingency Provision of additional time or
money to deal with the occurrence of risks
should they occur. See also risk budget and
management reserve.”
“Continuing professional development
(CPD) “
“Continuing professional development
(CPD) is the term used to describe the
requirement for any professional to
continually develop their competence.”
“Contract “
“Contract An agreement made between two
or more parties that creates legally binding
obligations between them. The contract sets
out those obligations and the actions that can
be taken if they are not met.”
“Cost of capital.”
“Cost of capital A term used in investment
appraisal to reflect the percentage return an
investment must deliver to satisfy lenders.
Value is only created when the return is
greater than the cost of capital. See
also weighted average cost of capital
(WACC).”
“Cost planning and control”
“Cost planning and control The estimation
of costs, the setting of an agreed budget, and
management of actual and forecast costs
against that budget.”
“Control “
“Control Tracking performance against
agreed plans and taking the corrective action
required to meet defined objectives.”
“Critical chain”
“Critical chain A resource based approach to
scheduling, useful when time is critical and
derived from the critical path, that protects
critical chains of activities with buffers.”
“Critical path”
“Critical path A sequence of activities
through a precedence network from start to
finish, the sum of whose durations
determines the overall duration.”
“Critical path analysis”
"Critical path analysis An activity based scheduling technique that determines the overall duration of the identified work based on estimates and logical dependencies. The method of determining the critical path."
“Decision bias”
“Decision bias Psychological biases affecting
individuals and groups when making
risk-based decisions.”
“Decision gate”
“Decision gate A point in the life cycle
between phases that is used to review and
confirm viability of the work in line with the
business case. Alternatively called stage
gates or gates.”
“Delphi technique”
“Delphi technique the generation of an
estimate through individual expert
judgement followed by facilitated team
consensus.”
“Earned Value (EV) “
“Earned Value (EV) A measure of progress that
expresses costs committed and work
achieved in the same units. Also known as the budgeted cost of work performed. (BCWP)”
“Earned value management”
“Earned value management A project
control process, based on a structured
approach to planning, cost collection and
performance measurement. It facilitates the
integration of project scope, time and cost
objectives and the establishment of a
baseline plan of performance measurement.”
“Emergent change”
“Emergent change Unplanned change that
is managed by an organisation through
incremental, iterative or evolutionary
approaches.”
“Escalation”
“Escalation The process by which issues are
drawn to the attention of a higher level of
management.”
“Estimate”
“Estimate A forecast of the probable time or
cost of completing work.”
Estimate at Completion (EAC)
Estimate at Completion (EAC) This is the ACWP to date, plus the most knowedgeable estimate of the remaining requirements, scope, schedule, and cost.
“Estimating”
“Estimating The use of a range of tools and
techniques to produce forecasts of the
probable time or cost or completing work.”
“Event-driven”
“Event-driven Control actions or reports that
are triggered by a specific event”
“Extended life cycle”
“Extended life cycle A life cycle approach
that adds an adoption phase to a linear or
iterative life cycle with the purpose of
ensuring the accountability and governance
of the investment stays with the change
teams until change is fully embedded. If
provides the missing connection to benefit
realisation in a linear life cycle and facilitates
cooperation and knowledge sharing between
change and business-as-usual teams.”
“Facilitation”
“Facilitation An approach to working with
groups in a collaborative way to create
energy and make it easy for the group to
solve problems.”
“Float”
“Float A term used to describe the flexibility
with which an activity may be rescheduled.
There are various types of float, such as total
float and free float.”
“Fixed or non-recurring costs VS Variable or recurring costs “
“Fixed or non-recurring costs happen once in a project life and
contribute a single cost, for example machine setup, site activation,
research and development, etc.
Variable or recurring costs occur periodically as an event in a project
and contribute multiple costs with a cumulative effect, for example
component machining, maintenance at failure events, production line
tasks, etc. “
“Forecast”
“Forecast A prediction of a defined
future state, typically related to the
duration and out-turn cost of a project or
programme.”
“Funding”
“Funding The means by which the money
required to undertake a project, programme
or portfolio is secured and then made
available as required”
“Gantt chart.”
“Gantt chart A graphical representation of
activity against time.”
“Governance”
“Governance The framework of authority
and accountability that defines and controls
the outputs, outcomes and benefits from
projects, programmes and portfolios. The
mechanism whereby the investing
organisation exerts financial and technical
control over the deployment of the work and
the realisation of value.”
“Governance board”
“Governance board A body that provides
sponsorship to a project, programme or
portfolio. The board will represent financial,
provider and user interests. Members of a
governance board oversee deployment and
make decisions through the chosen life
cycle. Alternatively called steering
committee, steering group, project board,
programme board etc.”
“Handover”
“Handover The point, as part of the transition
phase of a linear life cycle where deliverables
are commissioned and handed over to the
permanent organisation to adopt”
“Host organisation”
“Host organisation The organisation that provides the strategic direction of the project, programme or portfolio and is the primary investor and recipient of benefits.
Used interchangeably with investing organisation and client organisation.”
“Hybrid life cycle.”
“Hybrid life cycle A pragmatic approach to
achieving beneficial change that combines a
linear life cycle for some phases or activities
with an iterative life cycle for others.”
“Influencing”
“Influencing The act of affecting the
behaviours and actions of others.”
“Information management”
“Information management The collection,
storage, curation, dissemination, archiving
and destruction of documents, images,
drawings and others sources of information”
