CAOP key terms

The staged sequence a project passes through, typically from initiation and planning through execution, monitoring, and closure, with defined approval gates that control when work may advance to the next stage.

A formal document authorizing a project and naming its manager, summarizing objectives, scope, high-level budget, and key stakeholders. It establishes the project's legitimacy before detailed planning begins and anchors later scope-change decisions.

A hierarchical decomposition of project scope into progressively smaller deliverables and work packages. Each lowest-level package can be estimated, scheduled, and assigned, forming the backbone for cost, effort, and resource planning.

A formal checkpoint where designated approvers review deliverables, budget status, and risk before permitting a project to move into its next phase. Gates prevent sunk-cost escalation by forcing explicit go, hold, or cancel decisions.

The approved and version-controlled statement of project scope, including deliverables and boundaries. Any work outside it is handled through change control, so the baseline protects both schedule and budget from unmanaged expansion.

A system object capturing a prospective sale: customer, expected value, probability, close date, and owner. It links downstream to quotes, contracts, and eventually projects, making it the origin point of the quote-to-contract chain.

The end-to-end sequence that turns a priced proposal into a signed agreement: quote creation, approval, customer acceptance, contract generation, and signature. Each handoff should preserve pricing and terms without manual re-entry.

A maintained catalog of products, services, rates, and discount rules used to price quotes consistently. Versioned price books let organizations retire old rates while preserving historical quotes at the values originally offered.

A workflow that routes quotes exceeding predefined discount thresholds to authorized approvers before they reach the customer. It enforces margin policy and creates an auditable record of who granted each exception.

The negotiated commercial and legal conditions of an agreement, including payment schedule, billing frequency, rate escalation, termination rights, and deliverable obligations. Terms drive how billing and revenue recognition are configured downstream.

A percentage estimate of the likelihood an opportunity will close successfully, often tied to its sales stage. It weights pipeline forecasts and can inform how much delivery capacity is reserved for expected new work.

A defined step in the opportunity lifecycle, such as qualification, proposal, negotiation, or closed-won. Stages standardize reporting, trigger approvals, and usually map to default win probabilities used in forecasting.

A projection of future revenue built from open opportunities weighted by probability and expected close dates. Delivery leaders use it to anticipate hiring and staffing needs before contracts are signed.

A time-phased plan showing when tasks occur, their dependencies, durations, and assigned resources. It is the primary tool for sequencing work and detecting conflicts between planned effort and available capacity.

A logical relationship requiring one task to start or finish before another can proceed. Dependencies determine schedule order and drive the critical path, so incorrect links distort both dates and resource load.

The longest chain of dependent tasks through a schedule, which sets the earliest possible completion date. Any delay on the critical path delays the whole project, so it receives the closest monitoring.

The predicted amount of labor, expressed in hours or person-days, required to complete a task or deliverable. Estimates feed resource planning and become the baseline against which actual time is compared.

The quantity and skill mix of people needed to execute planned work over a given period. Comparing demand against supply reveals shortfalls or surplus and drives hiring, contracting, or rescheduling decisions.

A periodic record of hours an employee spends on specific projects, tasks, or administrative categories. Approved timesheets feed billing, payroll, utilization metrics, and project cost actuals.

Time worked that can be charged to a client under contract terms, as distinguished from internal, administrative, or non-chargeable time. The billable ratio directly affects revenue and margin.

The review step where a manager or project lead validates submitted hours before they are locked for billing and payroll. Approval catches coding errors and prevents unapproved time from reaching invoices.

A submission documenting reimbursable costs such as travel, lodging, and materials incurred on project work. Approved reports may be rebilled to clients and are recorded as project costs.

The defined pattern and timing of invoicing under a contract, such as monthly, milestone-based, or on completion. It determines when revenue can be billed and must align with recognition rules.

The process of assembling approved billable time, expenses, and milestone amounts into a customer invoice. Accuracy depends on correct rates, contract terms, and locked time and expense entries.

Recorded real costs incurred on a project, including labor from approved timesheets and approved expenses. Comparing actuals to budget reveals overruns and feeds profitability and revenue calculations.

The policy determining when and how much revenue is recorded for delivered work, such as percentage of completion or milestone completion. Rules must reflect contractual substance and applicable accounting standards.

Revenue recognized for work performed but not yet invoiced to the customer. It appears as a balance-sheet asset and shrinks when the corresponding invoice is eventually issued.

Cash received or billed in advance of work being performed, recorded as a liability until the earnings process is complete. It reverses into recognized revenue as delivery progresses.

The total approved budget for all work on a project. It provides the denominator for cost performance measures and the ceiling against which forecast and actual spending are judged.

The difference between the budgeted cost of work performed and the actual cost incurred. A negative value signals overspending relative to progress and prompts corrective action.

The forecast of remaining cost needed to finish outstanding project work. Adding it to actuals produces the estimate at completion, which highlights likely overruns before they occur.

The proportion of available working time that is billable or productive, usually billable hours divided by total capacity. It is a core measure of delivery efficiency and staffing health.

The practice of matching projected demand for skills against the supply of available people over future periods. It prevents both overstaffing and skills shortages that delay delivery.

A formal ask from a project for a person with specified skills and availability over a date range. Requests enter a queue that staffing managers fill, making commitments visible and trackable.

The pool of employees who are currently unassigned or partially assigned to billable work. Bench size and duration signal utilization risk and influence hiring and sales pursuit priorities.

The policies, roles, and controls that define who may create, edit, and consume project and financial data. It safeguards accuracy and consistency across reports and integrations.

A reference describing each field in a system: its meaning, type, allowed values, and owner. It prevents inconsistent interpretations when reports and integrations rely on shared data.

A chronological record of changes made to records, showing who changed what and when. It supports compliance, dispute resolution, and investigation of reporting discrepancies.

A security model granting permissions according to a user's job function rather than individually. It limits exposure of sensitive financial and personnel data while keeping required functions available.

The specification of how fields in one system correspond to fields in another during data exchange. Correct mapping ensures that projects, time, and invoices stay consistent across connected applications.

A configured sequence of review steps that a record must pass before it is finalized, such as time, expense, or discount approvals. Workflows enforce policy and route items to the right authority automatically.