PKMC Module I key terms

An organizational unit that standardizes project practices, provides templates, coaching, and reporting, and may hold varying levels of authority over projects, from advisory support to direct control of project managers.

The accumulated policies, procedures, templates, historical records, and lessons-learned repositories an organization makes available to projects. These assets are inputs to many planning processes and are updated as the project generates new knowledge.

Conditions outside the project team's control that influence planning and execution, such as organizational culture, market conditions, regulatory requirements, available tools, and existing infrastructure. They are treated as inputs rather than as assets the project can modify.

A document issued by the sponsor that formally authorizes the project and the project manager, states high-level scope, objectives, success criteria, budget, milestones, and key stakeholders. It gives the project manager authority to apply organizational resources to project activities.

A documented justification for undertaking the project, comparing estimated costs and benefits, and explaining the strategic, financial, or operational need. It is often created before chartering and is used to decide whether the project should proceed.

The person or group that provides financial and political support for the project, champions it at senior levels, approves the charter and major changes, and helps resolve issues beyond the project manager's authority.

A living document recording identified stakeholders, their roles, interests, influence, expectations, and classification. It supports engagement planning and is updated as new stakeholders emerge or their positions change.

A classification tool that plots stakeholders by their authority over the project and their concern about its outcomes, guiding tailored engagement strategies such as managing closely, keeping satisfied, keeping informed, or monitoring.

A narrative description of the project's boundaries, deliverables, acceptance criteria, assumptions, and exclusions. It clarifies what work is included and, importantly, what is excluded, giving the team a shared reference for scope decisions.

A table linking each requirement to its source, related scope elements, and the test or verification method that will confirm it is met. It helps detect missing or orphaned requirements and supports impact analysis when changes arise.

A hierarchical decomposition of the total project scope into manageable work packages, typically organized around deliverables. Each descending level represents increasing detail, and the lowest level supports estimating, scheduling, and control.

The lowest level of the WBS, at which work can be reliably estimated, scheduled, assigned, and tracked. A work package is small enough to manage yet not broken down so finely that control costs exceed the value of the detail.

A companion document to the WBS that describes each element in detail, including scope of work, deliverables, acceptance criteria, responsible party, assumptions, and cost or schedule estimates where appropriate.

The approved combination of the scope statement, the WBS, and the WBS dictionary. It is the reference against which scope performance and change requests are evaluated, and any modification requires formal change control.

The longest sequence of dependent activities through the network, which determines the shortest possible project duration. Activities on the path have zero total float, so any delay there delays the project finish unless the plan is changed.

The amount of time an activity can be delayed from its early start without delaying the project finish date, calculated as late start minus early start or late finish minus early finish. Critical activities have zero total float.

The amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying the early start of any successor activity. It is always less than or equal to total float and is useful for deciding where to absorb schedule slippage locally.

A graphical representation of activity dependencies showing sequence and logical relationships. It is used to perform forward and backward passes, identify the critical path, and visualize where float exists.

A scheduling technique that uses nodes for activities and arrows for dependencies, supporting finish-to-start, start-to-start, finish-to-finish, and start-to-finish relationships, optionally with leads and lags.

Techniques applied to shorten the schedule without reducing scope, chiefly crashing by adding resources to critical activities at extra cost, and fast tracking by overlapping activities normally performed in sequence, which raises risk.

The approved version of the schedule, including start and finish dates and milestones, used to compare actual progress against plan. Changes to it require formal approval through integrated change control.

A top-down estimating technique that uses historical data from similar past projects, adjusted for known differences, to forecast cost or duration. It is fast and inexpensive but generally less accurate than detailed methods.

An estimating approach that develops cost or duration for individual work packages or activities and aggregates them upward. It is typically the most accurate method but requires more effort and a well-developed WBS.

A technique that calculates estimates by multiplying a unit rate by a quantity, such as cost per square meter or hours per installation. Accuracy depends on the reliability of the historical data behind the rate.

Time or money set aside in the baseline to address identified risks that have been analyzed and accepted, often calculated using expected monetary value or a percentage of cost. It is controlled by the project manager.

Funds or time held outside the performance measurement baseline for unplanned, in-scope work arising from unidentified risks. Use of the reserve typically requires sponsor or senior management approval and a baseline change.

The approved time-phased budget, excluding management reserve, against which cost performance is measured. It is displayed as an S-curve and is the reference for earned value calculations.

A technique that integrates scope, schedule, and cost by comparing planned value, earned value, and actual cost to derive performance indices and variances, enabling objective forecasting of cost and schedule outcomes.

The difference between earned value and actual cost. A positive value indicates the project is under budget for the work performed; a negative value indicates overspending relative to progress achieved.

Earned value divided by planned value, expressing schedule efficiency. A value below one means less work has been accomplished than planned at that point; a value above one indicates ahead-of-schedule progress.

A forecast of the total project cost based on performance to date. Common formulas include budget at completion divided by cost performance index when current efficiency is expected to continue.

The total cost of conformance, comprising prevention and appraisal activities, plus the cost of nonconformance, comprising internal and external failures. Analyzing it helps target investment where it reduces rework and warranty losses.

The process of auditing quality requirements and results from quality control to ensure appropriate standards and operational definitions are used. It is preventive and process-oriented, seeking to build quality in rather than inspect defects out.

The process of monitoring and recording results of quality activities to assess performance and recommend corrective actions. It is inspection-oriented, comparing deliverables against acceptance criteria and identifying defects for correction.

A responsibility assignment matrix that labels each person or group as responsible, accountable, consulted, or informed for given activities. Exactly one accountable party per activity is the usual rule to avoid diffused ownership.

The process of addressing disagreements constructively, using approaches such as collaborating, compromising, accommodating, avoiding, or forcing. Collaboration generally yields the most durable outcome when time and trust permit.

The typical progression of a team through forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning. Recognizing the current stage helps a project manager choose appropriate leadership emphasis and intervention.

A document defining who needs what information, when, in what format, and through which channel, along with escalation paths and feedback mechanisms. It is tailored to stakeholder needs and the project's complexity.

The number of possible communication paths among participants, calculated as n times n minus one divided by two for n people. The formula illustrates how rapidly coordination complexity grows as team size increases.

A strategy document describing how the project will involve stakeholders based on their needs and influence, including desired engagement levels, tailored approaches, and timing. It is updated as stakeholder positions evolve.

A repository recording identified risks with their causes, potential effects, probability, impact, owners, planned responses, and current status. It is the central tool for tracking and reviewing risk throughout the project.

The probability-weighted average outcome of a risk or decision, calculated by multiplying each possible outcome's value by its probability and summing the results. It supports quantitative comparison of risk responses and reserves.

A planned approach for addressing a threat or opportunity, such as avoid, mitigate, transfer, or accept for threats, and exploit, enhance, share, or accept for opportunities. Each response is assigned an owner and reviewed for residual risk.

A document describing the products, services, or results to be delivered by a seller, including quantity, quality, performance, and acceptance requirements. It must be clear enough to allow comparable proposals and enforceable contract terms.

An agreement in which the seller commits to a defined scope for a set price, placing cost risk primarily on the seller. It works best when requirements are stable and well understood before award.

An agreement that pays the seller for actual hours at agreed rates plus materials, often with a ceiling. It limits buyer risk through the ceiling but places less cost discipline on the seller than a fixed-price arrangement.

A formally chartered group responsible for reviewing, approving, deferring, or rejecting change requests and communicating decisions. It safeguards the baselines and ensures changes are evaluated for impact before acceptance.