GLOSSARY · 58 TERMS · 3 INTERACTIVE SIMULATORS
The language of delivery, explained
Clear definitions of the project, programme, portfolio, PMO, agile, service management, governance, security and AI terms behind every course we teach, plus simulators you can play with.
Actual cost (AC)
The cost actually incurred for the work performed up to a given date.
Try the EVM simulator →AI impact assessment
A structured assessment of the potential consequences of an AI system for individuals, groups and society, required as part of an ISO/IEC 42001 management system.
ISO/IEC 42001 courses →AI management system (AIMS)
The policies, objectives and processes an organisation uses to develop, provide or use AI systems responsibly. ISO/IEC 42001 specifies its requirements.
ISO/IEC 42001 courses →Baseline
The approved version of the scope, schedule or cost plan. Performance is measured against it, and it changes only through formal change control.
PMP® course →Benefits realisation
Making sure the outcomes a project or programme promised actually happen and are measured, often long after delivery has finished.
PMO Hub →Budget at completion (BAC)
The total approved budget for the work.
Try the EVM simulator →Burndown chart
A chart of the work remaining against time in a sprint or release. The slope shows whether the team will finish the committed work.
Scrum Master course →Business case
The documented justification for a project: expected benefits, costs, risks and options. In PRINCE2 it is checked at every stage to confirm the project is still desirable, viable and achievable.
PRINCE2® course →CAPM®
Certified Associate in Project Management, PMI's entry-level certification for people starting a project career.
PMI courses →Change control
The process for raising, assessing, approving or rejecting changes to baselined scope, schedule, cost or products, so that nothing moves without a decision.
Project management →Change enablement
The ITIL practice of maximising the number of successful service and product changes by assessing risk, authorising changes and managing the change schedule.
ITIL® course →COBIT
An ISACA framework for the governance and management of enterprise information and technology, separating governance objectives (evaluate, direct, monitor) from management objectives.
COBIT® course →Cost performance index (CPI)
EV ÷ AC. Above 1.0 means the work is costing less than planned; below 1.0 means it is over budget.
Try the EVM simulator →Critical path
The longest chain of dependent activities through a schedule. It sets the shortest possible project duration: any delay on it delays the finish date.
PMP® course →Definition of Done
The shared, formal description of the quality an increment must meet to be considered complete. Work that does not meet it is not released.
Scrum Master course →Deliverable
Any unique, verifiable product, result or capability that must be produced to complete a phase or project.
Project management →Earned value (EV)
The budgeted value of the work actually completed: percentage complete × BAC.
Try the EVM simulator →Estimate at completion (EAC)
The expected total cost of the work. A common formula, when current cost performance is expected to continue, is BAC ÷ CPI.
Try the EVM simulator →Float (slack)
How long an activity can be delayed without delaying the project finish (total float) or the next activity (free float). Critical-path activities normally have zero total float.
PMP® course →Gantt chart
A bar chart of the schedule: activities on the vertical axis, time on the horizontal, bars showing start, duration and dependencies.
Project management →Governance vs management
Governance evaluates options, sets direction and monitors performance; management plans, builds, runs and monitors activities in line with that direction.
COBIT® course →Incident
An unplanned interruption to a service, or reduction in its quality. Incident management aims to restore normal operation as quickly as possible.
ITIL® course →Internal audit
A systematic, independent check of whether a management system conforms to the organisation's own requirements and to the standard, and is effectively implemented.
Lead Auditor courses →ISMS
Information security management system: the policies, processes, roles and controls an organisation uses to manage information security risk. ISO/IEC 27001 specifies its requirements.
ISO 27001 courses →ITIL®
The most widely used framework for IT and digital service management, from PeopleCert.
ITIL® course →Lessons learned
Knowledge gained during a project about what went well and what did not, captured so that future projects repeat successes and avoid the same mistakes.
PRINCE2® course →Management by exception
A PRINCE2 principle: each level of management sets tolerances for the level below and is only escalated to when a forecast exceeds them.
PRINCE2® course →Monte Carlo simulation
A technique that runs a model thousands of times with random inputs drawn from probability distributions, producing a distribution of possible outcomes such as finish dates or costs.
See it estimate π →P80 (confidence level)
The value that 80% of simulated outcomes do not exceed. Committing to a P80 date means a four-in-five chance of meeting it, based on the model's assumptions.
Try the schedule simulator →PERT estimate
A three-point weighted average: (Optimistic + 4 × Most likely + Pessimistic) ÷ 6.
Try the schedule simulator →PgMP® and PfMP®
PMI's advanced certifications for programme managers (PgMP) and portfolio managers (PfMP).
PMI courses →Planned value (PV)
The budgeted value of the work scheduled to be complete by a given date.
Try the EVM simulator →PMO (Project Management Office)
An organisational structure that standardises governance, provides methods, tools and capability, and gives leaders reliable portfolio information for decisions.
PMO Hub →PMO Value Ring
A twelve-step cycle, from the PMO Global Alliance, that links a PMO's services to the value its stakeholders expect, measures it, and adjusts the PMO to keep delivering it.
Explore the Value Ring →PMO-CP
PMO Certified Practitioner, a PMO-focused certification from the PMO Global Alliance, now part of PMI.
Register for PMO-CP →PMP®
Project Management Professional, PMI's flagship certification covering predictive, agile and hybrid approaches across people, process and business environment.
PMP® course →Portfolio
A collection of projects, programmes and operations managed as a group to achieve strategic objectives. Portfolio management decides which work to do.
PMO Hub →PRINCE2®
A process-based project management method built on seven principles, seven practices and seven processes. The current version is PRINCE2 7.
PRINCE2® course →Prioritisation scoring
A transparent model that scores proposed work against strategic criteria such as value, risk, urgency and capacity so that the portfolio funds the right things first.
PMO Hub →Problem
A cause, or potential cause, of one or more incidents. Problem management finds root causes and known errors to stop incidents recurring.
ITIL® course →Product backlog
The ordered, emergent list of everything that might be needed in the product. The Product Owner is accountable for its content and order.
Scrum Master course →Product-based planning
A PRINCE2 technique that plans from the products to be delivered (product descriptions, breakdown and flow) before deciding activities.
PRINCE2® course →Programme
A group of related projects and activities managed in a coordinated way to obtain benefits not available from managing them individually.
PMO Hub →RACI matrix
A responsibility chart stating who is Responsible, Accountable, Consulted and Informed for each task or decision. Exactly one person should be Accountable.
Project management →Risk appetite
The amount and type of risk an organisation is willing to pursue or retain to achieve its objectives.
PRINCE2® course →Risk register
The record of identified risks with their owner, probability, impact, proximity and response, reviewed regularly.
PMP® course →Risk response
The planned action for a risk. For threats: avoid, transfer, mitigate, accept or escalate. For opportunities: exploit, share, enhance, accept or escalate.
PMP® course →Schedule performance index (SPI)
EV ÷ PV. Above 1.0 means more work is done than planned; below 1.0 means the project is behind schedule.
Try the EVM simulator →Scrum Master
The Scrum accountability for establishing Scrum, coaching the team and organisation, and removing impediments so the team can be effective.
Scrum Master course →Service level agreement (SLA)
A documented agreement between a service provider and a customer that defines the services and the expected level of service.
IT service management →Service value system (SVS)
The ITIL model showing how all components and activities of an organisation work together to turn demand and opportunity into value.
ITIL® course →Sprint
A fixed-length event of one month or less in which a usable increment is created. A new sprint starts immediately after the previous one ends.
Scrum Master course →Stage gate
A decision point between phases where a sponsor or board decides whether to continue, change course or stop, based on the business case and performance.
PRINCE2® course →Stakeholder
Any individual, group or organisation that can affect, be affected by, or perceive itself to be affected by a project, programme or portfolio.
PMP® course →Statement of Applicability (SoA)
The ISO/IEC 27001 document listing the Annex A controls, whether each is applied, and why it is included or excluded.
ISO 27001 courses →Tolerance
The permissible deviation above and below a plan's target for time, cost, scope, quality, risk or benefits before the issue must be escalated.
PRINCE2® course →Velocity
The amount of work, often in story points, a team completes per sprint. Useful for the team's own forecasting, not for comparing teams.
PRINCE2 Agile® course →Work breakdown structure (WBS)
A hierarchical decomposition of the total scope of work into manageable work packages. The 100% rule: the children must add up to all of the parent's scope.
PMP® course →No term matches. Ask us and we will add it.
LEARN BY PLAYING
Interactive simulators
Three of the ideas above, made tangible. Change the inputs and watch the numbers respond.
Monte Carlo: estimating π with random darts
Darts land at random in a square. The share that falls inside the quarter circle tends to π/4, so 4 × (inside ÷ total) tends to π. The same idea, with schedule and cost distributions in place of darts, drives quantitative risk analysis.
Will we meet the deadline? Schedule risk in 10,000 runs
Four sequential tasks, each with optimistic, most likely and pessimistic durations in days. Edit the numbers, move the deadline, and see the probability of finishing on time.
| Task | Optimistic | Most likely | Pessimistic |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design | |||
| Build | |||
| Test | |||
| Deploy |
Earned value cockpit: are we on time and on budget?
Move the sliders to describe a project. The gauges show the cost performance index (CPI) and schedule performance index (SPI); the S-curve compares planned value, earned value and actual cost.
Illustrative teaching models. Real schedule risk analysis also accounts for dependencies, correlation and risk events.
From vocabulary to certification
Every term here is taught in depth in our accredited and expert-led programmes: PMI, PRINCE2, ITIL, Scrum, COBIT, ISO/IEC 27001 and ISO/IEC 42001.