Glossary of terms used in Project Management
Are you baffled by some of the terminology that you hear used by Project Managers? Let our glossary of terms offer a simple explanation. There are additional details on the major roles (Project Board, Executive, Senior User, Senior Supplier, Project Manager, Project Assurance) here.
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A
- Agile
A highly flexible method of managing the design and build of IT projects in incremental steps that involves the customer (via User Groups) at every step.
B
- Benefit
A measure of the improvements that are going to take place as a result of doing the project. A benefit may occur during the project or at some point afterwards. The Senior User owns the benefits for the project.
- Benefits Realisation
Ensuring that the benefits from the project happen either during the project or at some point after the project completes.
- Business Analysis
The process of researching and identifying business needs through understanding how people work now and how they are likely to work in the future once the project is complete. This is undertaken by a Business Analyst and the results feed into the project start up documentation.
C
- Change control
Any requested changes to the project documentation require proposing, evaluating, approving or rejecting, scheduling and then tracking.
- Change request
The details of the project documentation don't always remain as agreed. There can be a "change request" to expand or reduce the project scope, modify the costs or revise schedules.
- Critical path
This is the sequence of tasks that determine the minimum timescale for a project to be completed. If one of the tasks is delayed, the timescale of the whole project will increase.
D
- Deliverable
A tangible product from the project. This could be a piece of software, training documentation or a new process.
- DPIA - Data Protection Impact Assessment
This form should be completed done in the early stage of any project that requires the processing of personal data. It will allow us to embed ‘privacy by design.’ See guidance on IDC website.
E
- Exception Report
A report on why the project development has fallen outside of its agreed thresholds. This could be because it has cost significantly more or less than was originally forecast, for example. See 'RAG Status.'
G
- Gantt Chart
A graphic display demonstrating how the timescales of tasks relate to one another. It shows whether timescales for different tasks run concurrently or if one task needs to be completed before another one can start.
H
- Highlight Report
A monthly report which provides the project board with information about the status of the project.
K
- Key dependencies
Some tasks rely on other tasks to be performed before they can be implemented and this relationship is termed a key dependency.
M
- Milestone
A significant event in the project – usually the completion of a major deliverable.
- MVP - Minimum Viable Project
A version of a product with just enough features to satisfy early users and provide feedback for future product development.
P
- Pathways
A set of sequentially connected activities.
- PID
Project Initiation Document(ation) – a document or documentation drawn up during the initiation of the project that defines all major aspects of a project and forms the basis for its management and assessment of overall success.
- Plan
A proposal for doing or acheiving something that specifies the what, when, how and by whom. Some Projects are run entirely from the Project Plan and do not have a PID.
- PRINCE 2
An acronym for Projects in Controlled Environments – a process based method of managing projects that is widely used in the public and private sector.
- Programme
A group of related projects managed in a co-ordinated way. Programmes usually have a life span of several years and deliver outcomes of strategic relevance.
- Project
A project team is a temporary team with individuals from a range of different departments that is created for the purpose of delivering one or more business products according to an agreed Business Case. The aim of a project is to introduce major change into day to day “business as usual” activities.
- Project Assurance
An activity that is carried out for the project board to verify that the project is being run in the best possible way and is adhering to project management standards agreed at the start of the project.
- Project Board
The group that provide direction for the Project and supports the Project Manager. The Project Board consists of one Executive and one or more Senior Users and Senior Suppliers.
- Project Executive
The Executive is the key decision maker on the Project Board and owns the business case. They have ultimate responsiblity for the project success.
- Project Manager
The person appointed by the Executive to manage the project day to day. The Project Manager reports to the Project Board.
- Project Requestor
The person who requests the project – this could be the same person as the sponsor or the executive.
- Project Sponsor
An optional role on the project. The Project Sponsor can be the link from the Project Executive to the funding source for the project in the University and is responsible for securing project funding.
Q
- Quality Assurance
The process of regularly evaluating the overall project performance to ensure that the project will satisfy quality standards.
R
- RAG Status
A “health check” of a project, and will be part of regular reports from the Project Manager to the Board. Red, Amber or Green. Red is where the Project is under threat without high level intervention (and would need an 'Exception Report') and Green is where the project is proceeding within tolerance.
S
- Schedule
A list of tasks and dates in the project. Note that a Schedule is often confused with a Plan.
- Scope
The total sum of all the products and services to be provided in a project - ie, those that are "in scope".
- Scope Creep
Sometimes new products or services are added to the original scope, and this is known as scope creep.
- Scrum
A framework for managing the introduction of new software in an agile manner.
- Senior Supplier
The person who represents those groups who will design, develop, facilitate, procure and implement the project.
- Senior User
The person who represents the team who will use or gain benefit from the end result of the project.
- Snagging List
A list of faults that have been discovered post Go-Live and need to be addressed.
- Sprint
A time period or timebox to produce a certain amount of functionality in an Agile Project. A sprint is usually 2-4 weeks.
- Stage Gate
A review point for the project where the Project Board can assess whether to continue or not, ie in effect, if the Business Case that caused the project to be set up is still valid. This would normally happen at the end of a major piece of work, which can be document driven (to agree the PID), or when agreed pieces of work (such as developing/ building major items of functionality to release) have been completed.
- Stakeholders
Key individuals and organisations who are involved in or affected by project activities and can have a significant effect on the success of the project.
- Statement of Work
A description of products or services required to be supplied under contract.
T
- Traceability Matrix
A document that tracks the features of a solution back to the requirements document, to show that the requirements have been met.
- Transition Document
A document that outlines how whatever is produced by the Project will move into business as usual. This document helps ensure there is as little disruption as possible and all relevant teams are involved.
U
- User Group
Users who as part of their job provide feedback to the project manager and development teams on the usability of the product during development and pilot phases, in a meeting or via email/ slack. User groups are important tool for focusing developer resource on delivering MVP efficiently, so the users need to have sufficient time in relation to the rest of their roles to provide the feedback. User groups are very important in agile development.
W
- Waterfall
An approach to developing a technology solution that goes through a series of steps to get to the end product. Once a step is completed, the team move onto the next step. Typical steps are design, build and test. Waterfall works for well-defined requirements that are unlikely to change.
- Work Package
A unit of work assigned to one Team Manager to complete. Work Packages are a useful way of delegating work from the Project Manager to the Project Team.
- Workstream
A logical grouping of tasks within a project that is often completed by one team. A workstream could focus on a particular functional area of a solution.