Free PMP Terms and Definitions

Understanding common project management terms can be a challenge for all project managers. To help you understand those terms and definitions Crosswind Project Management has created a free to use glossary to help in your pmp training. In this page you will find the terms and definitions associated within the component areas of framework to get a better understanding of how this process works and relates to project management.

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Term	Definition
80/20 Rule	A rule of thumb that has many applications, but generally implies that 80% of problems or defects come from a small number (20%) of causes.
A/B Testing	A marketing tool where users are given two different options with one independent variable, to see which they prefer.
Acceptance Criteria	Customer identified functionality written in enough detail to validate product performance; objective criteria that determines if the story achieves the value it represents
Acceptance Test	Activities that validate that the features perform in accordance with customer defined functionality
Accuracy	The degree of correctness within a quality system
Administrative Closure	Task associated with the verification and documentation of project results, to formally close the project or phase.
Attribute Sampling Data	Data that is counted to analyze, create charts/graphs, and support decision making.
Auditing	A formal review of the project's characteristics including purpose, results, metrics, and documentation, among other parameters.
Benchmarking	Technique of measuring performance against the best-in-class; often involves determining the processes used by best-in-class to achieve that status and applying those processes to effect improvement
Cause and Effect Diagram	A decomposition approach used to identify the root cause of a problem; also known as a fishbone or Ishakawa diagram
Checksheets	A sheet that can be used as a checklist when gathering data
Close Project or Phase	The process of completing each activity across all process groups in order to finalize a project or phase
Close-Out Meetings	Meetings held at the end of the project to review project work, and to capture lessons learned. (Sometimes called lessonsn learned or retrospectives.)
Conformance	Within the quality management system, the delivery of a product or result that falls within the acceptable tolerance levels of quality requirements
Continuous Improvement (CI)	Daily inspection and adaption performed to bring greater efficiency and effectiveness to the workplace
Control	The process of contrasting actual performance to planned performance, assessing the resulting variances, and determining the actions that will improve performance levels
Control Chart	A graphic representation of process data over time that is set against documented control limits and has a center line (mean) to assist in identifying trends
Cost of Conformance	A proactive approach, spending money on quality with a project to attempt to design out defects before they arise. Any type of proactive spending can be included to eliminate potential defects and maximize the customer experience with the product.
Cost of Nonconformance	Cost associated with not meeting quality expectations of the project or product
Cost of Quality	The total cost of achieving or failing to achieve desired quality: specifically the costs of achievement are those associated with planning, controlling, and assuring quality and the costs of failure are those associated with reworking, warranty, waste, and negative reputation

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Term	Definition
Cost Performance Index (CPI)	The ratio indicating the cost efficiency of resources, calculated by dividing earned value (EV) by actual cost (AC): a CPI of 1.0 indicates the project is proceeding as planned; a CPI greater than 1.0 more indicates the project is proceeding better than planned; and a CPI less than 1.0 indicates the project is not proceeding as well as planned
Cost Variance (CV)	The difference between the value of what was built (earned value) and the cost of what was built (actual cost)
Criteria	Standards applied to a product, service, result, or process in order to make a decision or render a judgment about that product, service, result or process
Debriefing	A more casual approach to lessons learned on a project to help the organization evolve and improve future projects.
End-to-End Test	Investigation of the entire software environment under conditions that replicate actual usage, such as any interactions with databases, other applications, and/or other systems
Estimate at Completion (EAC)	The estimated cost of all the project work based on the actual cost of work done plus the estimated costs of work remaining
Estimate at Completion (EAC)	The estimated cost of all the project work based on the actual cost of work done plus the estimated costs of work remaining
Estimate to Complete (ETC)	The expected monetary resources required to complete the remaining work of the project; calculated by subtracting actual cost (AC) from the estimate at completion (EAC)
Estimate to Complete (ETC)	The expected monetary resources required to complete the remaining work of the project; calculated by subtracting actual cost (AC) from the estimate at completion (EAC)
Five Whys Activity	The practice of asking a series of questions as a method of uncovering the source of an issue
Formal Acceptance	Attaining signature for a piece of the project or the complete project, where the signature represents completion or closure of the project or that piece of the project
Grade	A ranking to classify products that have different functions or features
Histogram	A graphical representation, in the format of bar chart, that depicts the central tendency, dispersal, and shape of a statistical distribution
Influence Diagram	A graphical representation of relationship between variables and outcomes including situations with causal influence and event time sequences
Key Performance Indicator (KPI)	A metric or measurement used to compare a team's performance to the project's vision and goals.
Lessons Learned	The knowledge of what worked and what didn't work during a project
Lessons Learned Register	A project document utilized to record knowledge gained, both positive and negative, during the project; the information contained in register can be used in the current project and entered into the lessons learned repository for use with future projects.
Matrix Diagrams	A quality management tool that analyzes data by showing relationships between the data
Measurement Performance Domain	The performance domain associated with project performance including assessing performance and maintaining acceptable performance levels.
Measures of Performance	Measures that show physical or functional attributes related to system or application operation.

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Term	Definition
S-curve	Graphic representation of costs, work, and other quantities over time so that the planned value, earned value, and actual cost of the work can be seen
Scatter Diagram	A graphical representation that shows the relationship between two variables by putting one on an x axis, the other on a y axis, and analyzing the intersecting points; typically used to determine root causes or the presence of a cause and effect relationship
Schedule Performance Index (SPI)	A measure of project schedule efficiency calculated by dividing the earned value (EV) by the planned value (PV): a value of 1.0 indicates the work is being performed as expected, a value greater than 1.0 means the work is being performed ahead of schedule, and a value of less than 1.0 means the work is being performed behind schedule
Schedule Variance (SV)	A determination of schedule performance calculated by subtracting the planned value (PV) from the earned value (EV): if the result is zero, the project is performing as expected; if the result is positive, the project is ahead of schedule; if the result is negative, the project is behind schedule
Seven Basic Quality Tools	A group of devises used by quality management for quality planning and for monitoring and controlling
Sigma	A measurement of acceptability of a product or process
Six Sigma	A highly structured methodology focused on accelerating process performance and diminishing process variations in order to improve quality and profits, while reducing defects
SMART Goals Activity	Objectives that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely
Specification	An instrument that effectively defines the requirements, design, characteristics, and other attributes of a system, component, product, result or service and typically provides for procedures to determine that the provisions of the instrument have been met
Statistical Sampling	The selection of a part of a population for examination rather than using the entire population
Status Meeting	A regularly scheduled meeting that facilitates updating the team and relevant stakeholders on the current state of progress on the project.
Status Report	A report that states the current shape or state of the project to date
Technical Performance Measures	Measurable performance criteria established to ensure system components fulfill the technical requirements.
Test Plan	A document that describes what deliverables will be tested, what tests will be performed, and any related processes associated with testing.
Threshold	Any value (typically applied to cost, time, quality, technical, or resource) that is used as a parameter; typically crossing the threshold results in a triggered action
To Complete Performance Index (TCPI)	The ratio that represents the cost performance required to complete the work of the project given the remaining resources; calculated by dividing the remaining project work by the remaining budget (BAC - EV/BAC - AC)
Tolerance	The measure of acceptable variation
Total Quality Management (TQM)	A quality management philosophy that approaches quality management proactively and applies statistical sampling to help document improvements.
Trend Analysis	An analytical technique that uses mathematical paradigms to predict future outcomes based on historical data
Unique Identification Code	A subset of the code of accounts that allows assignment of a unique number to pieces of the WBS or other work decomposition.

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Term	Definition
Phase Gate	A review which is conducted at the end of a phase to decide if the project should continue to the next phase, if the project should continue to the next phase with modification, or if the project or program should be terminated.
Planning Process Group	The processes required to create the management and other planning documents that comprise the project management plan
Predictive Life Cycle	A life cycle type that determines project scope, time, and cost during the early phases of the life cycle.
Product Life Cycle	The phases of product development, typically defined as conception through delivery, expansion, maturity, and disengagement
Product Roadmap	The description of how the project will proceed from its current state to the state described in the vision statement
Progressive Elaboration	The iterative process of increasing the level of detail in accordance with the increase in information discovery and estimation accuracy
Project Life Cycle	The phases, from initiation through closure, of a project associated with the work of the project, as opposed to being associated with its project management
Project Management Process Group	The aggregation of the processes, along with their inputs, outputs, tools, and technique, that make up project management including initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing
Project Phase	An aggregation of logically related activities that results in the completion of a deliverable or deliverables
Project Vision Statement	A document that defines the goal of the project, typically referencing the target customer, the need or opportunity, and the key benefit; often includes the main alternative to the project and why the project goal is more desirable
Relative Authority	The authority that the project manager has relative to the functional manager's authority over the project team and project environment.
Release	A deployable software package that incorporates several iterations
Release Management	Activities performed to ensure that the software is ready for release to the customer
Release Plan	A plan that defines iterations, dates and features or outcomes to be delivered over multiple iterations.
Release Planning	Defining the prioritized and estimated stories from the product backlog that will be developed in the release and determining the date of the release
Roadmap	A document that contains the high-level plan of the features that will be developed during the next few releases; the product owner/customer owns and maintain the document
Rolling Wave Planning	Preparing in more detail as the project becomes clearer
Scrum	An Agile methodology that delivers finished increments of a product at the end of each Sprint (a timeboxed iteration with a duration of one to four weeks)
Scrum of Scrums	A planning forum used in multiple-team projects to coordinate resources and dependencies
Scrum Values	Openness, focus, commitment, courage, visibility, and humor

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Term	Definition
Unit Test	Activities that validate the smallest testable parts of the system
Use Case	A document that defines how the user will interact with the product and how the product will respond to the user
User Acceptance Test (UAT)	Activities that validate that the product behaves in accordance with the user stories
Validate Scope	The process in which the customer or sponsor reviews and accepts project deliverables as being complete and correct in accordance with the requirements
Validation	The process of determining that the results of the project are in compliance with requirements imposed by the customer and appropriate stakeholders and typically involving acceptance by them
Vanity Metric	A metric that appears to show some kind of outcome, but is not really helpful in making decisions.
Variable Sampling Data	Sample data that is measured continuously, such as duration, temperature, length, and weight.
Variance	Any difference between a planned value or baseline and an actual result
Variance Analysis	The assessment of the level and reasons for a variance from planned value or baseline
Variance At Completion (VAC)	The projected amount the project will be over or under budget based on the difference between the budget at completion (BAC) and the estimate at completion (EAC)
Verification	The process, typically internal, of determining that the results of the project are in compliance with appropriate specifications, requirements, regulatory requirements, and imposed conditions
Verified Deliverables	Completed project deliverables that have been reviewed and confirmed for correctness through the Control Quality Process.
Work Performance Data	Measurements or statistics related to the execution of project work
Work Performance Information	The evaluation and integration of project execution statistics and measurements gathered from control processes
Work Performance Reports	Project status and performance data utilized to produce communications and advance discussion