Glossary of PM Terms
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- Backward Pass
- A procedure within time analysis to calculate the late start and late finish dates of all activities in a project.
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- Balanced Matrix
- An organizational matrix where functions and projects have the same priority.
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- Bar Chart
- A view of project data that uses horizontal bars on a time scale to depict activity information. Frequently called a Gantt chart.
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- Baseline
- A copy of the project schedule for a particular time (usually before the project is started) that can be used for comparison with the current schedule.
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- Baseline Dates
- Original planned start and finished dates for an activity. Used to compare with current planned dates to determine any delays. Also used to calculate budgeted cost of work scheduled for earned-valued analysis.
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- Baseline Review
- A customer review conducted to determine with a limited sampling that a contractor is continuing to use the previously accepted performance system and is properly implementing a baseline on the contract or option under review.
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- Baseline Schedule
- The baseline schedule is a fixed project schedule. It is the standard by which project performance is measured. The current schedule is copied into the baseline schedule which remains frozen until it is reset. Resetting the baseline is done when the scope of the project has been changed significantly, for example after a negotiated change. At that point, the original or current baseline becomes invalid and should not be compared with the current schedule.
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- Batch Operations
- Operations performed by the computer without the need for any user intervention. In Open Plan, it is possible to define and subsequently process batches of data for reporting, merging, time analysis and resource scheduling, as well as back-up and restore operations.
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- BCWP
- Budget Cost of Work Performed.
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- BCWS
- Budget Cost of Work Scheduled.
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- Benefits
- The enhanced efficiency, economy and effectiveness of future business operations to be delivered by a program.
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- Benefits Framework
- An outline of the expected benefits of the program, the business operations affected and current and target performance measures.
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- Benefits Management
- Combined with program management, Benefits Management is the process for planning, managing, delivering and measuring the program benefits.
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- Benefits Management Plan
- Specifies who is responsible for achieving the benefits set out in the benefit profiles and how achievement of the benefits is to be measured, managed and monitored. The Benefits Management Plan is part of the program definition.
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- Benefits Profiles
- Located in the program definition, the Benefits Profiles describe the planned benefits to be realized by the program. The benefits profile also states where, when and how they are to be realized.
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- Bottom Up Cost Estimating
- This is the method of making estimates for every activity in the work breakdown structure and summarizing them to provide a total project cost estimate.
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- Brainstorming
- The unstructured generation of ideas by a group of people.
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- Breakdown Structure
- A hierarchical structure by which project elements are broken down, or decomposed. See also Organizational Breakdown Structure (OBS) and Work Breakdown Structure (WBS).
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- Budget
- The planned cost for an activity or project.
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- Budget at Completion (BAC)
- The sum total of the time-phased budget.
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- Budget Cost
- The cost anticipated at the start of a project.
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- Budget Element
- Budget elements are the same as resources -- the people, materials, or other entities needed to do the work of the program. For example, Engineer, Technician, Travel, and Pipe can all be budget elements. These budget elements can be validated against a Resource Breakdown Structure (RBS). Budget elements are typically assigned to a work package, but can also be defined at the cost account level.
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- Budget Unit
- The budget unit is the base unit for the calculation. For example, the Engineer budget element might have a budget unit of hours. Since budget units are user defined, they can be any appropriate unit of measure. For example, a budget unit might be hours, dollars, linear feet, or tons.
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- Budgeted Cost of Work Performed (BCWP)
- A measure used in earned value management system that allows you to quantify the overall progress of the project in monetary terms. BCWP is calculated by applying a performance measurement factor to the planned cost. (By comparing BCWP with ACWP, it is possible to determine if the project is under or over budget.) Another term for BCWP is "earned value."
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- Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled (BCWS)
- The sum of the budgets for all planned work scheduled to be accomplished within a given time period. This term is often used to designate the cumulative to-date budget.
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- Budgeting
- Time phased financial requirements.
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- Burden
- Overhead expenses distributed over appropriate direct labor and/or material base.
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- Business Assurance
- Ensuring that actual costs and elapsed time is in line with plan costs and schedule times and that the business case remains available.
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- Business Assurance Coordinator
- A person in the project assurance team who is responsible for planning, monitoring and reporting on all business assurance aspects of a project.
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- Business Case
- A document used to justify the commitment of resources to a project.
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