Demistifying project language
Glossary of terms:
Agile - Relating to or denoting a method of project management, used especially for software development, that is characterised by the division of tasks into short phases of work and frequent reassessment and adaptation of plans.
Backlog management - A technique used to record, track, and prioritise outstanding work items.
Benchmark - A set of best practices that are used to verify compliance and assess relative performance.
Benefits realisation – The practice of ensuring that benefits are derived from outputs and outcomes.
BPM, business process modelling – Representing processes of an enterprise so that the current business processes may be analysed.
BRD, business requirements document – A formal document that outlines the goals and expectations an organization hopes to achieve by partnering with a vendor to complete a specific project.
Case modelling – A model of how different types of users interact with the system to solve a problem.
CATWOE – A technique that provides a framework for defining and analysing business stakeholders’ perspectives. Customer, Actor, Transformation, worldview, owner and environment.
Capital - Money invested into a company or project by its owners.
Cash Flow - The movement of cash into and out of a business.
Change management- A systematic approach to dealing with the transition or transformation of an organizations goals processes or technologies.
Cost benefit analysis – A systematic approach to estimating the strengths and weaknesses of alternatives used to determine options which provide the best approach to achieving benefits while preserving savings.
Elicitation – The practice of researching and discovering the requirements of a systems from users, customers and other stakeholders.
Gap analysis – The process companies use to compare their current performance with their desired and expected performance.
Key Performance Indicator - A measure of performance to assess the success of a company or a certain activity the company is taking part in.
MoSCoW – Prioritization technique. Must, Should, Could, Will not.
MOST analysis – Mission, Objectives, Strategies, Tactics. Used to improve internal processes and company culture by analysing the organisations internal environment.
PESTLE analysis – Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental factors. Allows a company to form an impression of the factors that might impact a new business or industry.
RACI - A tool used to identify the responsibilities of roles or team members and the activities or deliverables in which they will participate by being responsible (doing the work), accountable (approving the results), consulted (providing input), or informed of the completed item after it has been completed.
RAG, Red Amber Green - Relates to project status reporting which is utilized by project managers to indicate how well a certain project is performing.
RAID logs – Management tool to organise a project by tracking risks, actions, issues and decisions.
Requirement’s analysis – The process of defining the expectations of the users for an application that is to be built or modified
RFI - A formal elicitation method intended to collect information regarding a vendor’s capabilities or any other information relevant to a potential upcoming procurement.
RFP - A requirements document issued when an organization is seeking a formal proposal from vendors. An RFP typically requires that the proposals be submitted following a specific process and using sealed bids which will be evaluated against a formal evaluation methodology.
ROI - A measure of the profitability of a project or investment.
Scope - The boundaries of control, change, a solution, or a need
Scorecards – graphical representation of the progress over time of some entity.
Scope creep - refers to changes, continuous or uncontrolled growth in a projects scope, at any point after the project begins.
SIPOC - suppliers, inputs, process, outputs, and customers. a visual tool for documenting a business process from beginning to end prior to implementation.
SMART objectives - Objectives that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.
SME’s - A stakeholder who has specialized knowledge regarding the implementation of one or more solution components.
Stakeholders - a stakeholder is a member of "groups without whose support the organization would cease to exist"
SWOT analysis - An analysis model used to understand influencing factors and how they may affect an initiative.
The 5 whys – an iterative interrogative technique used to explore the cause-and-effect relationships underlying a particular problem.
UAT testing – final stage of software development life cycle. When users test the software to see if it can carry out the required tasks it was designed to address in real world situations.
User story – A description of a product feature used for planning and scoping purposes. User stories will be decomposed to a level that can be delivered in a single iteration and can provide value; a quick way to understand the desired functionality of a user experience; a small, concise statement of functionality or quality needed to deliver value to a specific stakeholder.
Validated requirement - A requirement that has been reviewed, has been determined to support the delivery of the expected benefits, and is within the solution scope.
Waterfall approach - It is a linear approach to software development. Work is done in phases, where one phase doesn’t start until the previous phase is completed.
