Simply, improvement…
Ian Seath’s Blog
| Bar Chart / Gantt Chart | A planning tool used to show the timing and dependencies of activities in a project. |
| Benefits | The results (usually positive!) of changes brought about by a project. May also be called Outcomes or Impacts. They should be measurable.They may be financial (e.g. cost savings) or non-financial (e.g. increases in viewers or listeners).
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| Change Control | A means of deciding the importance of changes that occur during a project and how to deal with them (including documenting them). |
| Constraint | A boundary within which a project must operate (e.g. legislation). |
| Critical Path | The longest path of dependent activities from start to end of a project and therefore the shortest time for its completion. Any delay on this path will delay the whole project. |
| Deliverable | A tangible output of a project.Final deliverables are handed over by a project to end-users (e.g. new software, a building, a redesigned process).
Internal (or temporary) deliverables are created during a project (e.g. PDD, Business Case, Risk Log), often for review and approval.
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| Dependency | A linkage between one project and another (e.g. Project B depends on the work of Project A in order to succeed), or…A relationship between two activities within a project (e.g. Activity B can’t start until Activity A has finished).
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| Governance | How a project will ensure benefits are delivered, stakeholders are managed, risks and issues are identified and addressed, quality is assured and resources are managed.Usually described in terms of roles/structures that need to be in place and arrangements for monitoring, reporting and controlling progress.
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| Issue | Something that has happened and which needs to be brought to the attention of the project (Sponsor, Manager or Team), to ensure it can continue to meet its objectives. |
| Milestone | A point in time at which some activity must start, or by when some activity must be completed.Expressed as a Noun + Verb [past tense] (e.g. Budget Approved, Hardware Installed).
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| Objective | What a project sets out to achieve, preferably expressed in SMART format (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound).May also be called “Goals”, or “Targets” and can be directly related to Benefits.
Written in the form “To… [increase/decrease/improve/reduce…] [something]… by [amount/%]… by [dd/mm/yy].
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| Programme | A set of linked and aligned projects which, when managed together, deliver specific organisational benefits. |
| Project | A temporary organisation that is created to achieve a specific objective, at a defined point in time, using agreed resources. |
| Project Completion Report | Captures the learning from a project: what went well, what could be improved, how the learning could be applied to future projects. |
| Project Definition Document | The PDD summarises all the key information required when a project is set up. It may need to be approved before detailed planning starts. (Also referred to as Project Initiation Document – PID) |
| Risk | Anything which might happen (in the future) and which would adversely affect the achievement of a project’s objectives.Not to be confused with “Issues”, which have already happened.
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| Scope | The boundaries of the project (e.g. products, processes, locations).May also define aspects which are specifically excluded from the project.
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| Stakeholder | Anyone (individuals or groups) who may have an interest in a project and can influence its success (positively or negatively). |
Download Project Templates (in Excel)
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