Glossary

The act of taking custody based on satisfactory verification.

The requirements and conditions that must be met for acceptance of the deliverables.

Tests conducted in accordance with an approved verification plan and approved test procedures. Tests are best conducted by an independent organization and witnessed by a representative of the buyer for compliance with the test procedure and verification plan.

Detailed step-by-step instructions for the set-up, operation, and evaluation of tests. The procedure includes the approach to sampling and statistical quality control.

A cost that is incurred all at once at a certain time in a project or gradually, for instance, over the entire time a task is being worked on.

The obtaining under contract of supplies and services to meet the needs of a project.

The document that describes the approach for acquisition. It defines competitive or sole source, schedule, funding, manpower, facilities, risk, etc. Also called the System Acquisition Plan.

An element of work performed during the course of a project. An activity normally has an expected duration, expected cost, and expected resource requirements. Activities are often subdivided into tasks.

Identifying the specific activities that must be performed in order to produce the various project deliverables.

A short phrase or label used in a project network diagram. The activity description normally describes the scope of work of the activity.

Estimating the number of work periods which will be needed to complete individual activities.

Identifying and documenting dependencies among schedule activities

See arrow diagramming method.

See precedence diagramming method.

Total costs incurred that must relate to whatever cost was budgeted within the planned value and earned value (which can sometimes be direct labor hours alone, direct costs alone, or all costs including indirect costs) in accomplishing work during a given time period. See also earned value.

This term has been replaced with the term actual cost.

The point in time that work actually ended on an activity. (Note: in some application areas, the activity is considered "finished" when work is "substantially complete.")

The point in time that work actually started on an activity.

Generating, gathering, and disseminating information to formalize phase or project completion.

An estimating technique that compares a project or activity to a similar previous project or activity.

A category of projects that have common elements not present in all projects. Application areas are usually defined in terms of either the product of the project (i.e., by similar technologies or industry sectors) or the type of customer (e.g., internal vs. external, government vs. commercial). Application areas often overlap.

Effort that is not itself readily divisible into short-span work packages but which is related and proportional to measured effort in other work packages. Project management overhead is an example. Also see Discrete Effort

A task that is dependent on or related to the performance of another task.

The graphic presentation of an activity. See also arrow diagramming method.

A network diagramming technique in which activities are represented by arrows. The tail of the arrow represents the start and the head represents the finish of the activity (the length of the arrow does not represent the expected duration of the activity). Activities are connected at points called nodes (usually drawn as small circles) to illustrate the sequence in which the activities are expected to be performed. See also precedence diagramming method.

See data date.

Assumptions are factors that, for planning purposes, are considered to be true, real, or certain. Assumptions affect all aspects of project planning, and are part of the progressive elaboration of the project. Project teams frequently identify, document, and validate assumptions as part of their planning process. Assumptions generally involve a degree of risk.

A technique that explores the assumptions' accuracy and identifies risks to the project from inaccuracy, inconsistency or incompleteness of assumptions.

The assignment of work under Contract.

A contract fee provision used to motivate a contractor to respond to issues that are assigned and measured periodically and subjectively. The contract specifies award fee periods, usually six to nine months long. The award fee criteria are negotiated prior to the start of the award fee period, providing the buyer flexibility to change the incentive emphasis as the project evolves. The determination is made unilaterally by the buyer and is not subject to the legal disputes clause provisions.