Key Project Management Terms

Project Management is a framework defined with methodology, process, tools & techniques for managing the projects. Project Management is common but nuances differ as per the industry. Project Management is not industry specific but Project Manager or the PMO must be able to adapt, and must-have gained the technical know-how required for efficiently managing or tracking the project in terms of SCOPE, TIME, COSTS, RESOURCES, RISKS & ISSUES.

Here’s listed the most commonly used buzzwords in Project Management field.

Basic Project Details:

Terminology	Explanation
Program Manager	The person who is accountable for the delivery of the project scope.
Sponsor	A person who is funding for the cost of the execution of the project to achieve the scope of work.
SOW	Statement of Work – It is the brief description of a project’s work requirement. It defines project-specific activities, deliverables, standards, acceptance criteria and timelines for a supplier providing services to the client. It is significant part of the contract document.
Objective of the Project	A short description about what you plan to achieve at the end of the project. This covers the entire scope of work that is being delivered to client.
Key Deliverables	Any result/service that is been provided at the end of the certain process in the project is called deliverable. It can be a report, a document, a software product, a server upgrade. Deliverables are specific, measurable and have realistic timelines.
Start Date	This marks the beginning of the project work. The first task is scheduled to begin at the start date. It helps to determine the expected completion date.
Finish Date	This marks the end of the project work. At this date, it is expected to deliver the product/service to the client.
Baseline Date	Baseline is set when you have plan ready. The baseline helps to measure your progress of the work. It serves as original plan as you begin tracking your actual progress.
Delivery Site	There may be multiple geographical location, the team is located. But the site location where the product/service will be delivered is must to capture.
Phase	Mention the phase of the project. This helps to understand the activities that is being executed in the project. And also helps in planning the allocation/deallocation of resources at portfolio level

Project Status Report

Are you status’ing the project properly? Is every team member of the project on the same page of the project status? Project Status Report is one page information which is very important part of the programme documents. Communicate, Communicate, Communicate – This is the key to solve most of the problems in the programme.

Terminology	Explanation
Project Name	Project names are unique and ease of understanding the program delivery
Project ID	Unique Id for the project against which all the references are made including the cost accumulation.
Report Date	The date on which the report is published. Ensure the dates are updated with current date to avoid the confusion on the outdated information.
Overall RAG Status	Reflects the overall status of the programme. Red, Amber, Green. The threshold for the RAG is defined by each organization. It accounts for the scope, schedule, cost, quality aspects of the project.
Path to Green	Path to green if the overall status is Red or Amber and details what actions are taken to return to green. This captures the key risks & issues in the programme. This will help to understand and track the project and provide support if required by the portfolio.
Date to Green	This marks the estimated date when the project will be back on track (Green RAG).
Overall / Executive Summary	Reflects the current position of the program summarized in 2-3 paragraphs as on current status report date. The RAG should be justified, Path to Green should be called out and abbreviations are explained.
Upcoming Milestones	Call out the next upcoming key programme milestones in the next 2-3 months. This gives a view of roadmap of the program.
Key Activities Next Period	A summary of the planned key activities for the program in the next reporting period.
Achievements Last period	Summarizes the key 5-7 achievements from the last to current reporting period.
Items for Management Attention	Any points of escalation for management attention
Expected Trend for the next reporting period	Mention the expected Overall Program RAG for the next reporting period ( typically next month) to know the program trending. This aids in decision making.
Milestone Status Dashboard	Provide the quantitative status of No. of milestones that are Completed, On track, At risk, Missed etc.
Support from Management	This field is important to let know in ahead for the support needed from Portfolio Manager / Sponsor. Project management itself a collective team work and as a manager, it is important to put forth the support required before things go out of hand which will impact the customer satisfaction score.

Programme KPI’s – Non Numerical Fields

Most of the time, we give importance to the numerical KPI’s like CPI, SPI, Milestone Fieldility Index, On-time delivery, First Time acceptance, Cost of quality, Budget vs Actual Effort, Risk Index etc. can be reported. The key profitability indicators like Revenue, Gross Margin, ROI, Resource Utilization, Billability, Cycle time, Inventory related KPI’s, etc.

But, its important to call out the RAG and Variance explanation while measuring these KPI’s. You can ask “why we need to have RAG’s? Yes, nobody wants to have red highlight in their project during the review meeting right? Secondly, having the detailed variance explanation will help you to take effective decision making.

Terminology	Explanation
Schedule RAG Status	Mention the RAG status for the schedule – This accounts for performance of the key deliverables and milestones. The key misses and current risks are to be considered while providing the RAG.
Schedule Variance	Call out the explanation for the schedule variance if the RAG is Amber or Red.
Scope RAG Status	Mention the RAG status for the scope – This accounts for the scope progress compared to the initial phase. The key changes to the program scope to be considered as well.
Scope Variance	Call out the explanation for the scope variance if the RAG is Amber or Red.
Cost & Effort RAG Status	Mention the RAG status for the Cost & Effort – This compared the actual cost/efforts to the planned cost/efforts.
Cost & Effort Variance	Call out the explanation for the cost & effort variance if the RAG is Amber or Red. Highlight the factors for the increase in the forecast cost than original baseline.
Resource RAG Status	Mention the RAG status for the resources – This accounts for planned vs actual resources deployed in the programme.
Resource Variance	Call out the explanation for the resource variance if the RAG is Amber or Red. Highlight the factors for the deployment of resources and any risks/issues in terms of resources.
IT RAG Status	Mention the RAG status for the IT scope – This accounts for any IT related issues/support that are needed for the smooth execution of the programme.
IT Variance	Call out the root cause of the IT specific risks/issues.

Project Risk Management Fields

Risk is the event which can have positive or negative impact to the programme. Accept risk when benefits more significant than the cost. Accept no unnecessary risk. Anticipate and manage risk by planning. It is important to capture all the below key fields in stages of identifying, evaluation, prioritize & monitor the risks.

Terminology	Explanation
Risk Summary	Provide a crisp summary of the Risk. It can be called as Risk Title. It can be prefixed with Risk unique Id for ease. Its very important that it should be meaningful and understandable.
Risk ID	A unique number generated for the risk once identified. It is very helpful to track your risk and ease of reference.
Risk Description	It should outline the three important characteristics of risks. They are Cause, Event and Impact. If the cause does/does not happen, then risk event will occur which will impact the result. Be as specific as possible. State the risk and area of impact. If required, quantify the risk.
Risk Category	Identify the type of risk and categorise it. It can be Third-Party, Schedule, Cost, Resources, Quality, Technical, Legal, Process, Customer.
Priority	Defining the priority to the risk will help to provide additional support to take effective decisions. It can be High, Medium, Low Priority risks.
Impact Summary	A concise description of the impact i.e. consequences if the risk occurs. Potential areas of risk are Cost impact, Quality impact, schedule impact, resource impact and compliance impact.
Probability	It is number in the rating of 1-5 which denotes the probability the risk will occur. 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest. In some organizations, they just mention High, Medium or Low.
Impact	It is number in the rating of 1-5 which denotes the level of consequences the risk can create. 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest. In some organizations, they just mention High, Medium or Low.
Risk Index	It is the product of Probability & Impact. The higher the Index, higher the occurrence and consequence of the risk.
Risk Status	There can be 4 risk status – Open , Work in Progress, Resolved, Closed. The risk can be closed once the risk response strategy is completed.
Risk Owner	The accountable person who will manage the risk on day-to-day basis till the point of resolution.
Risk Response	The way how you manage your risk. There are 5 risk responses. 1. Accept 2. Mitigate 3. Transfer 4. Avoid 5. Watch
Response Summary	The risk response summary should brief about the agreed response strategy. It should explain how the response strategy will create significant resolution and realistic approach for the risk. This is very concise update.
Commentary	Concise summary of the progress made on the risks response strategy. The commentary to be updated until the risk is closed. This should be updated on weekly/monthly basis based on the risk review frequency.
Risk Contingency Plan	If the risk mitigation is failed and risk becomes an issue, then Risk contingency plan is implemented. This is similar to Issue Response summary as tabulated in the below table.
Assumptions	This field is very key as to explain the assumptions around the risk and response, as risk itself is uncertain. It is important to call out the assumptions.
Date Identified	The date when the risk is identified.
Target Resolution Date	The date when the risk is planned to be resolved based on the agreed risk response strategy.
Date Closed	The date when the risk has been closed after implementing the response.
Reporting Level	The reporting level is significant field which will help to filter and escalate at Project/Programme/Portfolio level. Every organization can define their own risk levels whom to report/escalate the risks. Level 1 being to Portfolio Managers/Sponsors, Level 2 being to Program Managers, Level 3 being to Project Manager / SME, Level 4 to internal Project team.
Residual Risks	Once the response strategy has been implemented, there may be a residual risk which may occur which should be raised as new risk. This can be linked to the original risk.

Issue Management Fields

Are you capturing the right fields in Issue Management? Though issues are meant to have negative impact, it is important to take necessary steps to evaluate and reduce the effects of the issues in your project.

Few of the important fields which you need to capture for effective issue management.

Terminology	Explanation
Issue Summary	Provide a crisp summary of the Issue. It can be called as Issue Title. It can be prefixed with Issue unique Id for ease. Its very important that it should be meaningful and understandable.
Issue ID	A unique number generated for the risk once identified. It is very helpful to track your risk and ease of reference.
Issue Description	It should outline the three important characteristics of issues. They are Cause, Event and Impact. If the cause does/does not happen, then issue event will occur which will impact the result. Be as specific as possible. State the issue and area of impact.
Issue Response	The issue response summary should brief about the agreed response strategy to reduce the impact of the issue.
Severity	This is important field with respect to issue. High, Medium, Low are the categories you can use to denote the impact of the issue.
Reporting Level	The reporting levels can be from Level 1 – 3 based on the needs to report/escalate the issue to. Level 1 being to Portfolio Managers/Sponsors, Level 2 being to Program Managers, Level 3 being to Project Manager / SME, Level 4 to internal Project team.
Issue Symptoms	This field should be populated with the potential outcomes if the issue is materialized.
Date Identified	The date when the issue has been identified.
Issue Owner	The person who is accountable for implementation of the issue response strategy and watch the issue until closure.
Commentary	Concise summary of the progress made on the issue response strategy. The commentary to be updated untill the issue is closed. This should be updated on weekly/monthly basis based on the risk review frequency.
Date Closed	The date when the issue is resolved and can be closed.

Breathe out, Smile !

Hope you found it useful.