Project management tools and resources are available to help support the development of the project plan. The following key terms are provided to enhance your project planning process from the inception to closure.
Key Definitions Associated with Project Management and Planning
The following are definitions for frequently used terms that relate directly to planning and scheduling concepts of project management.
Activity: An element of work performed during the course of a project. An activity normally has an expected duration, cost, and resource requirements. Activities have defined beginnings and endings. The terms "activity" and "task" are frequently used interchangeably, but activity is preferred and is used in this book.
Deliverable: Any measurable, tangible, verifiable outcome, result, or item that must be produced to complete a project or part of a project. All work packages and most activities have output products that can be referred to as deliverables. The term is commonly used more narrowly in reference to an external deliverable, which is a deliverable that is subject to approval by the project sponsor or customer.
Dependency: A dependency between two project activities, or between a project activity and a milestone.
Milestone: (1) A significant event in the project, usually completion of a major deliverable; or (2) a clearly identifiable point in a project or set of activities that commonly denotes a reporting requirement or completion of a large or important set of activities.
Plan: An intended future course of action.
Program: A group of related projects managed in a harmonized way. Programs may include an element of ongoing work until the lifecycle of the program is completed.
Project: A temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result.
Project Phase: A collection of logically related project activities, usually culminating in the completion of a major deliverable
Project Schedule: The planned dates for performing activities and meeting milestones. Schedules or related portions of schedules list activity start or completion dates in chronological order.
Task: A generic term for the lowest level of defined effort on a project; often used interchangeably with the term "activity." Tasks are sometimes used to define a further breakdown of activities.
Work Breakdown Structure: A deliverable-oriented grouping of project elements that organizes and defines the total work scope of the project in a hierarchical structure. Each descending (or "child") level represents an increasingly detailed definition of the project work, and the set of child elements under a "parent" includes 100 percent of the work represented by the parent element.
Work Package: The lowest level work element in the work breakdown structure, which provides a logical basis for defining activities or assigning responsibility to a specific person or organization.
The same dictionary defines the noun "schedule" as "a timed plan for a procedure or project" and the verb "schedule" as "to appoint or plan for a certain time or date."
Additional resources on project management
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A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) (Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute, 2000).
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Project Management for Dummies, Stanley E. Portny, (John Wiley & Sons, 2001).
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Project Planning and Scheduling, Gregory Haugan, (Management Concepts, 2002).
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Make Things Happen!: Readymade Tools for Project Improvement, Steve Smith, (Kogan Page, 1997).