70 Terms of Project Schedule That Every Planner Must Know



If you are into project plan/planning and want to know the project scheduling techniques then you must know these following conditions for building a better project schedule:

If you know any terms regarding a project plan apart from this list – feel free to add those in comments below with the definition.

Project Plan

Project Plan

A

Activity: A process or task to complete in a defined period for fulfillment of a goal. Each activity of the project schedule can assign to an individual or a group. They are ordered with logic links.

Actual Cost: The exact amount paid for laborers or materials.

Activity Relationship: An ordered link between 2 activities representing the order of execution in a project schedule.

The 4 types of relationships in a project plan are:

SS – Start to Start

FF – Finish to Finish

FS – Finish to Start

SF – Start to Finish

Approved Change Requests: Approved documents of the project schedule/contract including schedule, cost, and plan should be given to stakeholders. These are the first things seen in a project plan by them.

Arrow Diagramming Method (ADM): It is a network diagram creation technique used in Project Schedule Management where arrows show activities. It is also known as the activity-on-arrow (AOA) procedure.

ADM is used to schedule activities in a project plan. ADM only depicts finish-to-start (FS) relationships, where each activity is finished before the next event starts.

B

Backward Pass (Backward Plan): The process of calculating a critical path to find the earliest date for activities in the project schedule. It works reversely to find the latest start and finish dates/float of activities.

Bar Chart: Representation of project plan activities through bar graphs. The length is depicted by the activity Duration, against the X-axis time extent.

Base Line: A set of costs and dates frozen at the beginning of the project schedule and used evaluating performance over the life of the project.

Budgeted Cost: The amount kept reserved for future to incur some unexpected expenses out of the project schedule.

C

Change Estimate: An approximation regarding future changes in the project plan. Often the estimate is all about Schedule, Cost and Resource changes.

Change Impact: The impact on project plan of any change in project cost, schedule and resourcing.

Committed Cost: The cost which isn’t paid yet but is pending, e.g., about a contract, purchase, etc. This value is not recoverable in future.

Cost Breakdown Structure (CBS): The breakdown of costs types in the project plan is CBS, e.g., different elements such as phase, area, materials or discipline.

Critical Activity: The activity which is on the critical path in the project plan.

Critical Path: It is the series of network activities which make up the most extended overall duration. This fixes the shortest possible path for the project plan.

Critical Path Method (CPM) Scheduling: An algorithm for sequencing a set of activities and is a modeling technique. This scheduling aims to make a prototype of a project that has:

  • Checklist of the events to finish the project which is described in WBS.
  • The mentioned duration of completion of each activity in the project schedule,
  • The interdependencies among the activities and,
  • Fixed rational endpoints like milestones or deliverables in the project plan.

CPM Scheduling uses an algorithm that calculates Early and Late dates for every activity to outline the project’s Critical Path.

Critical Path Analysis: The analysis of a project schedule that aims to understand timely completion and risks causing activities of a project. The advanced study considers near-critical paths.

D

Date Constraint: A date constraint/restriction which is often used to delay activities or to impose deadlines in a project schedule.

Direct Labor: (1) The direct cost related labors and indirectly associates labors & are mention (2) Labor hired by owner/contractor versus hired by sub-contractor.

Doubled resource estimated duration (DRED): Tracks the activity length if estimates resource duration gets double in a project plan.

Duration: The completion period or the estimate from the beginning of activity in a project schedule until the end of it.

E

Early Start: The earliest possible time when a task can start within the bounds of the time imposed targets and feasibility in a project schedule.

Early Finish: The earliest possible time when a task can finish within the bounds of the time imposed targets and feasibility in a project plan.

Estimate: Analysis and evaluation of expected amounts, duration and labor-hours, with benefits, and provisions in a project plan for expected reasons with no current details of those situations.

Estimated Cost: An outline of the amount pre-planned with empirical or historical methods.

Estimate to Complete: The forecast of left-out costs, quantities or labor-hours to the completion of defined scope in a project schedule.

Extensions of Time: A contractual increment of time to show agreed claims or changes in the scope of a project plan. It also uses to decrease the risk of inducing penalty clauses.

F

Float: It is the measure of time that an action in a project schedule can delay immediately to consequent errands (free float) or the task fulfillment date (total float).

Forward Pass: The initial phase of the CPM scheduling calculation. The forward pass computes every action’s early start and early completion date in a project plan.

Free Float: The measure of time that ranges from the finishing of one already schedule movement and reaches out to the time when the next planned action sets to start on a project schedule.

G

Gantt Chart: A period based action outline in which a progression of level lines demonstrates the measure of work done or generation finished in specific timeframes in connection to the amount’s arrangements for those periods in the project plan.

H

Hammock: A movement, joining the start of the main action to the finish of a progression of system activities and where span reflects the overall duration and detailed logic for the arrangement, at the design and following observing stages in a project schedule.

Histogram: Bar chart showing estimated versus actual resources and costs over the time-period.

I

Incurred Cost: Expenses borne from all events or tasks in a project schedule.

Indirect: Indirect expenses are costs that are not individually responsible for an action or work bundle. Indirect expenses might be either settled or variable. Roundabout expenses incorporate the organization and workforce in the project schedule.

These are those costs which can not straightly identify with creation. Some roundabout expenses might be overhead. As a result,  it may, some overhead expenses can directly assign to an undertaking and also are immediate expenses.

K

KPI: A Key Performance Indicator is a strategy for execution estimation. KPIs assess the achievement of an association or a specific action of the project schedule.

L

Lag: A planned delay on logic connect whereby a successor action will postpone regarding a prescheduled activity in a project schedule.

Late Finish: The most recent conceivable date the movement must complete without influencing the actual completion date for the task of the project schedule.

Late Start: The most recent conceivable begin date for a movement to start without influencing the actual completion date for the venture.

Lead: The measure of time whereby a successor movement can progress as for a forerunner action. Frequently this suggests to a negative slack in the project schedule.

Level of Effort Activity: A help write venture action that must do to help other work exercises or the whole task exertion.

Loop: A rationale mistake where a succeeding action endeavor to begin before a previous movement.

Lost Time: Productive time suffered on account of severe climate, work issues, hardware disappointment or other reason in a project plan.

M

Master Schedule: A master state outline plan or a calendar that is a blend of other autonomous sub-plans in the project schedule.

Milestone: An occasion to stamp particular focuses in time along with a venture course of events. These focuses may flag grapples, for example, a task’s start and end date, a requirement for external auditor information and spending checks, among others in a project plan.

In many cases, breakthroughs don’t affect the length. Instead, they concentrate on significant advancement that indicates to make progress.

Monte Carlo Simulation: An automated probabilistic strategy utilized as a part of demonstrating hazard.

N

Network (Project Network): A venture organizes a diagram (stream outline) portraying the arrangement in which an undertaking’s terminal components are to finish by indicating terminal elements and also their conditions in a project plan.

It continuously attracts from left to ideal to reflect in the project schedule.

O

Open ends: Any venture activities without an antecedent or a successor action in a project schedule.

P

Percent Complete: A rate of an incentive in the vicinity of 0 and 100 that demonstrates the incomplete culmination of an action, project or work bundle.

PERT: Program Evaluation and Review Technique is a technique, that also utilizes as a part of project schedule, which not only intends to break down but also to speak to the undertakings engaged in finishing a given task.

Physical Completion: Progress surveyed by a physical estimation.

Planning: Project arranging is a piece of undertaking administration, which identifies with the utilization of timetables, for example, Gantt graphs to design and along these lines report advance inside the task condition of the project plan.

At first, the undertaking extension characterizes, and the appropriate strategies for finishing the task can resolve.

Planned Cost: An affirmed evaluated cost for the venture or things that will utilize in a project plan.

Planning Engineer: A pro architect who builds up the task timescale plans, and oversees them utilizing a product bundle in a project plan.

Predecessor(s): A forerunner movement is an action that decides the begin date or completion date of the following work given a reasonable relationship of a project schedule.

Potential Change Requests: Documentation that tracks possible changes to your tasks assessed costs, assets or supplies. It also enables you to distinguish any foreseen effects to the project schedule scope.

Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM): It is a system outlining strategy used to build up request or execution in venture plans. PDM also arrange graphs utilize boxes, alluded to as hubs, to speak to exercises and interfaces them with bolts that speak to the conditions between practices of the project plan.

Procurement: It is the obtaining of products, administrations or works from an outside outer source.

It is true that the products, administrations or works proper and that they also obtain at the typical cost to address the issues of the acquirer as far as quality and amount, time, and area.

Project Control: The setting and observing of cost/plan expectations, recognizable proof and calculation of fluctuations and also the execution of preventive and healing activities of affirmed changes in the project plan.

R

Resource Leveling: A procedure utilizing asset examination that means to evacuate or lessen resource over-assignments also by changing the beginning or complete dates of asset stacked exercises in the project schedule.

S

Schedule: It is a posting of a project’s points of reference, exercises, and expectations. Generally requested with planned begin and completion dates. Therefore, those things frequently evaluate regarding asset assignment, spending plan, and term. And also connected by conditions and scheduled occasions in a project plan.

Schedule Contingency: Extra span that can also add to the task’s timetable pattern amid. And also arranging stage to decrease any effects of unexpected occasions in a project schedule.

Schedule Risk: Risk occasions that compromise finishing the undertaking on time.

S-Curve: Cumulative diagram against time for following general advance of with design: for cost, worker hours, materials, etc.

T

Target Date: A settled movement’s finish date or deadline.

The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS): WBS is several levels and also incremental disintegration of the undertaking into stages, expectations and work bundles.

Hence, It is a tree structure, which demonstrates a subdivision of exertion required to accomplish a target; for instance a program, task, and contract in a project schedule.

Total Float: It is the contrast between the completion date of the keep going action on the primary way and also on the task finishing date.

W

Weighted Percent Complete: Overall progress fulfillment estimation, utilizing action’s also weightings to standardize different exercises.

Work Package: It is a subset of a task that can also relegate to a particular part of the execution. On account of the closeness, work packages can regularly misidentified as projects.


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  • project plan
  • project schedule
  • project scheduling techniques

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