Critical Path

A critical path is the sequence of project activities, which add up to the longest overall duration. This determines the shortest time possible to complete the project. Any delay of an activity on the critical path directly impacts the planned project completion date (i.e. there is no float on the critical path). A project can have several, parallel, near critical paths. An additional parallel path through the network with the total durations shorter than the critical path is called a sub-critical or non-critical path.
These results allow managers to prioritize activities for the effective management of project completion, and to shorten the planned critical path of a project by pruning critical path activities, by “fast tracking” (i.e., performing more activities in parallel), and/or by “crashing the critical path” (i.e., shortening the durations of critical path activities by adding resources).

Resource Histogram

Resource histogram is a bar chart showing the amount of time that a resource is scheduled to work over a series of time periods. It shows the resource requirements by time period.

Resource histograms are handy tools for the project management team, as they allow a quick and easy single page view of exactly what resources are available, what resources are being utilized at the present time, and how long those resources are expected to be tied up.

EAC

An estimate at completion (EAC) is a forecast of the most likely total value based on project performance and risk quantification. EAC is the projected or anticipated total final value for a schedule activity, WBS component, or project when the defined work of the project is completed. In a simple language, it is a formula that predicts how much the project is likely to cost. It is based on the cost performance index (CPI) and how much was the originally predicted cost to complete the project.

Lessons Learned Documentation

Lessons learned documentation is prepared to contribute to the lessons learned knowledge database of the organization. It includes the causes of issues, the reasoning behind the corrective action chosen, and other types of lessons learned about stakeholder management. Lessons learned are documented so that they become part of the historical database for the project/program and the performing organization. The lessons learned are compiled, formalized, and stored through out the project’s/program’s duration.

Contract

Contract is an agreement that mutually binds the seller (to provide the specified product or service or result) and the buyer (to pay for it). A contract is an exchange of promises between two or more parties to do an act, which is enforceable in a court of law. It is a binding legal agreement. It is an agreement creating and defining the obligations between two or more parties.

PMO

The Project Management Office (PMO) in a business or professional enterprise is the department or group that defines and maintains the standards of process, generally related to project management, within the organization. The PMO strives to standardize and introduce economies of repetition in the execution of projects. The PMO is the source of documentation, guidance, and metrics on the practice of project management and execution. PMO tasks include following up a project until its completion and reporting to the top management in a strategic purpose.

Communcation Channels

Communication channels are paths of communication with stakeholders in a project or program. The number of communication channels shows the complexity of a project’s communication and can be derived through the formula shown below:

Total Number of Communication Channels = n (n-1)/2

where, n is the number of stakeholders. Hence, a project having five stakeholders will have ten communication channels.

Communication Skills

Communications skills are part of general management skills and are used to exchange information. Communication has many dimensions:

• Written and oral, listening, and speaking
• Internal (within the project) and external (customer, the media, the public)
• Formal (reports, briefings) and informal (memos, ad hoc conversations)
• Vertical (up and down the organization) and horizontal (with peers)

Communication is the most important skill that a project manager must posses. It is the single most important characteristics of a top-class project manager. Project managers must communicate well in order to integrate and maximize the performance of team members. Oral and written communications are the backbone of every successful project. During different phases of a project, a project manager requires to communicate through different manners (for example, documentation, meeting updates, etc.) and he must ensure that the information communicated is explicit, clear, and complete.

PMIS

The Project Management Information System (PMIS) is an information system consisting of the tools and techniques used to gather, integrate, and disseminate the outputs of project management processes. It is used to support all aspects of the project from initiating through closing, and can include both manual and automated systems. It is the parent of the change control process. It is a system that includes all of the change control processes for scope, time, cost, and procurement. Configuration management is part of the PMIS.

Configuration Management System

Configuration Management System is a subsystem of the overall project management system. It is a collection of formal documented procedures used to identify and document the functional and physical characteristics of a product, result, service, or component of the project. It also controls any changes to such characteristics, and records and reports each change and its implementation status. It includes the documentation, tracking systems, and defined approval levels necessary for authorizing and controlling changes. Audits are performed as part of configuration management to determine if the requirements have been met.

CAP

The Control Account Plan (CAP) is a plan for all the work and effort to be performed in a control account. Each CAP has a definitive statement of work, schedule, and time-phased budget. All those decision packages, which exist but details about the deliverables are not known yet, goes under CAP. Previously, it was called a Cost Account Plan.

Conflict of Interest

A conflict of interest occurs when a person is in a position to influence decisions or other outcomes on behalf of one party when such decisions or outcomes could affect the party with which the person has competing loyalties. For example, when a person is acting as an employee, he has a duty of loyalty to his employer.

Nominal Group Technique

The nominal group technique (NGT) is a structured process to gather information from a group. It requires participants to be together in the same room. Each participant jots down risks in the project on piece of papers. Each piece of paper lists only one risk. These risks are posted on a board and analyzed by the participants. It is then ranked and prioritized in writing.

Crashing

Crashing is a schedule compression technique to obtain the greatest amount of compression for the least incremental cost. Crashing works for activities where additional resources will shorten the duration. Approving overtime, bringing in additional resources, paying to expedite delivery to activities on the critical path are examples of crashing.

SWOT Analysis

SWOT analysis is a strategic planning method used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats involved in a project or in a business venture. It involves specifying the objective of the business venture or project and identifying the internal and external factors that are favorable and unfavorable to achieving that objective. The technique is credited to Albert Humphrey, who led a research project at Stanford University in the 1960s and 1970s using data from Fortune 500 companies.