Ch 6 Terms

dummy activities

activities with no duration and no resources used to show a local relationship between two activities in the arrow diagramming method of project network diagrams

buffer

additional time to complete a task; a buffer is added to an estimate to account for various factors

activity

an element of work normally found on the WBS that has an unexpected duration, cost, and resource requirements; also called a task

task

an element of work normally found on the WBS that has an unexpected duration, cost, and resource requirements; also called an activity

three-point estimate

an estimate that includes an optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic estimate

probalistic time estimates

duration estimates based on using optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic estimates of activity durations instead of using one specific or discrete estimate

SMART criteria

guidelines to help define milestones that are specific, measurable, assignable, realistic, and time-framed

activity attributes

information about each activity, such as predecessors, successors, logical relationships, leads and lags, resource requirements, constraints, imposed dates, and assumptions related to the activity

resources

people, equipment, and materials

duration

the actual amount of timed workd on an activity plus elapsed time

slack

the amount of time a project activity may be delayed without delaying a succeeding activity or the project finish date; also called float

float

the amount of time a project activity may be delayed without delaying a succeeding activity or the project finish date; also called slack

free slack (free float)

the amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying the early start of any immediately following activities

total slack (total float)

the amount of time an activity may be delayed from its early start without delaying the planned project finish date

schedule baseline

the approved planned schedule for the project

early finish date

the earliest possible time an activity can finish based on the project network logic

early start date

the earliest possible time an activity can start based on the project network logic

late finish date

the latest possible time an activity can be completed without delaying the project finish date

late start date

the latest possible time an activity may begin without delaying the project finish date

effort

the number of workdays or work hours required to complete a task

baseline dates

the planned schedule dates for activities in a Tracking Gantt chart

Murphy's Law

the principle that if something can go wrong, it will

Parkinson's Law

the principle that work expands to fill the time allowed

project time management

the processes required to ensure timely completion of a project

discretionary dependencies

the sequencing of project activites or tasks defined by the peoject team and used with care because they may limit later scheduling options

mandatory dependencies

the sequencing of project activities or tasks that are inherent in the nature of work being done on the project

external dependencies

the sequencing of project activities or tasks that involve relationship between project and non-project activities

relationship

the sequencing of project activities or tasks; also called a dependency

dependency

the sequencing of project activities or tasks; also called a relationship

critical path

the series of activities in a network diagram that determines the earliest completion of the project; it is the longest path through the network diagram and has the least amount of slack or float

node

the starting and ending point of an activity on an activity-on-arrow diagram

PERT weighted average

(optimistic time + 4 * most likely time + pessimistic time)/6

Tracking Gantt chart

a Gantt chart that compares planned and actual project schedule information

resource breakdown structure

a hierarchical structure that identifies the project's resources by category and type

Theory of Constraints (TOC)

a management philosophy that any complex system at any point of time often has only one aspect or constraint that limits the ability to achieve more of the system's goal

critical chain scheduling

a method of scheduling that takes limited resources into account when creating a project schedule and includes buffers to protect the project completion date

slipped milestone

a milestone activity that is completed later than planned

arrow diagramming method (ADM)

a network diagramming technique in which activities are reporesented by arrows and connected at points called nodes to illustrate the sequence of activities; also called activity-on-arrow (AOA)

activity-on-arrow (AOA)

a network diagramming technique in which activities are represented by arrows and connected at points called nodes to illustrate the sequence of activities; also called arrow diagramming method (ADM)

precedence diagramming method (PDM)

a network diagramming technique in which boxes represent activities

forward pass

a network diagramming technique that determines the early start and early finish dates for each activity

Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)

a project network analysis technique used to estimate project duration when there is a high degree of uncertainity about the individual activity duration estimates

backward pass

a project network diagramming technique that determines the late start and late finish dates for each activity

critical path method (CPM) or critical path analysis

a project network diagramming technique used to predict total project duration

start-to-finish dependency

a relationship on a project network diagram in which the "from" activity cannot start before the "to" activity is finished

start-to-start dependency

a relationship on a project network diagram in which the "from" activity cannot start until the "to" activity starts

finish-to-finish dependency

a relationship on a project network diagram in which the "from" activity must be finished before the "to" activity can be finished

finish-to-start dependency

a relationship on a project network diagram in which the "from" activity must be finished before the "to" activity can be started

fast tracking

a schedule compression technique in which you do activities in parallel that you would normally do in sequence

network diagram

a schematic display of the logical relationships or sequencing of project activities

milestone

a significant event that normally has no duration on a project; serves as a marker to help in identifying necessary activities, setting schedule goals, and monitoring progress

burst

a single node followed by two or more activities on a network diagram

Gantt chart

a standard format for displaying project schedule information by listing project activities and their corresponding start and finish dates in a calendar format; sometimes deferred to as bar charts

activity list

a tabulation of activities to be included on a project schedule

crashing

a technique for making cost and schedule trade-offs to obtain the greatest amount of schedule compression for the least incremental cost

feeding buffers

time added before tasks on the critical chain if they are preceded by other tasks that are not on the critical path

project buffer

time added before the project's due date

merge

two or more nodes that precede a single node on a network diagram

multitasking

working on more than one task at a time