Project Vocabulary 4

Critical Path Method

a way of doing planning for projects that are made up of a number of individual activities. If some of the activities require other activities to finish before they can start, then the project becomes a complex web of activities.

Resources

are anything that are required to complete a project, including, but not limited to, team members, tools, vendors, and materials

Web-Based Research

as opposed to traditional strategies provides you with the advantage of time, amount of information, access, organization, and instant recording or note taking.

Project Scheduling Software (Microsoft Excel)

can be used to design Gantt charts for the purpose of project planning. This first website includes a written step-by-step way of doing this.

Schedule

establishes the timelines, delivery and availability of project resources, whether they be personnel, inventory or capital. A project schedule provides realistic milestones for the completion of tasks through the lifespan of the project.

Timelines

is a graphical representation drawn on a time scale in which key tasks or project events are marked in the sequence of their occurrence.

Benchmark

is a point of reference used to compare previous similar activities to the current project activities and provide a standard to measure performance.

Gantt Chart

is graphical representation of the duration of tasks against the progression of time. A Gantt chart is a useful tool for planning and scheduling projects.

Efficiency

is the degree to which a project is completed successfully with the minimum amount of time, money, and effort. Efficiency is often contrasted with effectiveness, which is the degree to which the completion of a project produces a specific desired effect or result. A project can be effective but not efficient (that is, get the job done but requiring more time and money than was planned or budgeted).