PMLearning Reference
The Project Management Glossary
Every term you'll meet on the PMP®, CAPM®, PMI-ACP®, and PgMP® exams — defined in plain English, with the formulas, examples, and exam context that actually make them stick.
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Benefits Management Plan
ProgramThe benefits management plan defines each intended benefit, how and when it will be measured, who owns it, and...
Benefits Realization
ProgramBenefits realization is the discipline of ensuring a project or program actually produces the business value t...
Budget at Completion (BAC)
EVM & CostBudget at Completion is the total authorized budget for the entire project — the finish-line number all other...
Business Case
ProgramThe business case is the document that justifies the investment: the problem or opportunity, the options consi...
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Change Control Board (CCB)
ScopeThe Change Control Board is the group with the authority to approve, defer, or reject change requests — typica...
Contingency Reserve
RiskContingency reserve is time or money set aside for identified risks — the "known unknowns" already sitting in...
Cost Performance Index (CPI)
EVM & CostCPI measures cost efficiency: how much value the project earns for every dollar spent. A CPI of 1.0 means you'...
Cost Variance (CV)
EVM & CostCost Variance is the dollar gap between the value of the work performed and what it cost: negative means over...
Crashing
ScheduleCrashing is schedule compression by adding resources to critical path activities — more people, overtime, prem...
Critical Path
ScheduleThe critical path is the longest sequence of dependent activities through a project — and therefore the shorte...
Critical Path Method (CPM)
ScheduleThe Critical Path Method is the analytical technique behind the critical path: a forward pass through the netw...
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Earned Value (EV)
EVM & CostEarned Value is the budgeted worth of the work actually completed — not what you spent, but what the finished...
Earned Value Management (EVM)
EVM & CostEarned Value Management is the technique that answers the question every sponsor eventually asks: "You've spen...
Estimate at Completion (EAC)
EVM & CostEstimate at Completion is the forecast of what the whole project will actually cost, given performance so far....
Estimate to Complete (ETC)
EVM & CostEstimate to Complete answers the forward-looking question: "from this point, how much more money do we need to...
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Fast Tracking
ScheduleFast tracking compresses the schedule by performing activities in parallel that were planned in sequence. It c...
Float (Slack)
ScheduleFloat (also called slack) is how long an activity can be delayed without pushing the project's finish date. Ac...
Free Float
ScheduleFree float is the tighter cousin of total float: how long an activity can slip without delaying the early star...
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Management Reserve
RiskManagement reserve is budget or schedule held for the truly unforeseen — the "unknown unknowns" no risk worksh...
Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
AgileAn MVP is the smallest version of a product that delivers real value to real users while maximizing what the t...
Monte Carlo Simulation
RiskMonte Carlo simulation is a quantitative risk technique that runs a project model thousands of times with rand...
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Planned Value (PV)
EVM & CostPlanned Value is the authorized budget for the work scheduled to be done by a given date — in plain terms, "wh...
Power/Interest Grid
GeneralThe power/interest grid classifies stakeholders along two axes — their power over the project and their intere...
Product Backlog
AgileThe product backlog is the single, ordered list of everything that might be built — features, fixes, improveme...
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RACI Chart
GeneralA RACI chart maps every activity to who is Responsible (does the work), Accountable (owns the outcome — exactl...
Retrospective
AgileThe retrospective is the recurring meeting — end of every sprint — where the team inspects its own process: wh...
Risk Appetite
RiskRisk appetite is how much uncertainty an organization is willing to accept in pursuit of its objectives — a st...
Risk Owner
RiskThe risk owner is the single named person accountable for monitoring a specific risk and executing its respons...
Risk Register
RiskThe risk register is the living log of identified risks: each entry with its description, probability, impact,...
Risk Threshold
RiskA risk threshold is the measurable line drawn from risk appetite — the specific level of exposure above which...
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Schedule Baseline
ScheduleThe schedule baseline is the approved version of the schedule — the fixed reference that actual progress is me...
Schedule Performance Index (SPI)
EVM & CostSPI measures schedule efficiency: the rate at which work is actually being completed versus the rate the plan...
Schedule Variance (SV)
EVM & CostSchedule Variance expresses schedule position in dollars: the value of work completed minus the value of work...
Scope Baseline
ScopeThe scope baseline is the approved definition of what the project will deliver: the scope statement, the WBS,...
Scope Creep
ScopeScope creep is the uncontrolled growth of project scope — additions that bypass change control, arriving one "...
Servant Leadership
LeadershipServant leadership inverts the traditional pyramid: the leader's job is to serve the team — removing impedimen...
Sprint
AgileA sprint (or iteration) is a short, fixed-length timebox — commonly two weeks — in which the team plans, build...
Stakeholder Register
GeneralThe stakeholder register is the catalog of everyone who can affect or be affected by the project — with their...
Story Points
AgileStory points are a relative, unitless measure of effort — this item is roughly twice that one — covering compl...
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WIP Limits
AgileWork-in-progress limits cap how many items can occupy a workflow stage at once. They feel counterintuitive — l...
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
ScopeThe WBS is a hierarchical decomposition of the total project scope into smaller, manageable pieces — everythin...
Work Package
ScopeA work package is the lowest level of the WBS — a chunk of work small enough to be reliably estimated for cost...
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