Guide to Using the Organizational Project Management Capacity Assessment Tool
Appendix: Glossary of Terms
- Business case
- Typically, a presentation or a proposal to an authority by an organization seeking funding, approval, or both for an activity, initiative, or project, that identifies and explores options and then develops recommendations for the proposed investment.
- Change control
- The process of identifying, documenting, approving or rejecting, and controlling changes to the project baseline. (Project Management Body of Knowledge, third edition)
- Enhanced Management Framework
- The Enhanced Management Framework (EMF) for the Management of Information Technology Projects was approved by the Treasury Board in May 1996 and departments were directed to apply this framework to all projects that have a significant information management or technology component.
The Enhanced Management Framework for information management and information technology (IM/IT) is an integrated management model that comprises principles, best practices, methodologies, tools and templates and is designed to improve the Government of Canada's capability to manage its IM/IT investments, successfully deliver IT-enabled project, and minimize risks.
- Executive management
- Refers to those individuals who lead the organization or individual branches or programs such as assistant deputy ministers or directors general.
- Gantt chart
- A graphic display of schedule-related information. Typically schedule activities or work breakdown structure components are listed on the left side of the chart, dates are shown across the top and activity durations are shown as date-placed horizontal bars.
- Governance structure
- Any organizational structure or formal governance process used to select which projects receive funding and approval to proceed.
- Investment program
- A group of related projects managed in a coordinated way to obtain benefits and control not available from managing them individually. Investment programs may include elements of related work outside the scope of the discrete projects in the program.
- Investment portfolio
- A collection of projects or programs and other work grouped together to facilitate effective management of that work to meet strategic business objectives. The projects or programs of the investment portfolio may not necessarily be interdependent or directly related.
- Knowledge area, project management
- An identified area of project management defined by its knowledge requirements and described in terms of its component processes, practices, inputs, outputs, tools and techniques. (Project Management Body of Knowledge, third edition)
- Management, Resources and Results Structure
- The Treasury Board Management, Resources and Results Structure Policy supports the development of a common, government-wide approach to the collection, management, and reporting of financial and non-financial performance information.
- Methodology
- A system of practices, techniques, procedures and rules used by those who work in a discipline. (Project Management Body of Knowledge, third edition)
- Organization
- The entire department or agency, as defined in section 2 of the Financial Administration Act including all branches, sectors, agencies and associated programs.
- Performance reports
- Documents and presentations that provide organized and summarized performance information and analyses of project progress and status.
- Project baseline (or project phase baseline)
- The baseline is composed of each of the objectives established at the time expenditure authority is secured from the appropriate authority (e.g., minister). Any significant deviations from this baseline must be authorized by the appropriate approval authority. Expenditure authority can be sought only for those specific phases of the project that have been appropriately defined, costed and assessed.
- Project charter
- A document issued by the project initiator or sponsor that formally authorizes the existence of a project, and provides the project manager with the authority to apply organizational resources to the project activities. (Project Management Body of Knowledge, third edition)
- Project implementation
- Project implementation or execution is directing, managing, performing and accomplishing the project work, providing the deliverables, and providing work performance information.
- Project information
- Project information can include business case, charter, project management plan, progress reports, status of schedule and budget, deliverables, earned value, resource allocation, risk management information, change requests (to scope, cost, schedule, etc.), presentations to stakeholders, etc.
- Project life cycle
- A collection of generally sequential project phases whose name and number are determined by the control needs of the organization or organizations involved in the project. A life cycle can be documented with a prescribed methodology. (Project Management Body of Knowledge, third edition)
- Project management
- The systematic planning, organizing and control of allocated resources to accomplish identified project objectives and outcomes. Project management is normally reserved for focused, non-repetitive and time-limited activities that have some degree of risk, and for activities beyond the usual scope of program (operational) activities.
- Project Management Accords
- Performance Management Accords are documents that define the criteria by which senior executives are rated for job performance or incentive pay.
- Project Management Information System
- A Project Management Information System (PMIS) is a class or type of system. It contains the information essential to initiating, planning, executing and closing a project. It supports the organizational information system because it provides relevant, accurate and timely information. A PMIS should contain the following elements:
- A systematic process for depicting the qualitative goals;
- Interdependencies and time-sensitive information within a project;
- Cost-control monitoring that integrates with the work breakdown structure to keep track of funds and costs associated with work packages;
- Work authorization and control to provide the basis for releasing work orders; and
- Control of changes:
- Identifies changes as they occur;
- Reveals their consequences;
- Permits managerial analysis;
- Communicates changes to all impacted parties;
- Specifies policy for minimizing conflicts;
- Ensures that the project team implements approved changes; and
- Periodically reports on all changes.
A PMIS could also include:
- Resource management;
- Inventory control; and
- Document management.
A PMIS could use Microsoft Project, but use of this software in and of itself does not constitute having a PMIS.
- Project management plan
- A document that identifies the planned objectives and deliverables of the project, scope, work breakdown structure, budget, schedule, risks, roles, resources, functional strategies, project monitoring and control strategies, governance, process deviations, and management style. It becomes the baseline for the project against which changes are measured.
- Project management office (also referred to as project office)
- Is responsible for establishing, maintaining and enforcing project management processes, procedures, and standards within the organization.
A project office is a function that supports the project manager with project planning and control activities such as management of schedule, cost, risks, information and communication. On small projects these functions may be done by a single person; on larger projects, a team may be required.
- Project manager
- The person assigned by the performing organization to achieve the project objectives. (Project Management Body of Knowledge, third edition)
- Project planning and identification
- This is the initial stage of the project life cycle during which the sponsoring department establishes operational need(s), produces the statement of operational requirements, conducts initial options analyses and feasibility studies, sets up the appropriate management framework and agreements, assigns resources, and makes an initial assessment of project risk.
- Program Alignment Architecture
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A Program Alignment Architecture (PAA) is a hierarchy of activities that support departmental strategic objectives. Activities in the hierarchy are linked to expected results or, in the case of actual programs, are described as outputs. Final program outcomes are linked to departmental strategic objectives. Activities at the lowest level are linked to cost accounts, enabling an organization to roll up costs based on activity groupings.
A PAA is one of three elements that make up a organization's Management Results and Reporting Structure, the other two being governance and strategic objectives.
- Program management
- In the assessment, the Project Management Institute's (PMI's) term program management is referred to as investment program management, which differentiates it from the Government of Canada's definition of program management. Similarly, the PMI's definition for portfolio management is referred to as investment portfolio management.
- Quality standards
- Quality standards address both the management of the project and the output(s) of the project. They are those standards established to ensure that the project will satisfy the business needs for which it was undertaken.
- Risk assessment
- Refers to an analysis of the risks of a project at a particular point in time in which specific risks to the success of the project are identified and quantified (impact and probability), and mitigation plans are defined and actioned, according to the degree of the quantified threat.
- Scope statement
- A narrative description of the project scope (what needs to be accomplished) that may include deliverables, project objectives, project assumptions and constraints.
- Stakeholders
- People who are actively involved in a project, or whose interests may be positively or negatively affected by the execution or completion of the project.
- Work breakdown structure
A work breakdown structure (WBS) in project management and systems engineering, is a tool used to define and group a project's discrete work elements (or tasks) in a way that helps organize and define the total work scope of the project.
A work breakdown structure element may be a product, data, a service, or any combination thereof. A WBS also provides the necessary framework for detailed cost estimating and control along with providing guidance for schedule development and control. Additionally the WBS is a dynamic tool and can be revised and updated as needed by the project manager.
- Work package
- The lowest level of the work breakdown structure. Together, all work packages identify all the work required to deliver the project's objectives. A work package ideally has a single accountable lead.
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