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# A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

ABB - Activity-Based Budgeting Go to Index
A method of budget planning that 1) defines the activities necessary to each function of a business, 2) determines what, if any, relationships exist between each activity and its function in fulfilling business objectives, and 3) allocates resources, including financial resources, based on the needs of each activity, rather than on the projected costs of each product or process.

Taguchi Method Go to Index
Named for the method's pioneer, Genichi Taguchi; sometimes called "robust design." An approach to quality control derived from engineering methods, the Taguchi method is based on the fundamental principle that quality should be ensured at the design stage of a product or process, rather than added subsequently as a result of nonconformities caught at inspection or other stages of production (i.e., "inspected into" it). The method attempts 1) to identify all of the variables that will materially affect the outcome of a process; 2) select relevant combinations of those variables and examine their potential effects; and 3) design the process to neutralize or eliminate adverse effects (e.g., nonconformities, defects, or failures) of those variables before the process is launched.

Hanedashi
A device installed on production equipment that automatically ejects the product unit once its operation on that piece of equipment is complete, readying the unit for transfer to the next production stage. Used in chaku-chaku line production, it ensures that the only action required of employees is the loading of each product unit into the equipment at the beginning of its process.

Impact Analysis
The evaluation of the time, cost, and technical effects of a proposed change.

U Chart
Named "U" for "unit"; a control chart that visually depicts a count of the number of defects per unit in a series of random samples.

JIT - Just In Time [Manufacturing]
A "lean manufacturing" process that uses a "continuous improvement" ("CI") methodology; it attempts to improve quality and performance by eliminating waste in seven primary areas of the manufacturing process: 1) inventory; 2) motion; 3) processing; 4) time; 5) overproduction; 6) transportation; and 7) product defects. In practice, JIT manufacturing produces only those units in only those quantities needed by the next stage of the production process; at the stage of delivery to the customer, it controls inventory by delivering the necessary quantities of specific units only at the point at which they are needed.

V Value Go to Index
A score assigned to a variable in the context of a given measurement; for purposes of quality management, "value" is also the worth of the sum total of all aspects of a product or service purchased by the customer.

K Kaizen Go to Index
Japanese for "incremental and continuous improvement." In the manufacturing context, "kaizen" refers to an overall management philosophy by which the business as a whole and each of its individual employees commit to seeking continuous improvement in all aspects of the organization's enterprise, not merely those related to quality, performance, or profit.

Late Start Date
The latest time an activity may begin without delaying the project finish date. This date is calculated as the late finish minus the duration of the activity.

B10 Life
The length of time between production and the point at which 10% of a given product population will fail.

Waste
Anything generated by any activity or process that consumes resources but does not add value to the product, service, or process being produced.

Main Effect
The measurement of the average change in the dependent variable (i.e., "response variable") that results from moving a single independent variable from one level to another.

X
The letter used to represent the cause (i.e., an input) that creates an effect in the output (expressed as "Y") of a process; often used to indicate the cause of a problem or variation. When used to represent a variable (i.e., "X variable"), it refers to the independent variable.

Y
The letter used to represent an effect (i.e., an output) created by a cause in the input (expressed as "X") of a process. When used to represent a variable (i.e., "Y variable"), it refers to the dependent variable.

Z Bench
Term for the "Z value" that corresponds to the total probability that a defect will occur.

Calibration Go to Index
The process of gauging a system's or instrument's accuracy by comparing it to an identical system or instrument whose accuracy level is generally accepted as the standard for that business, industry, or enterprise.

Negotiating
The process of bargaining with individuals concerning the transfer of resources, the generation of information or the accomplishment of activities.

Calibration Go to Index
The process of gauging a system's or instrument's accuracy by comparing it to an identical system or instrument whose accuracy level is generally accepted as the standard for that business, industry, or enterprise.

Objectives
Something toward which work is to be directed, a strategic position to be attained, a purpose to be achieved, a result to be obtained, a product to be produced or a service to be performed. Project objectives are the quantifiable criteria that must be met for the project to be considered successful.

P Chart
Also known as a "percent chart"; a visual representation of the percentage of defective units in a population sample. A "P chart" is frequently used as a tool to track and analyze quality and performance in production processes.

Dashboard
A management tool used to provide summary, at-a-glance evaluations of performance, usually with regard to 1) customer wants, needs, preferences, and/or expectations; or 2) quality and/or performance of a product, process, system, or enterprise.

QFD - Quality Function Deployment
A customer-focused methodology that translates customer expectations into performance standards and then "deploys" those standards throughout the entire organization. QFD uses market research, specially designed surveys, etc., to identify customer's spoken and unspoken requirements (i.e., the "voice of the customer"); categorizes those requirements in a planning matrix known as the House of Quality; and uses the data derived from the matrix to modify performance standards to ensure quality levels that meet the "voice of the customer."

Random
A sample (or set of samples) chosen from a population of data via a technique that ensures that each sample (or combination thereof) has an equal chance of being selected (i.e., "Random Sampling").

Early Finish Date
The earliest time an activity may be completed. It is equal to the early start of the activity plus its estimated duration.

F test
Also known as "F ratio"; a test that measures whether two samples with drawn from different data populations have the same standard deviation within a particular confidence level.

Sample
A subset drawn from a larger population of data; for purposes of analysis, the units in a sample are assumed to be representative of those in the entire population with regard to the characteristics to be analyzed.

Gantt Chart
A project and production management tool, named for its inventor, engineer Henry L. Gantt. A Gantt chart is a visual representation, usually in the form of a bar chart, depicting the work planned for a project or enterprise. The bars demonstrate work completed to date, as well as that planned for each project component or process, including existing and projected timelines.

ABC - Activity-Based Costing
A method of determining costs that 1) defines the actual costs of each product or process and 2) allocates resources, including financial resources, based on those actual costs rather than on the traditional business structures used to allocate resources in other methods of budgeting.

Takt Time
Derived from the German word "takt," or "baton" (i.e., used by a conductor to control the music's speed and tempo); a fundamental component of lean manufacturing. Takt time is the rate of time required to complete the production cycle for a product and meet, but not exceed, customer demand.

Hardware
A physical component of a computer system

Independent Variable
A controlled variable, sometimes called an "input" or "process" variable, usually expressed as "X"; its value does not depend on any other variable in the data set.

Uncertainty
A lack of knowledge of future events.

Judgment Sampling
A method of choosing a data sample drawn from a larger population based on one's own judgment, grounded in relevant experience. The sample, and the variables included in it, are (or should be) selected based on judgments in three primary areas: 1) their value; 2) their "relative risk"; and 3) the extent to which they are representative of the larger population.

Value-Added
Those aspects of a product, service, or process that contribute to its collective worth from the customer's perspective (especially worth above and beyond the customer's general expectations). In the management context, anything "value-added" is any element of a process, system, operation, or enterprise that contributes to the quality and/or performance (as defined from the customer's perspective) of its output.

Kanban
Japanese for "sign" or "signboard"; a term originally used in the production context to refer to a printed card containing an order to complete the next stage of the manufacturing process. A component of "JIT manufacturing", a "kanban" is a signaling device used at each stage of production to "pull" each unit to the next stage at the proper time.

Lead Time
The period of time required to fulfill a customer's order completely – i.e., the length of time that elapses between the moment the customer places the order and the moment the completed order is delivered to the customer.

Back-Date
In manufacturing or production processes, a method of calculating the "start date" and "due date" of each stage of the operation by working backward from the "ship date."

WBS
See Work Breakdown Structure.

Maintainability
The probability that a product, process, or system can be maintained (i.e., serviced or repaired) within a defined period of time under conditions of ordinary use.

X-Bar
The letter X with a bar over it, used to represent the mean of all sample values from a population of data.

YB - Yellow Belt
The "entry level" for Six Sigma professionals; employees who understand the basics of Six Sigma methodology. Yellow Belts are responsible for implementing Six Sigma at the process level and may manage small projects, but do not lead teams or major projects.

Z Score
A measurement of a data sample's distance from the population mean, calculated in standard deviations, and the direction of that deviation. Also known as "Z value."

Calibration interval
The period of time between an instrument's initial calibration and a subsequent calibration. The difference in performance during the period between these two calibrations indicates the instrument's "drift," or deviation from its standard of performance.

Net present value
The discounted current value of a future stream of inflows and outflows of cash; often used in project selection to determine which option provides the greatest benefit to the organization. Generally, the option bearing the greatest net present value is selected for investment.

Calibration interval
The period of time between an instrument's initial calibration and a subsequent calibration. The difference in performance during the period between these two calibrations indicates the instrument's "drift," or deviation from its standard of performance.

Offset
The degree of sustained deviation of the controlled, or process, variable from the set point.

Paired data
Sometimes called "paired samples"; two sets of related (or corresponding) observations, with each set deriving from a separate population or sample.

Data
A set of facts or information. There are two types of data: 1) "attribute data," sometimes known as "counted" data because it can be counted and recorded, but cannot be analyzed unless it is converted into the second type of data, i.e., 2) "variable data," also known as "continuous" or "measured" data, which can be analyzed and extrapolated to new hypotheses and conclusions.

QMS - Quality Management System
A framework incorporating generally accepted standards of quality and performance (e.g., ISO 9000), used to ensure that a business's performance and quality levels meet or exceed those standards and consistently strive for improvement. May incorporate a three-pronged system known as the "Quality Trilogy," comprising 1) "quality control"; 2) "quality improvement"; and 3) "quality planning."

Range
The difference between the highest and lowest values in the dispersion, or "spread," of a given data set. "Range" is the simplest statistical measure of dispersion; usually used as a supplement to other statistical measures, such as standard deviation.

Earned Value
The value of the project work that has been completed in terms of the budget allocated for that work; the budgeted cost of work performed.

Facilitate
The act of making a process, system, or event easier and/or more efficient.

Scan Time
Applies to computerized processes and functions; the length of time required for the system's processor to accept and read all inputs, execute its "control program" and any other necessary functions, and update all outputs accordingly.

Gap
The difference between the current state of a situation, product or solution and the desired state.

Abnormalities
Products or processes that deviate from what is regarded as "standard" for that product or process. When measured by the tools used to define the standard, a unit with an abnormality is of unacceptable quality.

Task
An individual work element that accomplishes a discrete work item, is composed of inputs and outputs, has an owner, and is performed within a specified duration.

Hard Savings
Savings achieved through use of Six Sigma methodology in one of two ways: 1) via "cost savings," by enabling the enterprise to do the same amount of business with fewer employees; or 2) via "cost avoidance," by enabling the enterprise to take on additional business without adding additional staff.

Indicator
A measure of performance; generally quantitative rather than qualitative, an indicator is usually expressed as a ratio of the frequency with which a given phenomenon actually occurred to the frequency of its opportunities to occur.

Unit
A distinct individual item (whether tangible, as a physical product, or intangible, as a software element) that can tested, measured, or evaluated against defined standards.

Value Stream
The entire series, or "stream," of activities, operations, and processes that constitute the production process, from order placement to delivery to the customer; includes both those activities that add value and those that do not.

Kano Analysis
A model used to measure how well a product of service meets customer requirements; named for its inventor, Dr. Noriaki Kano. "Kano analysis" is usually expressed visually via a "Kano diagram" (also known as a "3-arrow diagram"), which plots three forms of quality ("must-be quality," one-dimensional quality," and "attractive quality") across a relation diagram. Kano analysis is based on four core principles: 1) Understanding "unspoken" customer expectations is as important to performance as understanding those that are expressed; 2) with regard to some customer requirements, better product performance leads to greater customer satisfaction (i.e., "one-dimensional quality"); 3) with regard to some customer requirements, customer satisfaction does not increase with better performance, but it does decrease if the customer notices defects in performance (i.e., "must-be quality"), while with other requirements, because the additional performance is not expected, customer satisfaction does not decrease with its absence, but does increase with its presence (i.e., "attractive quality"); and 4) a properly designed survey (i.e., a "Kano method survey") of customers will identify customer expectations with regard to each form of quality, allowing business to ensure performance that meets those expectations.

Lean
An analytical approach used to identify and eliminate waste (i.e., any aspect of the business that does not add value in the customer's eyes, and for which the customer would not want to pay) by formulating a strategic plan to eliminate such waste throughout all levels, systems, and processes of the organization.

Balanced Experiment
A form of experiment in which each factor level or treatment group contains the same number of units (i.e., quantitatively "balancing" each factor or group). A balanced experiment is simpler than an "unbalanced" one, in which varying quantities add complexity, and is especially useful where each factor or group is to be accorded identical weight, significance, or importance.

Weighed Voting
A planning method that prioritizes tasks, issues, concepts, etc., by assigning to each item a point value that reflects its relative importance.

Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award
Named for former Secretary of Commerce Malcolm Baldrige; created by an act of Congress in 1987 and administered by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The award is presented annually to American companies (two companies per year in each of five business categories) for the following purposes: 1) to recognize their quality and productivity improvements, 2) to establish best practices for quality improvement, 3) to encourage other companies to commit to quality improvement, and 4) to aid and educate companies about the importance of quality improvement and assist them in designing and implementing their own programs.

X-Bar and R Chart
A type of "combined" control chart that integrates data for both means and ranges of subgroups into one image; used to determine whether a process's center and level of variability are "in control" (i.e., remains constant over a designated period of time).

Yield
The quantity or volume of units produced by a particular process (i.e., output) that is free of nonconformities or defects.

Z Value
A measurement of a data sample's distance from the population mean, calculated in standard deviations, and the direction of that deviation. Also known as "Z score."

Network
In project management, a network represents the logical interrelationship of scheduled project tasks, typically depicted in a flow diagram.

Capability
The entire range of a product, process, or system's inherent variation in ability to function. Capability is usually regarded in "evolutionary" terms – i.e., from the unit's minimum to maximum abilities and any capacities for growth – and is usually evaluated according to specified standards by results that can be measured.

Off-the-Shelf
A computer software package that is not tailored to one organization and thus appeals to a broader market.

Paradigm
A model or archetype for a given concept that is generally accepted as defining the concept's parameters, content, processes, or other elements, and as providing a way of thinking about, analyzing, or applying the concept.

Data Analysis
Evaluation of the collection of information in a data set for a particular purpose – e.g., to determine quality and/or performance and identify flaws, or to project new hypotheses, conclusions, steps in a process, or results.

Quality
The degree to which a product or service is free of defects, conforms to established standards of performance and/or value, and meets customer satisfaction requirements.

Regression
A method of statistical analysis used to predict a relationship between a dependent variable and one or more independent variables; regression is used to predict the future value of the dependent variable based on the significance of the historical relationship(s) between it and the independent variable(s).

E/I Transducer
A device used to convert a voltage signal into a linear current signal.

Facilitator
A person external to a team that helps the team work more effectively through a process.

Scatter Diagram
Also known as a "scatter plot" or "scattergram"; one of the "Seven Tools of Quality." A scatter plot is a visual representation of the relationship between two variables, depicted by plotting the data points across the chart in a "scatter" effect; the closer the data points, the stronger the relationship.

Gap Analysis
A measurement of the difference between customer expectations and a business's existing products or services.

Absorption Costing
The process of measuring product cost strictly by subtracting all direct and indirect product costs from revenues. Absorption costing is used to provide a per-unit average product cost.

Team
Two or more individuals, formally or informally organized into a group for the purpose of working together to fulfill a particular mission or purpose and/or to complete a project, operation, or task.

Hawthorne Effect
Named for studies done in the 1920s and 1930s at the Western Electric Hawthorne Works facility in Chicago; a phenomenon in which evaluation of employees yields biased, or inaccurate, results because the employees' knowledge that they are being evaluated leads them to produce at higher levels.

Indirect Cost
A cost that is not directly allocable in full to a specific product or service (e.g., so-called "overhead costs," a portion of which are allocable to every product or service).

Unit Testing
Unit, or single component testing is initial testing for each module or component of the final solution. It involves each component being tested in its entirety as a single individual unit to ensure that any inconsistencies or errors are identified early in the building phase.

Value Stream Mapping
Typically labeled a "paper and pencil" tool, although it may be constructed digitally; a value management tool designed to create two separate visual representations (i.e., "maps"). The first map illustrates how data and resources move through the "value stream" during the production process, and is used to identify waste, defects, and failures; the second map, using data contained in the first, illustrates a "future state map" of the same value stream with any waste, defects, and failures eliminated. The two maps are used to create detailed strategic and implementation plans to enhance the value stream's performance.

KPI - "Key Performance Indicator"
One of a set of specific measures of performance, determined in advance, that demonstrates in quantifiable terms how well a business is meeting its performance standards; usually expressed as a ratio of the frequency with which a given phenomenon actually occurred to the frequency of its opportunities to occur.

Lean Enterprise
A management philosophy that evaluates the entire business, or enterprise, as a whole, identifying and eliminating waste at all levels and in all systems and processes in order to enhance quality, performance, and profit. "Lean enterprise" is based on three core principles: 1) Satisfy customer expectation by engaging only in "value-added" activities; 2) define the "value stream" – i.e., the flow of information and material, and any obstacles thereto, in the entire production process, from order placement to delivery to the customer; and 3) eliminate waste in all levels and activities of the business. Lean enterprise implements these principles through five core operational processes: 1) identifying "value"; 2) transforming the "value stream" in accordance with those principles; 3) ensuring linked, consistent, level flow within the entire value stream; 4) ensuring response throughout the entire value stream to customer "pull," or expectations; and 5) striving for perfection in fulfillment of all principles throughout the entire business. In the manufacturing context, these principles and processes manifest through four functions: 1) production flow; 2) planning; 3) organization; and 4) performance.

Balanced Scoreboard
A business strategy of performance evaluation via use of a "scorecard" based on four to six strategic "indicators." The scorecard comprises each of the four to six components, represented individually, and measures them in terms of how well they are meeting the business's strategic objectives.

Wet Leg
A type of "detection system" used to measure differential pressure ("d/p") in a steam drum by means of a condensing tank. The high-pressure side of the d/p cell connects to the tank's vapor space, where the steam condenses and fills the "wet leg" with water, while the low-pressure side detects the liquid inside the drum; the output of the d/p cell should reflect the amount of water in the drum.

MBB - Master Black Belt
An expert in Six Sigma philosophy and methodology who has generally undergone testing and certification. An MBB serves as a leader of a company's Six Sigma program, responsible for strategic implementation of programs and for training and mentoring Black Belt and Green Belt in Six Sigma methodologies.

X-Bar-Bar
The letter X with a double bar over it, used to represent the mean of all of the sample means of a population distribution.

Zero Defects
A business management philosophy, practiced prior to the development Six Sigma, that strives to increase profitability by reducing the number of defects in each product or process (or lot thereof) to zero.

Network Diagram
A schematic display of the sequential and logical relationship of the activities composing the project. Two popular drawing conventions or notations for scheduling are the arrow diagramming and the precedence diagramming methods.

Capability Analysis
A tool of statistical measurement used to determine capability by comparing a process's actual performance with customer expectations.

Operating System
The software that controls the execution of programs on the computer.

Paradigm Shift
A significant change in what is generally accepted as a model or archetype for a concept, and/or a significant change in generally accepted methods of thinking about, analyzing, or applying such a model; usually arises because relevant new data are discovered or existing data become obsolete, alteration fundamental assumptions, theories, and conclusions.

Data Corruption
Also known as "data contamination"; the disruption or violation of the information in a data set, or the introduction of error or extraneous information into it.

Quality Assurance
A guarantee that quality levels will conform to specific, defined standards that meet customer expectations; administered via systematic compliance with a formal set of guidelines and procedures that are designed to define quality levels, establish appropriate systems and processes for conformance, and measure results.

Reliability
The degree of probability that a product or process will perform its intended function or fulfill its intended purpose, under specified conditions and for a designated length of time, without defects, failures, or nonconformities.

Effect
The result produced by a particular cause – e.g., the result achieved by a specific action. Sometimes expressed as the "response variable," represented by "Y," with the cause, or independent variable, represented by "X."

Factor
A variable, whether controlled or uncontrolled, that may affect or influence another factor or a result.

Schedule
The planned dates for performing project activities and meeting project milestones.

Goal
With regard to a product, service, process, system, project, enterprise, operation, etc., an intended result that conforms to specific and measurable targets (e.g., quality level, speed, efficiency, etc.).

GB - Green Belt
An employee, usually a team or project leader, who has been formally trained (and may be certified) in Six Sigma methodology. A GB implements Six Sigma principles as a part of his or her duties, but does not concentrate on them exclusively; s/he is responsible for Six Sigma implementation at the level of project organization and management.

AQL - Acceptable Quality Level
Also known as "assured quality level." An acceptable quality level represents the ratio of conforming units in a given sample lot of a product or process to the maximum number of defective or "nonconforming" units that the sample lot may contain and still be considered of acceptable quality. The ideal acceptable quality level is one with zero defects or nonconforming units.

Team Building
The process of influencing a group of diverse individuals, each with individualized goals, needs, and perspectives, to work together effectively for the good of the project such that their team will accomplish more than the sum of their individual efforts could otherwise achieve.

Hazard Analysis
A method of risk assessment that attempts to identify in advance hazards or failure in design and production processes, or sources thereof, in order to prevent their occurrence; generally refers to hazards that constitute risk of serious economic or physical harm.

Inferential Statistics
A form of statistical analysis that uses statistics to draw inferences (i.e., logical conclusions based on available data) about a population by evaluating a sample from that data set. Two primary analytical methods are used in inferential statistics: 1) hypothesis testing, in which the sample data are measured to determine whether they support rejecting the null hypothesis; and 2) estimation, used to measure a particular parameter in the sample data and project its confidence interval.

Update
To revise the project plan or work breakdown schedule to reflect the most current information on the project.

Variable Costing
A method of accounting that allocates only variable manufacturing costs (e.g., product materials, labor, and variable overhead) as per-unit product costs; fixed overhead costs are allocated as a period expense.

Lean Manufacturing
A manufacturing philosophy that conforms to the principles of "lean enterprise," with the primary focus on elimination of waste. "Lean manufacturing" implements these principles via six primary processes: 1) ensuring zero wait time; 2) maintaining zero inventory; 3) using a scheduling system based on customer "pull"; 4) reducing production batch sizes to enable "batch to flow" processing; 5) balancing production lines to ensure consistent flow; and 6) reducing actual processing time.

Bar Chart
A visual depiction that compares or contrasts groups of data by means of images of bars that vary in length or other relevant qualities. "Simple" bar charts compare sets of data that are uniform; "complex" bar charts may group, or "stack," various types of data internally within each data set being compared.

Whisker
An "outlier" in a box plot diagram – i.e., a data point whose distribution exceeds 1.5 times the length of the inner quartiles of the population distribution.

Material Flow
The actual physical, ordered movement (or conveyance) of products or components through the entire production process (in "lean" terms, through the "value stream").

ZQC - Zero Quality Control
An approach to quality control pioneered by process-control expert Shigeo Shingo. ZQC incorporates Shingo's concepts of "poka-yoke" and "source inspection" as tools to eliminate quality defects entirely.

New Cost Systems Go to Index
Forms of accounting that use "new," or nontraditional, costing methods capable of tracking and analyzing more complex financial data than the older standard profit-and-loss methods (e.g., "budgeted hourly rate," or "BHR" cost systems). Examples of "new cost systems" include activity-based cost systems, attribute-based cost systems, resource consumption accounting, and Grenzplankostenrechnung costing; among others.

Capacity
The measurement of a product, process, or system's maximum capability with regard to a particular factor or characteristic (e.g., volume, speed, quality, effectiveness, etc.).

Operational Definition
A standard, or accepted, meaning of a given value that includes a specific, precise description of the value, how it is calculated or derived, and how it is measured.

Pareto Diagram
A Pareto diagram is related to Pareto’s Law: 80 percent of the problems come from 20 percent of the issues (also known as the “80/20” rule). A Pareto diagram illustrates problems by assigned cause, from most significant to least significant.

Data Integrity
The level of accuracy and completeness of the information in a particular data set – i.e., the degree to which it is free from corruption or the introduction of error.

Quality Audit
A formal, in-depth review of quality control and quality assurance processes, as well as other processes and systems, designed to measure whether such processes and/or their outputs meet established minimum standards of quality. Usually conducted by an independent entity.

Request for Information (RFI)
A formal invitation containing a scope of work that seeks information regarding products or services from vendors without creating a basis for a contract.

Effectiveness
A measurable quality representing the ability (i.e., of a particular product, process, service, system, operation, enterprise, etc.) to achieve a particular objective or obtain a particular desired result.

Fast Tracking
Fast tracking is a scheduling method designed to get a project closed as quickly as possible while still completing all tasks appropriate for the project. Fast tracking usually involves doing activities in parallel that are normally done sequentially.

Scope
The work content and products of a project or component of a project. Scope is fully described by naming all activities performed, the resources consumed, and the resulting end products, including quality standards.

GPK - Grenzplankostenrechnung Costing
A method of cost accounting popular in Germany for the last half-century; some sources translate the phrase literally as "flexible analytic cost planning and accounting." Sometimes called "marginal costing, GPK resembles "attribute-based costing," but takes a "cost-pull" approach (i.e., customer demand drives output, and therefore, costs): It organizes a business's operations into "cost centers" and evaluates their efficiency based on the difference between each center's standard costs and actual costs; the resulting data are used to improve productivity and efficiency.

Acceptance Number
The maximum number of units in a sample lot that may be defective or nonconforming, while still permitting the sample lot to be considered of acceptable quality.

Team Charter
A CAP tool used to assist the team with establishing certain essential team components to increase the probability of project success: key result areas, boundaries, roles and responsibilities, guiding principles, and operating agreements.

Hidden Factory
The theory that a business that does not focus on ensuring quality will engage in wasteful processes and production, leading to inflated costs and decreased profits, largely through production of defective or nonconforming units and resultant customer dissatisfaction.

Information Services
The activities associated with providing customers ready access to product and strategic information through electronic and physical facilities with or without human intervention. Examples include electronic bulletin boards, electronic mail, on-line documentation, electronic account information and on-line benefits.

User Acceptance Testing
User acceptance testing provides an opportunity for the client to make sure that the final solution is what they expect. After the project team has successfully completed all other tests, the solution is passed to the user or client for their testing and subsequent approval. Users may also be involved in other stages of testing, but acceptance testing is their primary responsibility - with assistance from the project team.

Variable Data
Quantitative data; more complex than attribute data. Two forms of "variable data" exist: "discrete data" and "continuous data"; such data are used, e.g., to measure qualitative characteristics quantitatively.

LED - "Light-Emitting Diode"
A type of semiconductor device; when electric current passes through it, it emits either visible or infrared light. LEDs are frequently used as "indicator" lights on electronic equipment and products (e.g., computers, stereo components, watches, wireless electronics, etc.).

Baseline
A fundamental point in a system, process, or quality, against which all other stages or phases are measured. Frequently, a baseline is 1) a beginning point in a process, or 2) a minimum acceptable level of quality.

Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney Test
A nonparametric test (i.e., used when the data are not normally distributed) used to determine "identity"; measures the probability that two independent samples of ordinal values were drawn from the same population distribution.

Matrix Diagram
A visual representation that depicts two or more data sets and illustrates the strength and/or the direction of any relationships between them. Five types of matrix diagrams exist: C, L, T, X, and Y matrix diagrams. The name of each is denoted by a letter resembling the shape of the matrix the diagram produces; most common are L and T matrices. Matrix diagrams are used to explore the relationships between data sets to identify trends, isolate potential problems, and improve performance.

Nominal
Usually arises in the design process; an estimated value assigned to the process that reflects or approximates its target value. Six Sigma methodology calculates deviation from the nominal in determining quality levels.

Causality
The relationship between an action or condition (i.e., a "factor") and an effect that results from it (i.e., a "response variable").

Opportunity Cost
The cost incurred by choosing one option instead of another - i.e., the unattained value of the alternative not chosen.

Percent Complete
An estimate, expressed as a percentage, of the amount of work that has been completed on an activity or a work breakdown structure component.

Data Model
A diagram depicting the major categories of data required by an organization and their definitions and relationships to one another.

Quality Circles
Small teams or groups within a company, project, or enterprise that meet regularly and work together to study quality control and quality assurance issues and apply solutions that will improve their individual performance, as well as that of their project and/or the business as a whole. In Japan, known as "Quality control circles."

Request for Proposals (RFP)
A formal invitation containing a scope of work that seeks a formal response (proposal) describing both methodology and compensation to form the basis of a contract.

Efficiency
A condition measured by comparing the quality and/or value of the output with the collection of costs, resources, and effort that constitute the input. The higher the output and/or quality levels and the lower the costs, resources, and effort, the greater the level of efficiency.

Feasibility
The condition or state of being able, by means that are practical given the circumstances, to function as intended or to fulfill a given role. A process or function is feasible if it can be accomplished with reasonable efficiency and efficacy – e.g., without costs that are disproportionate to value of the likely or expected result.

Scope Baseline
A summary description of the project’s original agreed content and end products, including basic budget and time constraint data.

Graph
The display or drawing that shows a relationship between activities; a pictorial representation of relative variables. Examples include trend graphs, histograms, control charts, frequency distributions, and scatter diagrams.

Acceptance Sampling Plan
A quality-control plan that uses a "C chart" to measure the quality of individual "sample" lots of units of a product or service, rather than inspecting each individual lot or unit. Two types of acceptance sampling plans exist: the "attribute sampling plan" and the "variables sampling plan."

Team Contract
An agreement developed by the team that defines the guidelines that the team will follow as they work together as a team.

Histogram
A visual representation, in the form of a bar graph, of the frequency distribution of a data set; used to identify patterns in variation, including amount, frequency, and type(s) of variation. Each bar represents a particular "class" or category of the data, the width of each bar is identical, and the height of each bar is proportional to the frequency with which the class it represents appears.

Information System
A structured interaction of people, technology, and procedures designed to produce reliable information for use as a basis for decision making.

User Requirements
User requirements are those the end user needs or wants regarding the project product. User requirements are identified through interviews and requirements gathering exercises and are prioritized based on their relevance to the resolution of the business need identified as justification for the project. See also Requirements.

Variance
An actual or potential deviation from an intended or budgeted figure or plan; the difference between what actually occurred and what was planned or projected to occur. A variance can be a difference between budgeted and actual cost; any difference between the projected duration for an activity and the actual duration of the activity; or the difference between projected start and finish dates and actual or revised start and finish dates.

Lessons Learned
The compilation of what the project team has learned during a project as a result of successes and failures. Lessons learned include both positive observations and opportunities for improvement. Lessons learned are supplied to other project teams to apply to their ongoing projects.

Baseline Measures
The comparison of conditions against the baseline point. Frequently, this process of measurement will occur between 1) current conditions and a previous condition that serves as the baseline, or 2) projected future conditions measured against a baseline of current conditions.

Work Cell
A collection of resources (e.g., materials, equipment, personnel, etc.), usually arranged in proximity and sequence, grouped together for the purpose of producing a "family" of related products; each cell is headed by a team leader who coordinates resources and workflow to ensure that productivity, quality, and performance standards are met.

Matrix Organization
A two-dimensional organizational structure in which staff members often have dual reporting responsibilities, solid line and dotted line, to separate authorities or organizations. Typically, projects managed within a matrix organization build teams in which the project manager draws resources from functional organizations. In such a case the project manager shares responsibility with the functional manager to assign priorities to and direct the work of project team members.

Nominal Group Technique
A structured method, similar to brainstorming, used to promote creativity and diversity in problem solving and to reach rapid consensus on solutions. Group participants silently generate and record ideas, which are then collected by the group's facilitator and presented for open collective discussion without identifying each idea's author.

Cause
A factor (i.e., an action or condition) that creates an effect (i.e., a "response variable") on another factor or process.

Optimization
The process of modifying or adjusting a process, system, or operation to create the best possible average performance, while simultaneously minimizing variation, nonconformity, or defects.

Period Cost
Sometimes called "period expense"; a cost or expense incurred in a given period that is not traceable directly to production processes or to the products created.

Decision Tree Analysis
An analysis technique used to determine which of two decisions is best. The decision tree assists in calculating the value of each decision and in determining which decision costs least.

Quality Control
A process or set of processes designed to 1) define established standards of quality that will meet customer expectations; 2) assess whether products, services, processes, or systems conform to those standards; and 3) identify any gaps, nonconformities, or failures to meet those standards. One of the three "prongs" in the "Quality Trilogy."

Request for Quotations (RFQ)
A formal invitation containing a scope of work that seeks a cost or price quotation to perform the work or provide the product specified as the basis of a contract.

Elevator Speech
A key, concise message to describe the project. It is used to perform a “reality check” to ensure that team members see the project same way and spread a unified message when communicating to other stakeholders.

Feasibility Studies
The methods and techniques used to assess technical and cost data to determine the economic potential and the practicality of projects.

Scope Change
A deviation from the originally agreed project scope.

Groupthink
A phenomenon that may appear in businesses, enterprises, or teams, in which the entire membership of the body adheres to the same principles, beliefs, strategies, and approaches. This uniformity usually results from the members' self-censorship of their own ideas, largely either because their contributions are disregarded or because they fear reprisals for contributing potentially accurate but unwelcome information.

Accessory Planning
A business strategy that plans for the use of "remnant materials" (the residual or scrap materials left over after a product or process is complete) to provide added value to existing products or processes.

Team Member
An individual who works with one or more other individuals on a specific task, project, process, or enterprise for the purpose of collaboratively completing that project successfully. A team member is generally selected because s/he brings specific experience and/or expertise to the project. In a business that uses Six Sigma methodologies, members of a team are led by a Green Belt, Black Belt, or Master Black Belt, who is responsible for ensuring that the team implements Six Sigma principles in its work.

Histogram Plot
The image of a frequency distribution displayed in a histogram (i.e., the "line" of the distribution).

Intangible Benefits
Also known as "soft benefits"; gains that are nonmonetary or that cannot be sufficiently quantified for purposes of accounting or other financial reporting, but that contribute to increases in quality, performance, and profit. Examples of intangible benefits may include, e.g., improved employee morale, heightened customer satisfaction, better vendor relationships, etc.

Variance Go to Index
A change in data, which may be expressed in lay terms as a departure from normal conditions or processes, or in statistical terms as dispersion from a distribution's mean. There are four sources of variation: 1) "special causes"; 2) "common causes"; 3) "tampering"; and 4) "structural variation."

Level Scheduling
A component of lean manufacturing; a method of production scheduling designed to reduce excess inventory and waiting periods by "leveling" each stage of the process (i.e., balancing each stage of the production process so that each has an equivalent amount of work, thus reducing bottlenecks and ensuring continuous flow).

Batch
Used as a noun, a given quantity or lot of a particular product or component, with all units in the lot produced under "uniform conditions," using identical processes. Used as a verb, "to batch" is to use a uniform method to collect identical data concurrently and forward it in a group to the next processing stage (i.e., instead of collecting and forwarding each individual data unit separately as it becomes available).

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
A work breakdown structure, or WBS, is a deliverables based grouping of project elements that defines the total scope of a project. The WBS is created in a hierarchical format, indicating sub-deliverables that must be achieved in order to complete the primary deliverable. The lowest level in the WBS is called a “work package.” Work packages are broken down into the set of activities required to complete the stated deliverable. The WBS is the list of deliverables and related activities or work packages that constitute the scope of the project.

Mean
The average value of the data points in a data set. The mean is calculated by adding the values of each individual data point and dividing the sum by total number of individual data points.

Nonconformity
A unit (e.g., product, component, process, service, or system) that departs significantly from expected or intended standards of quality. Also known as a "defect."

Cause & Effect Diagram
One of the "Seven Tools of Quality"; also known as an Ishikawa diagram or a fishbone diagram. A "cause and effect diagram" is a visual representation of the relationship between a "factor" (or cause) and one or more response variables (or effects) that it creates on another factor or process.

Organizational Change Management
Organizational change management is the process of achieving “buy-in”, understanding and acceptance for mission-critical initiatives which will most likely change an organization’s culture.

Phase
A collection of logically related project activities, usually culminating in the completion of a major deliverable.

Definitive Estimate
The most accurate cost estimate. It is used late in the planning process and is associated with bottom-up estimating. The range of variance for the estimate can be -5 percent to +10 percent.

Quality Improvement
An organized, comprehensive, systematic approach to enhancing quality levels throughout all levels and divisions of an organization. One of the three "prongs" in the "Quality Trilogy."

Requirement
A statement of a need that, when implemented, satisfies a user or other stakeholder.

Environment
The boundaries of the business area.

Float
The amount of time an activity may be delayed without delaying the project completion. Technically, there are three different types of float: Free float is the total time a single activity can be delayed without delaying the early start of any successor activities. Total float is the total time an activity can be delayed without delaying the project completion. Project float is the total time the project can be delayed without exceeding the customer’s expected completion date.

Scope of Work
A narrative description of the work to be accomplished or resources to be supplied under a contract.

GRPI - Goals, Roles, Processes, Interpersonal [Relationships]
A four-step project planning tool used in Six Sigma business methodology to help Green Belt and Black Belt team leaders ensure productivity, efficiency, and quality. The four steps function as follows: 1) Goals – clearly defines the team's mission and establishes objectives that conform to the "SMART" approach (i.e., goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely); 2) Roles – uses a "roles statement" to define clearly each team member's function and the interrelationships between individual and team roles, objectives, and processes; 3) Processes – identifies and defines processes inherent in and essential to the project (e.g., problem-solving, decision-making, etc.); and 4) Interpersonal – ensures open communication between team members, encourages creative and diverse contributions from all members, and discourages "groupthink."

Accountability
The condition of being responsible for the products or processes (or the segments of a product or process) over which one has personal power or authority. Accountability for a product or process also assumes that one will accept the consequences if the product or process does not meet required standards of quality.

Technique
A technique is a method that aids in achieving a desired result. For example, an estimating technique aids in developing the estimate. A technique is typically not the only way to obtain the desired result but is a recommended method.

Historical data
Data collected from previous projects

Initiation
The first phase in a project management methodology, in which the business mission/needs are identified, the product/solution is described, the budget is allocated, the project charter is written and approved and the project manager is assigned.

VBM - Value-Based Management
A business management philosophy based on maximizing value consistently in all aspects of the business (with an emphasis on maximizing value as defined by shareholders). VBM comprises three elements: 1) "value creation," or design, planning, and implementation of methods and processes to maximize value; 2) "value management," or implementation of leadership, structure, policies, strategies, and processes that maximize value; and 3) "value measurement," or assessment of value levels and whether performance reaches value objectives. Among other methods of maximizing value, VBM strives to ensure consistency in company mission and philosophy, including vision, strategies, and culture; structure and leadership, including organization and governance; and processes and functions, including day-to-day management, decision-making, performance, and personnel issues.

Levels
Different values (or "settings") of a factor that must be considered in measuring its performance.

Batch-and-Queue
Also known as "batch-and-push"; a production process by which all the units in a given lot complete a particular stage of production before moving to the next stage. The process creates a "batch" of units, which then must wait in a "queue" at each production stage as each unit is processed in turn.

Work Team
Sometimes called a "natural team"; individuals from the same "work unit" who are grouped together into a team for the purpose of collaborating on a specific project, task, or enterprise. Work team members are likely to share skill sets and expertise, and assignment is likely to be permanent, at least for the duration of the project in question.

Median
The middle value (i.e., the exact middle point) of a data set's distribution; 50% of the values fall above the median, and 50% fall below it.

Normal Costing
A traditional system of accounting that is a form of "indirect" costing. Where actual cost figures are unavailable at the moment the information is needed (e.g., as with overhead costs), costs are estimated based on average costs and historical and other relevant data.

CCR - Critical Customer Requirement
A customer expectation regarding an aspect of a product or service (e.g., quality, speed, etc.). Such an expectation is a CCR when the customer may be expected to refuse to purchase, or to purchase from a competitor, if the expectation is not met.

Organize
To arrange in planned, strategic, systematic format, frequently in related groups or categories, to facilitate access, use, or performance.

Pilot
The validation of a proposed solution in a live environment.

Defect
A characteristic, factor, or aspect of a product, process, service, or system that renders it nonconforming – e.g., inaccurate, inoperable, or of less than acceptable quality. Defects can be categorized into four "classes": 1) "very serious," i.e., causing "severe" physical and/or economic harm; 2) "serious," i.e., causing "significant" physical or economic harm; 3) "major," i.e., causing substantial problems or difficulties with the unit's intended use; and 4) "minor," i.e., causing relatively inconsequential problems or difficulties with the unit's intended use.

Quality Management
Quality management is the process of evaluating overall project performance on a regular basis to provide confidence that the project will satisfy all agreed user requirements.

Requirements Analysis
The process of evaluating a customer's stated requirements and validating those against organizational needs and plans.

Estimate
An evaluation of all the costs of the elements of a project or effort as defined by an agreed-upon scope. See also Budget Estimate, Definitive Estimate, Rough Order of Magnitude Estimate.

Floating Task
A task that can be performed earlier or later in the schedule without affecting the project duration or critical path.

Scorecard
A tool used to evaluate the degree to which a business's performance meets customer expectations; usually takes the form of a customer survey or questionnaire, or is compiled from the results of such a survey or questionnaire.

Gwilliam Motivational Model
A management model whereby employees are motivated primarily by so-called "primal urges," rather than by loyalty to the employer or other considerations. The Gwilliam Motivational Model evokes components of other motivational theories, including the "carrot and stick" approach of Freud's "Theory X"; the most fundamental needs, physiological needs, in Maslow's "Hierarchy of Needs"; and the "hygiene needs" or "animal needs" of Herzberg's "Hygiene/Motivation Theory."

Accuracy
The degree to which a product or process conforms to an accepted or ideal standard of quality. A product or process's degree of accuracy is represented by the variation, or difference, between the unit and the "target" standard.

Technology Proposal
The Technology Proposal is a component of the Project Plan and Budget for a project with a significant technology component.

Homogeneity of Variance
The phenomenon that occurs in statistical analysis when the variances of two separate populations of data, upon comparison or contrast, are found to be equal.

Integration Testing
Integration Testing involves testing all of the individual solution components together. This part of the process is designed to test the "flow" of the solution and make sure that it complements existing functionality where applicable. The integration test validates that the solution works in a controlled environment.

Vision
The scope of an organization's ideals, objectives, and purposes, designed to express its reason for existence and intended approach.

Life Cycle Methodology
Sometimes used interchangeably with "life cycle management" ("LCM") or "enterprise life cycle management" ("ELCM"). Life cycle methodology is a business approach used to create a product, process, system, or enterprise by assessing the processes involved at two simultaneous levels: 1) as a series of consecutive stages; and 2) as the whole comprising those stages. This approach is used to identify potential or actual gaps in performance, and to improve performance, quality, and profitability at every stage of the product's or process's "life cycle."

BAU - Business As Usual
The practice of conducting business according to the status quo, with no attempt to assess additional or new needs, identify possibilities for improvement, or implement change.

Workflow
The sequential structure of related, interdependent actions or events by which all of the elements in a given process occur. May be distilled to visual format by means of a chart, diagram, or graph.

Methodology
A set of recommended practices that serves as a guideline or roadmap for how a body of work is to be completed. It provides a structure and recommended steps to be followed and provides tools, templates and techniques to ensure a high probability of success and accountability.

Normal Distribution
Also known as a "Gaussian distribution"; a statistical representation of the frequency with which values occur in a data set, and in which the mean and median tend to be close or identical. The visual depiction of a normal distribution is the classic "bell curve": The value that occurs most frequently falls at the middle point of the chart (the apex of the bell); the remaining values appear on either side of the middle point in order of decreasing frequency, creating the "tails" of the bell shape.

CE - Concurrent Engineering
A manufacturing approach in which all elements of the design and production processes occur simultaneously, rather than sequentially. Under a CE approach, staff from all aspects of the business may collaborate from beginning to end to ensure full integration, and thus efficiency, of all processes.

Outcome
A measurable and quantifiable consequence, effect, or result of a process, operation, or enterprise; also used to refer to production quality or performance targets or objectives.

Planned Activity
An activity that has neither started nor finished before the current date.

Delegating
The process by which authority is distributed by the project manager to individuals working on the project.

Quality Planning
The systematic design and implementation of processes and systems that will produce products or services that adhere to established quality standards and customer expectations. One of the three "prongs" in the "Quality Trilogy," quality planning focuses on preventing nonconformities and defects while striving for continuous improvement.

Research
Systematic, scientific investigation, marked by critical analysis, intended to test a theory, reach a conclusion, or evaluate and apply new data.

Estimated Benefits (Return on Investment)
Return on Investment (ROI) measures the anticipated benefits of the project against the cost of the project. These benefits include tangible and intangible operational efficiencies, cost savings, cost avoidance, increased revenue, greater standardization, adherence to regulations, achievement of best practice, facilitation of student learning, improved attendance, etc. To the extent possible, quantification of the benefits over some period of time should be considered relative to the project cost in order to justify the project or assist in the project selection process.

First-Time Yield
A measurement of production performance, often used to determine COQ (cost of quality). First-time yield is calculated by dividing the number of conforming, or good, units produced in a process's initial run by the total number of units input at the beginning of the process.

Sigma
The word representing the letter "S" in the Greek alphabet; in statistical analysis, a symbol, expressed as a lower-case "s," representing a population's standard deviation. When used in the business management context, it functions as a measure of process capability; a correlation exists between the standard deviation from a process's mean and the probable number of defects per million opportunities.

Action Item
A project task that is logged, assigned to an owner for resolution and then tracked until it is closed.

Template
A template is a guideline for a document outline and its contents. A template is used to record the work activities, discussions, findings, and specifications to help achieve a common understanding. In addition, it is used to provide a consistent look and feel to project documentation.

Horizontalization
A business management approach that is "process-oriented." A business becomes "horizontalized" when all of its processes are aligned, particularly with regard to production functions and services.

Interaction
The act of two or more variables functioning in ways that affect each other, producing a combined result that neither variable could achieve independently of the other.

Vision Statement
A documented expression of an organization's ideals, objectives, and purposes, sometimes incorporated into its "mission statement."

Life Cycle Stages
The set of consecutive stages in an entire process. In the manufacturing context, they manifest in two ways: 1) in project management (e.g., identification of a need, conception and design of a product or process to fill it, production, and implementation); or 2) in production (e.g., order placement, all production stages in chronological order, purchase, delivery, and use).

BB - Black Belt
A "Black Belt" is team leader in a business or division, trained in and responsible for implementing Six Sigma principles to increase quality, productivity, and customer satisfaction according to DMAIC and DFSS methods and standards. A Black Belt has usually completed a four-week training program, one or more Six Sigma projects, and an examination on Six Sigma practices.

Working Fluid
A term often used in the information technology context; the metaphorical label for the flow of information – i.e., the fundamental element in any process that ensures proper function and performance.

Metrics
Standards of measurement applied to specific processes, systems, operations, or enterprises to assess performance.

Null Hypothesis
The probability that no difference, or variation, exists between two or more data populations; any observed difference is either random or a result of sampling error. Sometimes expressed as "H0."

Cell
A component of "continuous flow" processing; a group of systems or operations (including necessary staff, equipment, etc.) that is arranged in a particular sequence, adjacent to the next step in the processing sequence. The arrangement and use of cells in continuous flow processing ensures that each step of the process occurs in order, permitting speed and efficiency.

Output Measures
Tools ("measures") used to assess and quantify the results of a given activity (e.g., number of units produced).

Planning & Analysis
The project phase during which the Project Plan and Budget is created. During Planning an Analysis, the project is defined, including the processes, resources, approaches, scope, costs, schedule, etc. The work breakdown structure is also completed to use as a plan for activities performed during subsequent phases.

Deliverable
An outcome, product or service from a project phase that satisfies one or more objectives as outlined by the project plan.

Quality Score Chart
A form of control chart that illustrates the upper and lower statistical limits of a process's stability. "Events" in the process are organized into weighted classifications and counted; the sum of the weighted data constitutes the process's "quality score."

Residual
A residual occurs in regression analysis, and represents the difference between the actual output value and the output value predicted by the regression model. Also known as "errors," residuals can help identify weaknesses or defects in a regression model.

Estimated Cost to Complete (ECC)
The remaining costs to be incurred to satisfy the complete scope of a project at a specific date. ECC is the difference between the cost to date and the forecasted final cost.

Fishbone Diagram
Also known as an "Ishikawa diagram," a "cause and effect diagram," or a "cause and effect technique," the Fishbone diagram is used to analyze cause and effect. Its visual representation resembles the shape of a fish, with a central "spine" representing the issue or effect being analyzed, and with smaller branches connected to the spine that represent discrete causes.

Six Sigma
A data-driven business management philosophy designed to increase profitability by reducing process variation, eliminating waste, and increasing quality to levels that consistently meet or exceed customer expectations. The name "Six Sigma" derives from the statistical term for a level of standard deviation of no more than 3.4 defects per million opportunities (DPMO); a quality level of no more than 3.4 DPMO is the objective of businesses that use Six Sigma methodology.

Action Plan
A strategy that uses a specific process or procedure to reach a particular objective or achieve particular results; often documented in writing.

Test Plan
A strategy or approach to prepare for the series of activities that will be performed during Building and Testing, to verify that the solution meets the requirements and is free of errors. Test plans encompass a set of test scenarios and cases that are designed to reduce the business risk of deploying solution to the end-users.

Hoshin Kanri
Translations of this Japanese phrase vary widely; its most accurate expression appears to be "HoShin Kanri," which may be translated approximately to "control of direction" ("ho" – "method"; "shin" – "compass"; and "kanri" – "control"). "Hoshin Kanri" is a method of strategic planning that focuses on "vertical alignment" – i.e., ensuring that the business's vision, objectives, performance standards, and review processes are communicated thoroughly to and understood by all members of an organization, from top to bottom, via the constant repetition of a four-stage process: 1) defining and establishing a specific, limited number of policy and strategic objectives that will further the business's mission; 2) "deployment" of (i.e., communication and setting into motion of) these objectives throughout all levels of the corporate hierarchy; 3) implementation of the objectives and the changes they require, by making them an integral part of daily activities; and 4) review of performance and results; each of these steps occurs both up and down the corporate hierarchy, in a continuous process of input/refinement/feedback traded among all employees at all levels, known as "catchball." In the West, often called "hoshin planning" or "QPD" (quality policy deployment"), although some experts regard "hoshin kanri" as referring to the combination of both long-range "hoshin planning" and its daily counterpart, known as "nijiro kanri."

Internal Customers
Recipients of a product, service, etc., from within an organization; may include individual employees and/or entire teams or departments.

Visual Factory
A basic component of lean manufacturing; a production environment in which all employees are able to see "at a glance" the enterprise, operation, system, or project's current status and function. Such "visuals" include signs, charts, graphs, diagrams, and other images and tools that convey information necessary to ensure that quality and performance meet established standards.

Limit Function
A setting in the controller of a component or piece of equipment that establishes the outside parameters (i.e., the high and low limits) of any signal produced.

Benchmarking
A system of measurement by which a business compares its products, services, processes, or systems to those that are generally recognized as industry standards or leaders, to evaluate quality, identify gaps or defects, and suggest improvements.

Work Package
The lowest or smallest unit of work division in a work breakdown structure. Typically, a work package contains about 40-80 labor hours of effort.

Milestone
A key event in a project; a significant goal set by the project team that marks completion of a measurable step in the project.

Center
A measure of central tendency; sometimes called the "mean." When measuring data, particularly data related to a process, the center is the data's average value.

Output Module
An equipment module or device that conveys a signal to the final segment, or "control element," of a process, thus initiating (or preventing) any change in order to ensure a product (i.e., "output") that conforms to expected or intended standards.

PMBOK
See Project Management Body of Knowledge.

Deming Cycle
Also known as the PDCA ("Plan, Do, Check, Act") cycle or the PDSA ("Plan, Do, Study, Act") cycle; a methodological model designed to ensure "continuous improvement" in quality levels. The Deming Cycle consists of the four steps represented by the acronyms PDCA or PDSA, performed repeatedly at all levels of a process, to ensure quality and lead to standardization.

Quality Tool
A method, technique, or device used to aid in "process management" efforts to improve quality and performance.

Resolution
A measurement of the degree to which an experimental design evaluates interactions, or combinations, that are free of confounding effects. The greater the number of interactions or combinations, the lower the rate of confounding effects. For example, because a full factorial design evaluates all possible combinations, the rate of confounding effects is zero, giving such a design a "complete" resolution.

Event
A significant happening that generally requires the organization or project team to take action.

Five Ss
A management methodology deriving from "lean manufacturing" philosophy; so named because, in its original Japanese, each term representing a stage in the five-step process begins with the letter "s." The "Five S" steps include: 1) Seiri (segregation of necessary and unnecessary resources and removal of those that are unnecessary; 2) Seiton (organization and identification of resources for easy access and use); 3) Seiso (organized "cleanup"); 4) Seiketsu (maintaining an efficient workspace by following the previous three steps daily); and 5) Shitsuke (the habitual performance of all four of the previous steps).

Six Sigma Belts
Terms used to describe the level of expertise attained by a Six Sigma-trained professional. There are four "belt" levels: 1) Yellow Belt (YB) – the lowest level of Six Sigma expertise; applies to a professional who has a basic working knowledge and who may manage smaller process improvement projects, but who does not function as a project or team leader; 2) Green Belt (GB) – in many organizations, Six Sigma's "entry level"; a Six Sigma-trained (and sometimes certified) professional who does not work on Six Sigma projects exclusively, but whose duties include leading projects and teams and implementing Six Sigma methodology at the project level; 3) Black Belt (BB) – a Six Sigma-trained professional who has usually completed an examination and been certified in its methods; all job duties include implementation of Six Sigma methodology throughout all levels of the business, leading teams and projects, and providing Six Sigma training and mentoring to Green and Yellow Belts; and 4) Master Black Belt (MBB) – the highest level of Six Sigma expertise; all duties involve implementation of Six Sigma, including statistical analysis, strategic and policy planning and implementation, and training and mentoring of Black Belts.

Activity
A particular task or procedure designed to obtain specific results. In the production context, an "activity" usually occurs over a period of time, rather than in a single instance, and is usually a core part of a business's operations.

Testing
Testing involves a series of activities during which the functions and processes of the solution undergo “performance to specification” validation, errors/defects are detected and corrected, and test results are examined thoroughly enough to determine whether the solution is ready for deployment.

Hoshin Planning
Often used interchangeably with "hoshin kanri" or "QPD"; a process-oriented strategic planning methodology aimed at improving quality and performance. "Hoshin planning" refers to a long-term approach to use of the "hoshin" method – i.e., the identification of a limited number of specific policy objectives and their communication to and implementation by employees at all levels of the organization, each of whom refines and improves the processes used to achieve the objectives through the "hoshin" process of open and continuous feedback among staff at all levels of the organization.

Interrelationship Digraph
A visual depiction of two or more variables that possess cause-and-effect relationships, used to identify the "drivers" of those relationships and their outcomes. Also known as a "relations diagram."

VOB - Voice of the Business
The needs, wants, expectations, and preferences, both spoken and unspoken, of the people who constitute the business itself (e.g., shareholders, officers, or others involved in corporate governance).

Line Charts
A visual representation used to depict performance by connecting data points with a line. A line chart measures data in simple quantitative terms – i.e., without incorporating the effects of either process capabilities or control limits; frequently used to determine changes in quantity or rate over time and to identify trends.

Best Practice
A practice, such as a method, system, or process, that is recognized in the industry as the best for a particular purpose (e.g., most effective, most efficient, etc.). The label "best practice" is usually conferred, either formally or informally, by generally agreement among a business's peers in a given industry.

World Quality Day
First promulgated by the United Nations in 1990 to raise international awareness of the important role quality plays in ensuring nations' prosperity; now celebrated annually on the second Thursday of November

Milestone Chart
A chart showing planned milestones and their current status. A milestone chart is often created to indicate the schedule associated with each milestone deliverable. This chart assists executive management to understand the progress and status of a project at a summary level.

Center Points
The halfway point between highest and lowest levels of a process. Center points are used as a performance measurement tool, by launching a process with each of its factors set at its individual halfway, or center, point.

OEE - Overall Equipment Effectiveness
A measure of manufacturing equipment's productivity and efficiency, based on three primary parameters: 1) availability; 2) performance; and 3) yield.

PMP
See Project Management Professional.

Dependent Variable
Also known as a "response variable"; expressed as Y=f(Xl. . . XN) variable, where Y is the dependent variable. In an equation or system, a dependent variable is a variable that serves as a function of an independent variable in the equation, or one upon which a particular operation depends (i.e., the presence of the variable can affect or change the result).

Quality Trilogy
A three-pronged management method used to ensure systematic improvement in quality levels, comprising 1) "quality planning"; 2) "quality control"; and 3) "quality improvement."

Resource
A factor (except time) required or consumed to accomplish an activity; any substantive requirement of an activity that can be quantified and defined, such as manpower, equipment, service, fund or material.

Executing
Executing involves the coordination of people and other resources to carry out the project plan.

Five Why's
A business management technique used to identify and explore causal relationships involved in a particular problem. Often visually represented by a "tree" diagram, the technique involves addressing the problem first by asking, "Why?"; then answering the question; then addressing that answer by again asking, "Why?"; and repeating the entire process a minimum of four additional times in an effort to identify and distill root causes.

SLA - Service Level Agreement
A formal agreement (i.e., a contract) between a service provider and a customer, defining the parameters of the service(s) to be provided (including such elements as quality, speed, etc.) and guaranteeing that those parameters will be met; may be used between a business and an external customer or between one division of that business and an internal customer (i.e., another division of the same business). An SLA focuses on ensuring the requirements are thoroughly defined in three specific area: 1) structure; 2) precision; and 3) feasibility.

Activity Duration
The best estimate of time necessary to accomplish the work involved in an activity, considering.

Theory of Constraints
A business management approach grounded in assumptions that every business's ability to fulfill its objectives is limited by one or more constraints, and that such constraints can be identified and neutralized or eliminated, enhancing profitability; uses five tools and five steps to improving business processes. The five tools are: 1) the "current reality tree," a logic diagram that attempts to identify root causes by tapping the knowledge and experience of others; 2) the "evaporating cloud," a conflict-resolution logic diagram that attempts to identify the conflict that is the source of the constraint; 3) the "future reality tree," a logic diagram that evaluates a potential solution by attempting to identify any missing elements prior to implementation; 4) the "prerequisite tree," a logic diagram that identifies steps needed to lay the groundwork for implementing a successful solution; and 5) the "transition tree," a logic diagram that determines the steps, actions, and/or resources needed to move from the current environment to one that will permit implementation of the solution. The five steps are: 1) "Identify" the constraint; 2) "exploit" the constraint, generally by attempting to neutralize, modify, or use the constraint in a productive way that avoids the need for expensive systemic changes; 3) "subordinate" unrelated parts or processes of the system to the process of correcting the problem of the constraint – e.g., by adjusting or modifying those parts or processes to function in ways that will neutralize the limiting qualities of the constraint and help it to function productively; 4) "elevate" the constraint – i.e., if steps 2 and 3 are not successful, take any necessary steps, including systemic changes, to eliminate the constraint; and 5) return to step 1 and begin the process again as needed, but beware "inertia" (i.e., complacency that permits other constraints to arise and/or to continue).

House of Quality
So labeled because its visual representation resembles the roof of a house, the "House of Quality" is often incorrectly used as a synonym for "quality function deployment" (QFD). The House of Quality is the first of four matrices in the QFD process; it converts customer expectations into "critical to quality" features, compares those features with existing performance, and identifies changes needed to bring performance into alignment with customer expectations. The House of Quality comprises six components+B186: 1) customer requirements, obtained from actual customer feedback; 2) technical requirements of the product or service, defined in specific and measurable ways; 3) a "planning matrix," usually derived from market research, that includes measuring the relationship between customer preferences and both the company's performance and competitors' performance; 4) an "interrelationship matrix," which measures perceived relationships between customer requirements and technical requirements; 5) a "technical correlation matrix," which identifies correlations or conflicts in technical requirements and highlights opportunities for improvement (also known as the "roof" of the House of Quality); and 6) a matrix illustrating and measuring technical priorities, benchmarks, and targets or objectives; the results in this final matrix should fulfill the customer requirements outlined in the first component.

Ishikawa Diagram
Also known as a "fishbone diagram," a "cause and effect diagram," or a "cause and effect technique," the Ishikawa diagram is used to analyze cause and effect; named for diagram inventor Kaoru Ishikawa. Its visual representation resembles the shape of a fish, with a central "spine" representing the issue or effect being analyzed, and with smaller branches connected to the spine that represent discrete causes.

VOC - Voice of the Customer
The needs, wants, expectations, and preferences, both spoken and unspoken, of a business's customers, whether internal or external. VOC data are obtained through market research, customer surveys, etc., and are used to modify products and processes to meet or exceed customer expectations.

Listening Post
Adapted from military terminology; a business role, filled by an individual or team who has "front-line" contact with customers, such as sales staff, used to enhance performance. An employee in the position of "listening post" gathers data on customer wants, needs, preferences, and expectations, and conveys that data in useable format to a person or unit in the business responsible for disseminating the data appropriately throughout all levels of the organization.

Beta Risk
The opposite of "alpha risk" – i.e., the beta risk is the probability that accepting the null hypothesis (and thus rejecting an alternate hypothesis) will be an error, because the null hypothesis is actually false or incorrect.

Milestone Deliverables
Milestone deliverables are any tangible, verifiable outcome, result, significant event or item that are key to project progress and which must be produced to complete the project or a phase of the project.

Central Limit Theorem
A proposition used in probability theory to explain why data distributions frequently tend toward the "normal distribution": When calculating the average distribution of a number of random variables that have identical distributions, if their variance (i.e., statistical dispersion) is finite, their average distribution will tend toward the normal distribution.

Portfolio
A collection of projects or programs and other work that are grouped together to facilitate effective management of that work to meet strategic business objectives. The projects or programs of the portfolio may not necessarily be interdependent or directly related.

Deployment
The process of transferring the solution from building or development status to production or final status within the business operating environment.

Quorum
A minimum number of officers (e.g., executive-level staff or board members) that must be present at a meeting in order to transact official business.

Resource Allocation Process
The scheduling of activities in a network with the knowledge of certain team resource constraints and requirements. This process adjusts activity level start and finish dates to conform to team resource availability and use.

Executive Summary
An abbreviated version of the project plan or other document written for senior management.

Fixed Cost
A business cost that does not vary, regardless of changes in process or production.

Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
A documented set of sequenced technology-related activities that must be followed during all phases of projects which have a high technology component or in which a software solution is produced and delivered.

Activity Model
A chart, diagram, graph, or other visual representation of a business and its processes. The visual depiction includes the business and its products; activities involved in creating the product(s) or process(es) and any relationships between them; costs; controls or other features; and resources allocated to activities. Two forms of activity models exist: "as-is" models and "to-be" models.

Thread
A process that is woven throughout the entire project, across the various life cycle phases. It defines a continuum of work to be done and deliverables to be produced at each intersection with the Life Cycle Phases. Examples of project threads are project management, process management, organizational change management and technology management.

Human Factors
Considerations relating to the role of humans in the work environment, including capabilities, preferences, limitations, motivations, etc. Human factors are analyzed both for purposes of identifying and preventing errors and for designing a work environment that encourages productivity and performance.

ISO 9000
A series of "quality management" standards promulgated by the International Organization for Standardization; upon meeting these process standards and passing an audit by an accrediting organization, a business may obtain ISO 9000 "certification." ISO 9000 standards provide guidelines that help businesses identify target objectives and measure performance in four primary, integrated ways: 1) defining and meeting customer expectations with regard to quality; 2) identifying and complying with regulatory requirements; 3) "enhancing" customer satisfaction; and 4) simultaneously striving for continuous improvement in attempts to meet the previous three standards.

VOE - Voice of the Employee
The needs, wants, expectations, and preferences, both spoken and unspoken, of the business's personnel (i.e., employees).

Lost Customer Analysis
A research method used to determine the reasons an individual customer or a class of customers has withdrawn its business, whether by switching to a competing firm or by ceasing to use a given product or service entirely. Such analysis usually includes surveys of "lost" customers, and is used to improve performance by identifying and neutralizing sources of potential or actual customer dissatisfaction.

Bias
An error that permeates a system or process and causes inaccurate results, such as a difference between the value of specific test results and the accepted or expected value against which they are measured.

Mission
A vocation or reason for existence; a collection of objectives that, if met, fulfill an organization's purpose. Usually expressed in a company's "mission statement," which generally outlines its objectives, business philosophy, quality and performance standards, and ethics policies.

Central Tendency
The numerical average, or mean, of data related to a particular product, process, or system, and the tendency of that data to gather around a single central point between the highest- and lowest-valued data points.

Portfolio Management
The centralized management of one or more portfolios, which includes identifying, prioritizing, authorizing, managing and controlling projects, programs, or other related work to achieve specific strategic business objectives.

Deployment Plan
A formal, comprehensive, documented strategy designed to guide the "deployment," or implementation, of a product, service, process, strategy, or system through the transition from a testing phase to actual use.

Resource Commitment
The establishment of an agreement between the project manager and a resource provider regarding the schedule and level of effort of a team member assigned to the project.

Exit Criteria
A method of "process control" consisting of a collection of predefined conditions or standards, against which a process or output is compared to ensure that it conforms to acceptable standards of quality.

Flow
In the business production or manufacturing context, the movement of material or units in a given direction.

Software or Solution Selection
Selection generally refers to the case in which software, hardware or other type of third-party solution must be purchased in the marketplace in order to meet the user requirements in the most effective or cost efficient manner. In cases in which selection is required, research is performed to identify the top solutions in the market for the defined project product.

Actual Finish Date
The calendar completion date of all work on an activity.

Throughput Costing
A method of accounting that counts as product costs only the unit-level costs of a product or service; it classifies the costs of all other resources (i.e., "committed" costs) as operating expenses, allocated as "period costs." The "throughput" is calculated by subtracting all unit-level costs from sales revenue, which helps to identify both bottlenecks and products that are profitable, thus permitting the business to redirect its resources accordingly.

Human Resources Management
The function of directing and coordinating human resources throughout the life of the project by applying the art and science of behavioral and administrative knowledge to achieve predetermined project objectives of scope, cost, time, quality, and participant satisfaction

Issue
A project problem that, if not resolved, is believed to have a significant harmful effect on the outcome of a project. The effect can, for example, relate to such things as schedules, cost, resources, quality, or customer satisfaction.

Lot
A collection of a specific quantity of like units derived from a common source; usually expressed as "(lot size = N)." The units in a lot contain similar or identical features, and are submitted for a stage or production, inspection, acceptance, or delivery in a group.

Bimodal Distribution
The distribution of a data set, in which two values occur more frequently than the remaining values in that data set's distribution.

Mixed Model
Also known as a "mixed effects model"; an analytical model that contains a "mix" of both fixed and random effects.

Chaku-Chaku
A Japanese phrase that translates as "load-load." It refers to a production method in which all equipment needed to produce one part or component is arranged in proximity, so that the equipment operator may simply "load" the part and continue with the next process or operation.

Poka-Yoke
Term coined in 1961 by statistical process control expert Shigeo Shingo from the Japanese words for "inadvertent mistake" ("poka") and "prevention" ("yoke"); generally translated as "mistake-proofing" or "error-proofing." In the manufacturing context, "poka-yoke" is the initial step in "error-proofing" design or production processes by means of a signaling device that indicates whether the process is in its operable state. Its purpose is to make errors either readily identifiable and easily corrected, or prevented entirely.

Design Optimization
A quality assurance process that 1) identifies and defines a design's objectives, variables, limitations, etc., and 2) processes the design by accounting for those objectives, variables, and limitations, thus ensuring optimal performance.

Resource Consumption Accounting
A method of accounting that analyzes and tracks resources instead of activities; used to measure and manage capacity, to map specific resources to specific processes and activities, and to define "pools," or "families," of resources.

External Customers
Customers who are not a part of or affiliated with a particular business, and who are also the purchasers or recipients of that business's "output" (i.e., product or service deliverables).

Flow Chart
Sometimes designated one of the "Seven Tools of Quality," a flow chart is a visual representation of the steps, stages, or a series of steps or stages in a process or in the function of a system, in the order in which each step or stage does or should occur.

Solution Statement
A problem-solving tool, usually documented in writing, used to evaluate potential solutions to a particular problem and to select the best option. A comprehensive "solution statement" might include a description of the problem; identify potential areas for resolution; list detailed descriptions of potential solutions; evaluate the relative effectiveness of each potential solution; provide a detailed explanation of the solution chosen and the reasons it was chosen; and offer possible ways to prevent the problem's recurrence.

Affinity Diagram
A visual depiction used as a tool to organize large amounts of data logically, especially by relationships between types of data. An affinity diagram is often used in a "brainstorming" session: 1) Participants contribute data on Post-It Notes, which are 2) collected and organized by the relationships in the information they contain, and 3) the data are then entered into the diagram in related categories, often in column format.

Timeline
The length of the entire project, broken down into days, weeks or months.

Hurdle Rate
The minimum rate of expected return on investment that a business must achieve on a new product, process, or enterprise in order to be able to afford to undertake that activity; usually equal to the incremental cost of capital.

Black Noise
A label sometimes used in place of "assignable cause" or "special cause." Black noise is a cause or source (or set of causes or sources) of variation that do not occur randomly or by chance.

Mitigation
See Risk Mitigation.

Chaku-Chaku Line
A type of production or assembly line containing the equipment necessary for all stages of production of a particular part or component. The chaku-chaku line requires human participation only to load the initial part, freeing staff to move on to other processes.

Population
A specific collection or set of data, or a collection of units (i.e., a "lot"), from which samples may be drawn and analyzed.

Design Risk
The probability that a product or process will be nonconforming or defective because the unit's design does not provide the required support necessary for the unit to fulfill its intended use upon deployment.

Resource Leveling
The process of making scheduling decisions based on resource constraints; ensuring that a project team member resource is used efficiently over the life of the project and not used either sporadically or beyond the team member’s limitations.

External Failure
A nonconformity, defect, or deficiency in quality that affects, is identified by, or is apparent to the customer.

FMEA - Failure Modes and Effects Analysis
An analytical methodology used 1) to identify all possible forms of failure in a product, process, system, or enterprise; 2) to determine the potential frequency of such failure(s); 3) to identify the potential effects of such failure(s) on all aspects, components, and functions of the product or process; 4) to identify and prioritize such failures and their prevention; and 5) to design and implement strategies to prevent such failure(s).

SMED - Single-Minute Exchange of Die
A fundamental tool of "lean production," used to increase the "up-time" of manufacturing equipment. SMED is a method of reducing "changeover" time – i.e., the time spent switching a piece of equipment from one process to another or from one unit (or lot) to another. Its name derives from the method's target changeover time: The amount of time that elapses between production of the last conforming unit of Lot A and the first conforming unit of Lot B must be less than ten minutes, or single-digit (i.e., "single-minute").

AIQ - Average Incoming Quality
The average level of quality of the units in a lot at the time the lot arrives at a point of inspection (i.e., before it has been inspected).

Time Value Map
A performance management tool used to track a "work item" (e.g., a product, component, operation, system, process, or employee) throughout an entire work process to determine its performance at each stage of the process. A "time value map" sorts the work item's progress into three categories: 1) value-added activity; 2) unavoidable waste (e.g., circumstantial waste, such as delays arising from regulatory requirements); and 3) avoidable waste.

Block Diagram
A visual depiction of a system, including the system's components and the relationships between them. Each component is illustrated by an image in the shape of a "block" (e.g., a square or rectangle) and related blocks are connected via lines.

Mode
The value that occurs most frequently in the distribution of a data set. In some distributions, there may be more than one value that occurs most frequently (i.e., the same number of occurrences); these are known as "bimodal distribution."

Change Acceleration Process (CAP)
A process to initiate, lead and manage significant cultural change effectively, using a variety of proven tools. Created by the GE Corporation.

Precedence Diagramming Method
A schedule network diagramming technique in which activities are represented by boxes (called nodes) and linked by logical relationships to indicate sequence.

Detailed Design
The phase during a project life cycle in which the total solution design is completed and implementation strategies finalized.

Resource Provider
The functional manager with whom a commitment is established to provide project team resources and subject matter expertise to a project for a specified period of time.

FMECA - Failure Modes and Criticality Analysis
An expansion of FMEA to include identification and assessment of the potential "criticality," or severity, of the effects or consequences of possible failures.

SPC - Statistical Process Control
A tool used to evaluate, monitor, and control process capability and performance through the application of statistical methods of data analysis; sometimes called "statistical quality control." SPC is administered through the use of process control charts, in which each data point is compared in statistical terms both with previous data points and with the entire distribution; this helps plot existing or potential patterns, trends, and shifts in processes, and helps to identify whether such changes derive from special causes or common causes.

Algorithm
A procedure or set of rules defining the steps needed to solve a particular problem. Most often used as a label for a set of instructions given to a computer to perform a particular function, it may represent instructions used to fulfill any task or solve any problem.

Tolerance
The range of values between highest and lowest limits of deviation under which a product or process will still fulfill its proper function and conform to customer expectations.

Blocking
A method of identifying and segregating known "background" variables or sources of variation in a process or system so that they are isolated from the primary variables being measured. This segregation permits comparison of primary variables, while preventing background variables from influencing that comparison and/or distorting the results.

Monitoring
The capture, analysis, and reporting of actual performance. Typically, collected data are compared to planned performance.

Change Agent
A person, process, or condition that causes change within an organization, team, system, process, or product, either deliberately or inadvertently.

Precedent Activities
Precedent activities are activities that must take place before other activities may take place.

Detection
The process of identifying existing nonconformities or defects in a product, service, system, or process.

Response
A reaction, result, or effect or a cause, process, or set of factors. To assess whether a given outcome is a response to a particular factor or set of factors, that outcome must be measurable.

Force Field Analysis
A business analysis technique, usually accompanied by a visual representation in the form of a central arrow pointing toward an object, with information listed on either side. "Driving forces," or those that propel the business, system, process, or product toward improvement are listed on one side (usually the left); the "restraining forces," or those that keep the process rooted in the status quo and "restrain" it from moving toward improvement, are listed on the other side (usually the right).

Specification
The written, pictorial, or graphic information that describes, defines, or specifies the services or items to be produced or procured.

Algorithm Analysis
A method of evaluating an algorithm, usually by comparing it to another algorithm, to determine whether it is the best choice to solve a particular problem or perform a particular function.

Tools
A set of activities, services, instruments, or materials that enable the individual or team to create, develop, and complete deliverables.

Bottom-up estimating
A technique in which an estimate for each component in the WBS is developed and then totaled for an overall project budget. This is the most time-consuming method to complete, but it usually provides the most accurate estimates.

Muda
Japanese for "futility" or "uselessness"; in the business or production context, generally translated as "waste," and applied to any activity, process, or system that consumes resources but adds no value from the customer's perspective.

Change Control
Activities associated with a documented process for managing and monitoring change requests.

Precision
Sometimes used as a synonym for "consistency" or "repeatability"; when measured repeatedly, the degree of lack of variation in 1) a unit or process, or 2) among identical units in a lot (or samples in a population).

Deviation
The difference between the actual value of a variable in a data set and either the desired value or a standard or normative value (i.e., the mean).

Responsibility
The condition of being accountable for the products or processes (or the segments of a product or process) over which one has personal power or authority, including liability for ensuring proper function, performance, and results. Responsibility assumes that one possesses a required minimum level of expertise and capability; it also assumes that one will accept the consequences if the product or process does not meet required standards.

Forecast
An estimate and prediction of future conditions, resource requirements or events based on information and knowledge available at the current time.

SQA - Software Quality Assurance
A guarantee that software quality levels will conform to specific, defined standards that meet customer expectations; administered via systematic compliance with a formal set of guidelines and procedures that are designed to define quality levels, establish appropriate systems and processes for conformance, and measure results. In the context of SQA, these guidelines and procedures are followed throughout the processes of choosing, acquiring, installing, and using software.

Alignment
A concept by which organizational data based on employee feedback are collected, sorted and categorized, and then analyzed statistically to identify the business's strengths, organizational weaknesses, and gaps in product or process quality control.

Top-down estimating
A technique that bases the current project’s estimate on that of a similar project or on executive experience. A percentage of the similar project’s total cost may be added or subtracted from the current total, depending upon the size of the current project.

Box Cox Transformation
Named for statisticians Box and Cox, who identified the equation and the process it represents. This equation is applied when two groups of data, each measured in a different format, must be synthesized (i.e., "transformed") – usually through conversion to a normal distribution of the values in the data set(s) – to create a single uniform method of measurement to provide new information about the data as a whole.

Multiple regression
An analytical model that evaluates the relationship between a dependent variable (expressed as "Y") and multiple independent variables or factors (expressed as "Xs").

Change in Scope
A change in objectives, work plan, or schedule that results in a material higher authority. Depending upon the approving authority, a change in resource requirements may constitute a change in scope.

Present Value
A financial calculation that expresses future costs and benefits in current dollars.

DF- Degrees of Freedom
Usually expressed in lower-case letters as the acronym "df"; a statistical measure of the number of data points, and how many data points are used, in a particular calculation.

Rework
Reprocessing, retooling, or other action(s) reperformed on a product or component to correct nonconformities or defects, and to bring it into compliance with established quality and/or performance guidelines.

Form
A structured template containing specific, predefined information; often used to collect, categorize, or analyze data, and/or to provide instruction or guidance.

Standard Deviation
A statistical measurement of a data set's dispersion (or variation in distribution); it calculates the data spread in relation to the population's mean. Standard deviation is the most common method of measuring variation; often represented by the Greek letter for "sigma," it is also one of the primary components of the measurement system that forms the basis of Six Sigma methodology.

Alpha Risk
The probability that accepting an "alternate hypothesis" that a real difference exists between two samples being compared, and rejecting the "null hypothesis" that no difference exists, is an error because the null hypothesis is true. The "alpha risk," or probability of making such an error, is generally expressed either in terms of probabilities (normally 5% or less) or in terms of "confidence level" (normally 95% or greater).

Total Float
The amount of time (in work units) that an activity may be delayed from its early start without delaying the project finish date. Total float is equal to the late start minus the early start of the activity.

Box Plot
Also called a "box and whisker diagram"; a visual diagram of a continuous data set's center, distribution, and spread in five-point summary form: 1) the middle 50% (i.e., the box itself); 2) the median (i.e., 50% of the data appears above it; 50% appears below it); 3) the 25th quartile (i.e., no more than 25% of the data appears below it); 4) the 75th quartile (i.e., no more than 25% of the data appears above it); and 5) identification of the limits of the data set and any "outliers" (i.e., "whiskers" of the plot that exceed 1.5 times the length of the inner quartiles).

Multi-Vari Chart
A visual representation of patterns or "families" of variation within and between points in a data set and/or over a period of time.

Change Request
A formal, written statement suggesting a modification to a deliverable or any component of difference from the terms of a project charter or project plan approved by a the approved project plan.

Preventive Action
A step or series of steps taken to alter conditions in a way that will avert process error or prevent production of defective or nonconforming units.

DFSS - Design for Six Sigma
A business philosophy and methodology used to ensure that the design of products, processes, services, or systems that will be produced and will perform at Six Sigma quality levels (i.e., no more than 3.4 defects per million opportunities).

RFP
See Request for Proposal.

Fractional Factorial
A form of experiment design that tests only a subset or sample of all possible combinations of factors in a data set. For data sets that are too large or contain too many factors to make it feasible to test all possible combinations accurately, use of a fractional factorial may be appropriate.

Stakeholder
A Stakeholder is an individual or organization that has a vested interest (positive or negative) in the process or outcome of a project. The identification and input of stakeholders help to define, clarify, drive, change and contribute to the scope and, ultimately, the success of the project. Stakeholders should be identified early in the project to determine their needs and expectations, and to manage and influence those expectations over the course of the project.

Alternate Hypothesis
Sometimes expressed as "Ha" or H1." A hypothesis that an observable difference between two samples is a real difference, and not due merely to chance or to a sampling error.

TPM - Total Productive Maintenance
A manufacturing approach that seeks to ensure that the production process is not interrupted by maintenance stoppages. TPM engages in "pre-emptive maintenance" of production equipment – i.e., where "common causes" of problems and outages have been identified, performing regularly-scheduled service on the equipment, rather than waiting until such a problem occurs – to attempt to ensure that all production equipment functions at a 100% performance rate at all times.

BPMS - Business Process Management System
A nine-step business model designed to manage and ensure reliability and replicability of "mission-critical" processes across departments or enterprises. The nine steps are: 1) identify the process's mission; 2) document the process; 3) document both process and customer requirements; 4) identify all process and output measures; 5) create an effective process management system; 6) create a comprehensive data collection plan; 7) monitor the process's performance; 8) create "dashboards," including targets and limits; and 9) identify opportunities for improvement.

Changeover
The period of "down-time" during which a system or piece of equipment is taken out of production in order to refit it for producing a different unit (e.g., switching ink or toner in a printer).

Probability
The likelihood that a particular event will occur; expressed quantitatively between "0" (no chance of occurrence) and "1" (absolute certainty of occurrence). Sometimes known as "long-term (or 'long-run') relative frequency."

Direct Cost
A cost that can be linked directly to specific product or activity, or component thereof. Direct costs include, e.g., materials, labor, certain "overhead" costs, etc.

Risk
An unplanned event that can have a positive or negative influence on the project’s success.

Frequency Distribution
In the distribution of values in the variables of a data set, a visual representation of the frequency with which those values appear in the distribution. Often demonstrated via use of a "histogram" or a "frequency polygon."

Stakeholder Analysis
The process of identifying and analyzing project stakeholders to determine their needs, expectations, and level of resistance to change. Stakeholder analysis is performed during Planning and Analysis and is a component of the Communications/Change Management Plan.

Analysis
Step three in either of two Six Sigma quality-control processes, DMAIC and DMADV (defined below). The process of scrutinizing and measuring a particular aspect of a business's operations to identify gaps in quality and minimize errors or defects. Six Sigma uses a variety of analytical processes, including "cause and effect analysis," "reliability analysis," "risk analysis," and "systems analysis," to name only a few.

TQC - Total Quality Control
A management approach that seeks to improve quality and performance, and thus meet or exceed customer expectations, by integrating all quality-related functions and processes throughout the organization; takes a holistic approach to managing quality design and development, quality control and maintenance, quality improvement, and quality assurance, at all levels and involving all employees.

Brainstorming
A group process used to generate creative and effective ideas and strategies. In the brainstorming process, each member of the group writes down each relevant idea that occurs to him or her, without editing its content physically or even mentally. The group leader or facilitator then collects the ideas and leads the group in discussing and dissecting them to distill the most effective concepts and strategies from them.

Characteristic
A trait or feature of a product, process, or system, especially one that defines the unit and/or differentiates it from other units.

Problem Resolution
The interaction between the project manager and an individual team member with the goal of finding a solution to a technical or personal problem that affects project accomplishment.

Directive
A statement of strategy or policy, usually in written form, that serves as a guide to staff in fulfilling organizational objectives. Examples include mission or vision statements, statements of purpose, and policy guides for the execution and implementation of discrete projects, systems, or enterprises.

Risk Assessment
The identification and analysis of project risks to ensure that they are understood and prioritized.

Full Factorial
A form of experiment design that tests all possible combinations of factors in a data set. Often used to test relationships between factors and/or the operation of factors at multiple levels.

Statement of Work (SOW)
A description of work to be completed or a product to be supplied, or both. The SOW becomes part of the contract between the buyer and the seller. The SOW is typically created as part of the procurement planning process and is used by the seller to determine whether it can meet the project’s requirement.

Anderson-Darling Normality Test
A variation of the Kolmogorov-Smirnov (K-S) Test that uses a sample's "P-value" to measure whether it is "normal." P-value is the probability that the sample being tested was drawn from a population with a specific distribution; if the P-value is less than the generally accepted standard of 0.05, the null hypothesis is likely to be false and differences between the samples are likely to exist.

TQM - Total Quality Management
A business management philosophy that includes a commitment to continuous improvement in quality and performance, strives to enhance profitability by focusing on meeting and exceeding customer expectations, and works to involve all employees, departments, and levels of an organization in the process of continuous improvement.

Breakthrough Objectives
Business goals that require new and/or radical strategies and approaches to ensure that the goals are attained successfully. Breakthrough objectives are designed to encourage dynamic effort and better performance throughout an organization, enterprise, team, system, or process.

Charter
Written documentation, created at the outset of a project, process, or enterprise, that defines its scope, authority, responsibilities, mission, and objectives, as well as those of the team engaged in that enterprise.

Procedure
A series of steps followed in a regular definitive order to perform specified work.

Discrete Data
Information that has been converted from "counted" or "attribute data" into a form that can be subjected to limited analysis. "Discrete data" fall into certain defined categories whose potential values are limited in number and generally are not reducible further.

Risk Deflection
The act of transferring all or part of a risk to another party.

Function
The specific task or role of a product, process, system, operation, enterprise, individual, or team, requiring specific skill sets and capabilities, and intended to produce specific effects or results.

Statistical Thinking
A mode of thinking that includes both logical and analytical reasoning: It evaluates the "whole" of a problem, as well as its component parts, and attempts to assess the effects on the whole of changing one or more variables; and it attempts to understand not only problems and solutions but the processes involved. Some experts define "statistical thinking" to include skills of problem identification; process reasoning; questioning of premises, conclusions, and data; problem solving; and explanation of the problem, the solution(s), and the processes involved.

Andon
From the Japanese word for "lamp", representing the classic Japanese paper lantern used as a light, a sign, or a signal. Here, an andon is a management tool that indicates operational status on production lines or equipment: a green light means that the equipment is operating normally; yellow indicates a transitional stage, such as a scheduled change or maintenance; and red indicates abnormal function or lack of function.

Total Slack
The total time an activity can be delayed without delaying the project.

BRM - Business Risk Management
A management method designed to identify and evaluate a business's actual or potential risk by engaging in a particular action or making a particular change from existing processes.

Chi-Square Test
A statistical tool used to test three separate analytical functions: 1) goodness of fit, which determines whether the lot from which the sample was taken conforms to a particular distribution; 2) homogeneity, which determines whether various samples or lots are homogenous (i.e., whether a specified characteristic is the same in each sample); and 3) independence, which determines whether, when applying two or more criteria of classification to a sample or group, the criteria are independent (i.e., a test of the null hypothesis; if the null hypothesis is false, the criteria are not independent, but "associated").

Process
A series of defined, sequential steps or tasks that, when performed in order using specific, defined inputs, will produce a specific output or result.

DMADV - Define, Measure, Analyze, Design, Verify
A business management approach and a fundamental component of the Six Sigma business philosophy. DMADV is a five-step method for ensuring that products or processes adhere to Six Sigma quality levels (i.e., no more than 3.4 defects per million opportunities), generally by improving methodologies: 1) Define (objectives and deliverables, both internal and external); 2) Measure (customer needs and expectations); 3) Analyze (options available to fulfill customer expectations); 4) Design (the process to fulfill customer expectations); and 5) Verify (design performance and ability to fulfill customer expectations).

Risk Event
The precise description of what might happen on the project that would be to the detriment of the project.

Functional Manager
The person accountable for a department or set of resources.

Status
The condition or stage of progress of the project at a specified point in time.

Anomaly
A result that deviates from the result that previous testing or documentation would lead one to expect. Sometimes known as a "bug," "error," "exception," or "fault."

Tracking
Monitoring the status of a project by regularly comparing actual results to planned results.

Budget
An estimate of funds planned and approved to cover project work occurring during a fiscal period. A planned allocation of resources.

CI - Continuous Improvement
Sometimes called "continued improvement"; an approach to a process, system, or enterprise by which the team constantly strives to improve that enterprise's individual elements, the interrelationships between them, and the whole.

Process Analysis
A structured approach used to identify and understand what a business does; defines business processes and the necessary data they use through diagramming techniques.

DMAIC - Define, Measure Analyze, Improve, Control
A business management approach and a fundamental component of the Six Sigma business philosophy. DMAIC is a five-step method for ensuring that products or processes adhere to Six Sigma quality levels (i.e., no more than 3.4 defects per million opportunities), generally by improving processes: 1) Define (objectives and deliverables, both internal and external); 2) Measure (current performance); 3) Analyze (defects and their root causes); 4) Improve (elimination of existing defects); and 5) Control (future performance of the process).

Risk Identification
The process of systematically identifying all possible risk events that may effect a project. They may be conveniently classified according to their cause or source and ranked roughly according to the organization's ability to manage effective responses. Not all risk events will effect all projects, but the cumulative effect of several risk events occurring in conjunction with each other may well be more severe than examination of individual risk events would suggest.

Functional Organization
An organizational structure in which people are grouped according to their areas of specialization, such as engineering, administration, or marketing. In functional organizations, each employee has one clear superior with expertise in the particular area of specialization.

Status Reports
Status reports are written documents created by the project team and project manager and submitted on a regular basis to project stakeholders or executives in order to inform them of the progress of the project as well as any issues or concerns that need to be addressed. Status reports are used by executives to monitor project progress, schedule and costs as well as to determine when their assistance may be required.

ANOVA - Analysis of Variance
A statistical method of analyzing data, particularly experimental data, among two or more groups by 1) comparing the variance(s) within each group and 2) between the groups to 3) identify any effects such variance(s) may have on the outcome of the process being analyzed.

Transition
The process of transferring control of the project solution from the project team to the functional and/or technical support organizations. Transitioning of the solution occurs during the final project phase.

Budget Estimate
A cost estimate that is somewhat broad and is used early in the planning process. It is also used in top-down estimates. The range of variance for the estimate is generally -10 percent to +25 percent.

Circumstance
The set of facts and/or conditions that surround or may be expected to surround a particular event, often affecting, modifying, or controlling the event or the likelihood of its occurrence.

Process Capability
Sometimes expressed as "Cp"; the entire range of a process's ability to function as intended, within defined limits of variation (i.e., the rate at which it can produce units that are free of defects or nonconformities). Process capability is used to measure whether a process's performance can meet customer requirements.

Document Control
A system for controlling and executing project documentation in a uniform and orderly fashion.

Risk Management
Risk Management is the process of identifying and assessing the uncertain events or conditions that could have an effect on project objectives, and developing a plan to respond to them appropriately. Risk response and management strategies include: • Risk avoidance - includes changing the project plan in such a way that the project outcome is no longer affected by a particular risk • Risk mitigation - involves taking actions to lessen the potential effects of a risk before the risk occurs • Risk transfer - often thought of as a type of “insurance,” generally involves hiring a third party to take on the risk or perform the task presenting risk to the project • Risk acceptance - involves doing nothing, generally because the risk is considered low-impact to the project or because its likelihood is extremely small.

Functional Requirements
A set of statements that describe behavioral and performance characteristics of the project's deliverables, written in plain, non-technical language so end users understand what they receive when the project is completed.

Strategic Planning
A formal, systematic, documented approach to developing an organization's basic policies, mission, and core processes; usually includes such components as a mission statement (or statement of purpose), core objectives, and a "call to action" that itemizes the resources, processes, and systems needed to fulfill its mission and objectives.

AOQ - Average Outgoing Quality
The average level of quality of the units in a lot when it leaves a point of inspection. AOQ is based on the average quality level of the lot upon first reaching the inspection point (i.e., the "average incoming quality," or AIQ). If the inspection does not result in the exchange of defective units for units of acceptable quality, the AOQ will be identical to the AIQ.

Tree Diagram
So named because its shape resembles a tree; a visual representation headed by a problem, project, or task, which is subsequently broken into its constituent elements; as it is subdivided further, each component or segment usually decreases in size and increases in specificity. A tree chart is generally used to make a complex problem or project more manageable and more easily performed or solved, and/or to help generate more creative, diverse options, approaches, and solutions.

Business Need
The business need is the justification for the project – the problem or issue that the project is to address. Defining the business need ensures that the project is consistent with the APS Strategic Plan or a department’s functional goals.

C-L+A76evel
A label, usually abbreviating the word "chief," designating a senior executive's status (e.g., CEO, or chief executive officer; CIO, or chief information officer; CFO, or chief financial officer; etc.).

Process Capability Index
Sometimes expressed as "Cpk"; a tool used to measure how closely a process performs to specifications, within defined limits of variation; used to determine how close a process is to performance targets and the level of consistency of its average performance.

Documentation
The collection of reports, user information and references for distribution and retrieval, displays, backup information, and records pertaining to the project.

Risk Management Planning
The process of formulating suitable risk management strategies to create a response system for the project, including allocating responsibility to the project's various functional areas. It may involve risk mitigation, risk transfer or deflection, and contingency planning. It should also make some allowance, however tentative, for completely unforeseen risks.

Functional Specification
A detailed description of a product, which can be used to design the product to meet the attributes that have been listed. A functional specification describes what a product or system must do in its operation. It is sometimes called a performance specification.

Supplier
A person or organization that undertakes responsibility for the performance of a contract.

Application
Software intended to fulfill the specific needs of a business capability. For example, database management programs, inventory management packages, word processors, enterprise management systems, and portfolio management systems are all considered applications.

Triple Constraint
The three interdependent variables in a project: scope, schedule, and cost.

Business Owner
The business owner is the individual who is responsible for the final project product (solution) and provides support for the adoption of the solution within the organization.

Closing
The phase in which a project moves through formal solution acceptance to bring the project to an orderly conclusion.

Process Comparison
A method of objective comparison of two separate processes or sets of process conditions to evaluate which performs better – e.g., comparing process conditions existing in production of nonconforming output with the process conditions involved in production of conforming output.

Downstream
A subsequent point in a process – i.e., a process stage that occurs after completion of the present stage.

Risk Probability
The degree to which a risk event is likely to occur.

Funding Source
The funding source allocates funds for the proposed project by fiscal year. A proposed project can be funded from multiple project sources, including budgets or grants.

Symptom
An identifiable, observable phenomenon that arises out of a process or subprocess. A symptom is evidence of another, unobserved phenomenon or condition, usually a problem, failure, nonconformity, or defect.

APQP - Advanced Product Quality Planning
A strategic planning process that originated with the QS-9000 business management philosophy. APQP comprises five phases of product planning: 1) plan and define the program; 2) product design and development; 3) process design and development; 4) product and process validation; and launch, feedback, assessment, and corrective action. The purpose of APQP is to provide a business with needs assessments in advance of each stage of the production process, to help neutralize potential problems before they arise and fulfill production objectives efficiently and successfully.

Business Plan
A document prepared to support a business capability or process expected to produce a future result. It contains cost and benefit projections, resource commitments and impacts in a standard format.

COC - Cost of Conformance
One element of calculating "cost of quality" (COQ), encompassing costs of both "quality assurance" and "quality control." COC comprises the costs of ensuring that a product or service conforms to or exceeds specified standards of quality. [Note: A minority of professionals use the acronym COC to refer to "certification of conformity," which is an assurance that a particular product or service conforms to specified standards.]

Process Control
A method or tool used to ensure quality and/or performance by keeping the steps of the process within defined limits, thus minimizing variation in output.

DPMO - Defects per Million Opportunities
A measurement used to determine the probable number of defects in an average production run. DPMO is calculated by dividing the average number of defects observed by the number of opportunities for a defect to occur during that run; the result is then normalized to one million.

Rollout
The widespread introduction of a product or service.

System
A group of interacting, interrelated, or interdependent elements forming a complex whole; a set of functional capabilities.

System Testing
System Testing involves a series of “final” tests performed to ensure that the solution is ready for deployment into a “live” environment. The tests can include multiple, simultaneous transactions, multiple locations, sufficiency of security, etc. System testing can be difficult to coordinate and perform, so it is not applicable for all projects. However it is almost always performed on projects with high technology impacts.

Artisan Process
One of a collective "family" of four types of processes: 1) artisan process; 2) automated process; 3) operational process; and 4) project process. The artisan process is usually temporary, and generally refers to a "pioneering" process – i.e., to create something wholly new.

Business process
Those activities that, collectively, combine to create a business's product(s) or service(s). A true business process functions to fulfill the business's mission and objectives.

Coefficient of Variation
The result obtained when a distribution's standard deviation is divided by its mean. The calculation is used as a "relative measure" – i.e., comparing the variation in a data set's dispersion to its mean by expressing the result as a percentage of the same units of measurement as those of the original data.

Process Definition
The division of a process into its component parts so that it may be analyzed during the execution of a service.

DPU - Defects per Unit
A measurement representing the average number of defects observed in a population sample. DPU is calculated by dividing the total number of observed defects by the total number of units in the sample.

Root Cause Analysis
A method of analysis that seeks to identify and study the fundamental reason(s) - i.e., the "root cause(s)" - of a product's or process's nonconformance, defect, or failure, thus permitting modification or elimination of that cause.

Systems and Structures Analysis
An evaluation of the existing organizational systems and key management practices that impact the solution, to determine if re-alignment is necessary to assure sustainability of the project solution once it is implemented. The Systems and Structure Analysis addresses six key areas within the organization: staffing, training and development, rewards, measurements, communication and organizational design.

Architecture
The characteristics or styles that describe an overall design. For technology components, architecture typically refers to how the hardware or software is constructed, how its components fit together, and the protocols and interfaces used for communication and cooperation among the system’s modules or components.

BPR - Business Process Reengineering
A management philosophy that emphasizes questioning the status quo in all aspects of the business, in order to identify methods of meeting and exceeding the business's mission and objectives.

Common Cause
A factor inherent in a system or process that results in variation. Such a factor is a "common" cause when it is a factor that reasonably can be expected to occur. It generally affects every aspect and/or outcome of the process.

Process Indicator
Sometimes called a "process measurable"; a quantitative measure of performance that assesses how a specific process affects customer expectations, thus permitting modification of the process to enhance performance.

Duration
The calendar time required to complete a deliverable or activity.

Routine Variance
Small variances within the expected range.

Systematic Variables
A collection of variables in a data set whose spread forms a pattern that demonstrates one or more predictable tendencies (i.e., is "systematic").

Arrow Diagramming Method
A schedule network diagramming technique in which activities are represented by arrows, with the tail of the arrow indicating the start and the head the finish of the activity. Activities are connected by circles called nodes to indicate the sequence in which the activities are to be performed.

Business Value-Added
A change or addition that a business makes to a product or process before it reaches the customer or point of purchase. A "business value-added" change increases the quality and value of the product or process, but the fact of the change itself is not apparent to the customer.

Communication
A process through which information is exchanged among persons using a common set of symbols, signs, or behaviors.

Process Management
The practice of administering and modifying (perhaps continuously) a process or collection of processes in defined, measurable, documentable ways to improve quality and performance and to ensure that customer expectations are met. Sometimes called "reengineering" or "business process quality management."

Dyads
Groups comprising two units or individuals each. The two units in each dyad are usually qualitatively 1) similar in some way, or 2) directly opposite in some way.

Rough Order-of-Magnitude Estimate
A “rough” estimate which is used early in the project, during Initiation, and in top-down estimates. The range of variance for the estimate can be -25 percent to +75 percent.

“As Is” Process Model
An “As Is” process model is a model of the current process, system, application and data being used to fulfill a business requirement. It is the baseline used for analyzing needed changes as well as measuring the success of future changes or improvements.

Communications/Information Management
The proper organization and control of information transmitted by whatever means necessary to satisfy the needs of the project and its stakeholders.

Process Mapping
A method of analyzing and classifying processes, usually by means of a flow chart (i.e., the "process map") as either value-producing or waste-producing; used to establish cycle times and identify waste and loss, thus permitting modification of the process to eliminate waste and enhance value and performance.

Run Chart
A visual representation used to measure process performance over a defined period of time, and to identify performance patterns or trends; depicted by plotting data points drawn from the process population across the chart and connecting them with a line.

A-Square
The statistic used in the Anderson-Darling normality test to determine whether a given data set follows the normal distribution. The resulting A-square implies a P-value of inverse size, which indicates whether the null hypothesis should be accepted or rejected.

Communications Plan
A plan that documents and organizes the project stakeholders’ requirements for project information and the project team’s strategy for communication and organizational change management. The Project Communications Plan, a subsidiary plan of the Project Plan and Budget, is created during the Planning and Analysis phase.

Process Model
A depiction of how processes are linked together within an organization.

Assessment
An evaluative process used to collect and interpret data to measure performance. An assessment system may include a variety of components, such as internal and external audits, document reviews, analyses, and final reports.

Communications Planning
The process of determining the information and communications needs of the project stakeholders: who they are, what their level of interest is, their influence on the project, what information they need, when they will need it, and how will it be given to them.

Procurement
The process of a seller soliciting, selecting and paying for products or services from a buyer.

Assignable Cause
Also known as "special cause." An assignable cause is an identifiable, specific cause of variation in a given process or measurement. A cause of variation that is not random and does not occur by chance is "assignable."

Completed Activity
An activity with an actual finish date and no remaining duration.

Product Cost
The entire collection of all costs, both direct and indirect, incurred in producing a particular product or service.

Assumptions
Assumptions are the statements that are considered to be true, real or certain. Assumptions are often documented to remind sponsors or executives of time and resources they have promised in order to support the project.

Competitive Advantage
The condition of having achieved "market dominance" by means of 1) offering a particular product or service, or aspect thereof, or 2) operating at levels of efficiency and/or quality, that enable a business to obtain greater market share than its competitors.

Product Family
A group of products that derive from the same "product platform" (i.e., are related in a defined way, such as having in common specific components), and/or that undergo similar or identical production processes using the same equipment.

Assurance
The act of producing in its customers the confidence that a business will maintain particular level of quality in its products, processes, organization, function, or operations. "Assurance" also refers to the commitment itself to maintaining a particular quality level.

Component
A constituent part, element, or piece of a complex whole. A major design piece of a project product or solution.

Productivity
A measure of efficiency, expressed as a ratio; the rate of a production process's output compared to the rate of its input over a defined period of time.

AQL - Assured Quality Level
Also known as "acceptable quality level." AQL represents the ratio of conforming units in a given sample lot of a product or process to the maximum number of defective or "nonconforming" units that the sample lot may contain and still be considered of acceptable quality. The ideal AQL is one with zero defects or nonconforming units.

CONC - Cost of Non-Conformance
One element of calculating cost of quality (COQ), comprising all of the costs resulting from the failure of a product or service to conform to specified minimum quality levels. Such costs may include, e.g., "rework," loss of customers, etc.

Program
A group of related projects managed in a coordinated way to obtain benefits and control not available by managing them individually. Programs may also include elements of related work outside of the scope of the discrete projects in the program.

Attribute-Based Cost System
A method of examining costs by integrating "activity-based costs" (ABC) with "quality function deployment" (QFD). It 1) identifies and defines the actual costs of each product or process; 2) allocates resources according to those costs; 3) documents customer data via QFD methods; and 4) integrates each to ensure that activities, costs, and resources fulfill customer wants, needs, and expectations.

Concomitant Variable
Also known as a "secondary," "subordinate," or "incidental" variable. A concomitant variable is observed, but is not measured or otherwise used in analyzing the data set in which it appears.

Program Management
The centralized, coordinated management of a program to achieve the program’s strategic objectives and benefits.

Attribute Data
Binary data, which is the simplest form of data and is unanalyzable. Attribute data is used for "counting" purposes – (e.g., recording numbers or providing totals for analysis). To analyze attribute data, it must first be converted into variable, or "discrete data". It is frequently used to divide units into "conforming" and "nonconforming" lots.

Condition
A factor that limits or controls some aspect (i.e., cause) of an operation or function, and upon which the successful fulfillment of that operation of function (i.e., effect) depends.

Project
A team endeavor encompassing a specific scope of work to produce a unique outcome (the “product or solution”) within defined starting and ending dates and an approved budget. A project allows the organization to achieve a desired business objective.

Audit
A periodic, systematic process of inspection and evaluation, often performed by an independent entity. An audit is designed to ensure that a business, its employees, and its processes, systems, operations, services, and/or products conform to pre-established standards of quality; to identify weaknesses, errors, or defects; and to identify methods of correction and/or improvement.

Confidence Interval
A measurement of the likelihood that the estimated value of a specific parameter will occur in an expected range between a defined upper and lower limit (e.g., polling results that indicate that a result is "plus or minus X percent" are demonstrating a confidence interval of "X percent").

Project Budget
The project budget is the planned cost of all activities included in the project, generally including all hard costs, i.e. costs that will have to be supported out of a district budget or through grant funding. See also Budget.

Authority
The condition of having power over, and responsibility for, an enterprise, system, process, product, and/or personnel.

Confidence Level
A measurement of the likelihood that the estimated value of a specific parameter will fall within the relevant confidence interval (e.g., a confidence level of 95% for the accuracy of a specific factor indicates that the factor will be accurate in 95 out of 100 units in a sample).

Project Charter
The document that formally authorizes a project manager to apply organizational resources to project activities. The project charter documents the work of the Initiation Phase and must be approved before the project continues.

Autocorrelation
Closeness of values in observations, or dependencies between observations.

Configuration Management
A documented process of controlling the features, attributes and technical characteristics of any product, service, result or component of a solution. It is sometimes referred to as a rigorous change control system.

Project Library
The physical location of all project-specific documentation, including the project plan, contracts, status reports, and other significant documents.

Availability
The state or capacity of being ready and able to fulfill or perform an intended role or function. Availability may describe this quality in products or components, services, processes, systems, individuals, teams, or entire organizations or enterprises.

Conflict Management
The process by which an individual uses appropriate techniques to deal with the inevitable disagreements, both technical and personal, that develop among those working toward accomplishment of project objectives.

Project Life Cycle
The complete duration of a project, composed of al the individual, sequential project phases.

Conflict Resolution
The process of seeking a solution to a problem. Five methods, in particular, have proven effective, depending upon the situation: • Compromise: To consent to agree; generally, each side gives up something to gain something else. • Confrontation: To work together toward a solution of the problem; generally considered the most effective conflict resolution technique since it results in a mutually agreed or win-win solution. • Forcing: To use power to direct the solution. This is a type of win-lose agreement in which one side gets what it wants and the other does not. May be effective in highly risky or dangerous situations. • Smoothing: To play down the differences between two groups and to give the points of agreement strong attention. This technique may not resolve the conflict at hand, but may pave the way for renewed discussions at a later date. • Withdrawal: To remove oneself from the conflict.

Project Management
Project Management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements.

Conformance
The condition of adhering to or complying with particular requirements or standards.

Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK®)
An inclusive term that describes the sum of knowledge within the project management profession; the codification of all topics, subject areas, and intellectual processes involved in applying sound management principles to the collective accomplishment of any undertaking definable as a project. The PMBOK Guide is published and maintained by the Project Management Institute.

Consistency
The condition of being uniform, regularized, or standardized, according to specific requirements or guidelines.

Project Management Information System
Tools and techniques which support the gathering, recording, filtering, and dissemination of pertinent information for members of a project team.

Constraint
Any factor or influence that limits the project team’s options or affects the ability to complete the project on time, within budget, or in scope. Common constraints are lack of adequate budget, staff or other resources needed to complete the project in a timely fashion. Risks which materialize also become constraints.

Project Management Office (PMO)
A centralized organization which: • Serves as a vehicle for organizational change • Provides methodologies for accomplishing that change • Assists in developing project management competencies through training and coaching. The PMO provides recommendations to the project manager, project team and stakeholders during each phase of the project, and assists with periodic project reviews, additional follow-up actions, methodology tools and techniques, and mentoring. The PMO may also provide the project manager for the project.

Consumer's Risk
The probability that a lot of a product or process, when delivered to the consumer or point of purchase, will be nonconforming, defective, or of insufficient quality by virtue of the fact that too great a number of nonconforming units were allowed to remain in the lot when it was accepted after inspection.

PMO
See Project Management Office

Contingency Planning
The establishment of management plans to be used if specified risk events take place. Examples include the provision and management of a contingency allowance in the budget, the preparation of alternative schedule sequences or "work-arounds," a strong risk response system, and an alternate resource plan.

Project Management Professional (PMP)
A certification of project management skill and experience awarded by the Project Management Institute (PMI).

Contingency Reserve
A time or dollar amount allotted as a response to risk events that may occur within a project.

Project Manager
The individual having responsibility for managing a project. The project manager acts as the customer's single point of contact for services delivered within the scope of a project. The project manager also directs planning and execution of the project's scope of activities and resources in order to meet established cost, schedule and quality goals.

Continuous Flow
A production method using batch sizes of single units. Each stage of the production process completes all of its tasks in contributing to the production of one unit before that single unit is sent to the next stage.

Project Objectives
The project scope expressed in terms of output, required resources, and timing.

Continuous Flow Production
A production process in which a unit undergoes each stage of production sequentially. The unit remains at the first stage until that particular segment is complete; it is then sent to the next stage, where the process is repeated. This method continues until the unit has completed all sequences of the production process.

Project Phase
A collection of logically related project activities, usually culminating in the completion of a major deliverable. See also Phase.

Contract
A legal, binding agreement between a buyer and a seller detailing the requirements and obligations of both parties.

Project Plan
A document describing all work to be accomplished in a project, the resources to be used in that work, and the planned activities.

Contract Administration
The process of ensuring that the buyer and seller both perform to the specifications within the contract.

Project Planning
The identification of the project objectives and the ordered activities necessary to complete the project; the identification of resource types and quantities required to carry out each activity or task within the project.

Contract Closeout
The process for confirming that the obligations of the contract were met as expected.

Project Risk
The cumulative effect of uncertain events or occurrences that could adversely affect project objectives; the degree of exposure to negative events and their probable consequences. Project risk is evaluated by three factors: risk event, risk probability, and the amount at stake. See also Risk.

Control
A condition in which a process or operation is free of "assignable causes" of (i.e., nonrandom) variation; the process is stable, with variation that is normal and predictable. "Control" is also the fifth and final phase of the Six Sigma DMAIC process, in which a product, process, or system's stability and predictability are tracked and verified.

Project Product or Solution
The primary, quantifiable deliverable, result or outcome the project will produce to satisfy the project objectives.

Control Chart
A visual depiction of the upper and lower statistical limits of a product, process, or system, with an average or central line or indicator, used to measure data relative to that unit or lot. When all data sets fall between the limits, the process is "in control."

Project Schedule
A project schedule identifies planned dates for starting and completing activities and milestones. It determines when project activities will take place depending on defined durations and precedent activities.

Control Limits
The upper and lower points of demarcation on a control chart, measuring data relevant to a product, process, or system; when the data all fall between those limits, the process is "in control."

Project Scope
Project Scope includes those activities required to ensure that the project includes all the work required, and only the work required, to complete the project successfully. A written scope statement documents the agreement between the project team and the project customer by making known what is and is not to be included in the project.

Control Point
A method of measurement, using a specific unit as an example of acceptable quality levels, that includes a defined target for results.

Project Sponsor
The manager who authorizes the establishment and ongoing conduct of a project to satisfy specific business objectives. The project sponsor makes the business case for the project and has the authority to define project goals, secure funding, and resolve organizational and priority conflicts.

COPIS
An acronym for "Customer-Output-Process-Input-Supplier"; the inverse of the "SIPOC" process. A five-step method of designing a process or system to ensure quality: 1) Obtain the customer's perspective (e.g., wants, needs, expectations); 2) determine the necessary output qualities and characteristics to satisfy those customer requirements; 3) identify the process(es) necessary to achieve such output; 4) identify the materials and/or other "input" necessary to such process(es); and 5) choose the supplier(s) based on the previous four requirements.

Project Steering Committee
A consolidated oversight group that reviews the progress of the project, provides assistance when required, and assesses overall project success.

COPQ - Cost of Poor Quality
The costs of maintaining processes or systems, or of producing products or services, of inferior quality. Such costs fall into four categories: 1) appraisal costs, or costs of assessing requirements for ensuring sufficient quality levels; 2) external failure costs, or costs of delivering units of inferior quality to the customer (i.e., customer dissatisfaction); 3) internal failure costs, or costs related to finding, addressing, and/or correcting defects before delivery to the customer or point of purchase; and 4) prevention costs, or costs related to avoiding costs in the other three categories, as well as costs of general quality failures.

Project Task
The smallest self-contained units of work used to produce the product of the project. In general, tasks share the following characteristics: 1) definite duration, 2) logical relationships to other tasks in the project, 3) need for resources such as people, materials or facilities, and 4) hard or soft costs.

COQ - Cost of Quality
The costs of ensuring delivery of a product or service of acceptable levels of quality, and of preventing delivery of a product or service of inferior quality. COQ encompasses the four categories identified in the definition of COPQ.

Project Team
A group of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, and who are working interdependently to achieve specific performance goals. The project team includes the individuals, usually subject matter experts, who are responsible for the completion of project tasks and executing the project plan. Team members report on a matrix basis to the project manager and receive a performance review for their contributions to project success.

Corrective action
Steps taken to ameliorate, repair, and/or prevent nonconformities or defects and their causes.

Prototype
A preliminary version of a product developed to facilitate user feedback or examine other development issues.

Correlation
A positive relationship, especially one with "cause and effect" qualities, between two or more variables or sets of data.

Purpose
An intended outcome or effect to be achieved through a specific action or series of actions; a function or a reason for existence.

Cost Target
The goal for costs associated with a particular product, process, project, or enterprise. A cost target represents the maximum collective costs that are to be allowed for all aspects of a project.

Push
A production approach that produces products or services for which there is no particular customer demand; may be used to create inventory, and often creates "waste."

Control
The exercise of comparing actual performance with planned performance, analyzing variances, assessing trends, evaluating possible alternatives and recommending corrective action, as needed.

Control Chart
A graphic display of project performance data over time and against established control limits. Upper and lower control limits indicate if values are within control or out of control.

CP - Control Plan
Written documentation that defines the average point of a product, process, or system, and provides guidelines for ensuring a quality level that will keep the data within those limits (and thus, "in control").

Controlling
The process of ensuring that project objectives are met by monitoring and measuring progress regularly to identify variances from the plan so that corrective action can be taken when necessary. See also Control.

Cost
The monetary value or price of any project activity or component.

Cost/Benefit Analysis
A computation of the quantifiable features of a project that will provide the customer additional information with which to make a knowledgeable decision.

Cost Control
An active process to monitor, document and control, to the extent possible, the causes of cost changes within the project. When changes occur, the cost baseline must be updated.

Cost Estimating
The process of assembling, calculating and predicting the costs of a project. Cost estimating encompasses the economic evaluation, project investment cost, and predicting or forecasting of future trends and costs.

Crash
Sudden and comprehensive failure of a product, system, or process, or a component thereof; often used to describe an information technology failure.

Criteria
Standards, rules, or tests on which a judgment or decision can be based, or by which a product, service, result, or process can be evaluated.

Critical Path
The path through the schedule in which there is no slack time between activities. The critical path is the longest path through the schedule and it determines the final delivery date for the project.

Critical Success Factors
Tangible and measurable criteria for determining the success of the project. These are usually factors that the project can influence or control. However, they may include external factors.

Current Finish Date
The current estimated calendar date when an activity will be completed.

Current Start Date
The current estimated calendar date when an activity will begin.

Current Situation
An analysis of how and the extent to which the identified business need/opportunity is currently being addressed. It describes how the function is performed manually, automatically or a combination of the two. The focus of the current situation should be the challenges or bottlenecks experienced.

Customer
The recipient or purchaser of a product or service. A "customer" may be an individual, a group or team, an enterprise, or an organizational entity.

CRM - Customer Relationship Management
A business strategy that evaluates the wants, needs, and preferences of the business's customers, and implements controls and other methods to ensure quality levels that comply with those wants, needs, and preferences.

Cycle Time
The length of time that elapses, or can be expected to elapse, between the beginning and the end of a particular process.