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Glossary

The terms the product uses, in the sense it uses them.

Schedule

Term	Meaning
Data date	The date progress is recorded to. Work before it is actual; work after it is scheduled.
Early and late dates	The earliest and latest an activity can start and finish without delaying the project.
Total float	How long an activity can slip without moving the project finish. Negative float means a constraint or must-finish date is already missed.
Critical	An activity with total float at or below the critical threshold (zero by default).
Retained logic / progress override	How an in-progress activity's remaining work treats incomplete predecessors: waits for them, or ignores them.
Level of effort	An activity whose duration follows the activities it is linked to, for support work.
Leveling	Delaying work so that no resource exceeds its limit.
Baseline	The schedule kept at a point in time, to measure against. The active baseline is the performance measurement baseline.
Must finish by	The project's required finish; the variance against it is reported beside the baseline variance.

Earned value

Term	Meaning
BAC	Budget at completion: the baseline's total.
PV, EV, AC	Planned value (what should have been done by the data date), earned value (what was done, at budget), actual cost (what it cost).
SV, CV	Schedule variance EV − PV; cost variance EV − AC.
SPI, CPI	Schedule performance index EV ÷ PV; cost performance index EV ÷ AC. Below 1 is behind or over.
EAC, ETC, VAC	Estimate at completion (remaining work at budget, or at the performance to date), estimate to complete, variance at completion BAC − EAC.
TCPI	The cost performance needed on the remaining work to finish within the BAC or the EAC.
Period index	SPI and CPI for the work since the last recorded update, as opposed to cumulative to date.
Steps (rules of credit)	Weighted steps on an activity that give its percent complete.

Risk

Term	Meaning
Three-point estimate	Minimum, most likely and maximum duration, as a triangle, BetaPERT or uniform distribution.
Monte Carlo, Latin hypercube	Sampling every estimate thousands of times and rescheduling each time; Latin hypercube spreads the samples evenly for a steadier result.
P50, P80, P90	The date (or cost) with a 50, 80 or 90 percent chance of being met.
Deterministic	The single-point schedule without uncertainty, and the probability the run gives it.
Criticality, sensitivity	How often an activity was critical across the iterations; how strongly its duration correlates with the finish.
Risk factor	One driver (productivity, design maturity) that scales the durations of the activities it is assigned to.
Register	The list of threats and opportunities, assessed before and after the response, with actions.
Joint confidence	The chance of meeting both the finish and the cost together.

Estimating

Term	Meaning
Estimate class	How well defined the scope was when the estimate was made: Class 5 (concept screening, 0–2% defined) to Class 1 (check estimate, 65–100% defined), after the AACE International practice.
Accuracy range	The expected range around the total for the class, narrow and wide.
Basis of estimate	The document stating scope, inclusions, exclusions, assumptions, methodology, sources and allowances.
Assembly, norm	A unit of work with its labour hours, material and equipment per unit.
Rate set	The build-up from a base wage to an all-in rate.
Contingency	The amount added for the risks within the scope, as a percentage or from the risk analysis at a confidence level.
Escalation	Price change from the cost basis date to when the money is spent.

Organization

Term	Meaning
OBS	Organizational breakdown structure: who is responsible, as a tree.
WBS	Work breakdown structure: what the work is, as a tree.
Portfolio	A set of projects reviewed together.
Workspace	A cloud space with members, projects and an enterprise setup.