Project Management Definitions PDF

 Chapter 2 **Cloud computing:** the provision of computing resources, including applications, over the internet so customers do not have to invest in the computing infrastructure needed to run and maintain the resources. **Enterprise resource planning systems (ERP):** a system that integrates indi...

 Chapter 2 **Cloud computing:** the provision of computing resources, including applications, over the internet so customers do not have to invest in the computing infrastructure needed to run and maintain the resources. **Enterprise resource planning systems (ERP):** a system that integrates individual traditional business functions into a series of modules so that a single transaction occurs seamlessly within a single information system rather than several separate systems. Nearshoring **Outsourcing:** the practice of turning over responsibility for some or all of an organization's information systems applications and operations to an outside firm. **Request for proposal (RFP):** a document provided to vendors that asks them to propose hardware and system software that will meet the requirements of a new system. Vendor viability and vendor support: Chapter 3 **COCOMO:** the constructive cost model is an automated software estimation model that uses historical project data and current as well as future project characteristics to estimate project costs. **Critical path:** the shortest time a project can be completed. **Critical path scheduling:** a scheduling technique whose order and duration of a sequence of task activities directly affect the completion date of a product. **Deliverable:** end product of the SDLC phase. **Feasibility study:** a study that determines if the proposed information system makes sense for the organization from an economic and operational standpoint. **Gantt chart:** a graphical representation of a project that shows each task as a horizontal bar whose length is proportional to its time for completion. **Network diagram:** a diagram that depicts projects tasks and their interrelationships. **PERT (Program Evaluation Review Technique):** a technique that uses optimistic, pessimistic, and realistic time estimates to calculate the expected time for a particular task. **Project:** a planned undertaking of related activities to reach an objective that has a beginning and an end. **Project charter:** a short document prepared for the customer during project initiation that describes what the project will deliver and outlines generally at a high level all work required to complete the project. **Project closedown:** the final phase of the project management process that focuses on bringing the project to an end. **Project execution:** the final phase of the project management process in which the plans created in the prior phases are put into action. **Project initiation:** the first phase of the project management process in which activities are performed to assess the size, scope, and complexity of the project and to establish procedures to support later project activities. **Project management:** a controlled process of initiating, planning, executing and closing down a project. **Project manager:** a system analyst with a diverse set of skills-management, leadership, technical, conflict management, and costumer relationship-who is responsible for initiating, planning, executing, and closing down a project. Project management software: **Project planning:** the second phase of the project management process that focuses on defining clear, discrete activities and the work needed to complete each activity within a single project. **Project workbook:** an online repository for all project-related documents that is sued for performing project audits, orienting new team members, communicating with management and customers, identifying future projects, and performing post project reviews. **Resources:** any person, group, piece of equipment, or material used in accomplishing an activity. **Slack time:** the amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying an entire project. **Work breakdown structure:** process of dividing the project into manageable tasks and logically ordering them to ensure a smooth evolution between tasks. 4 **Affinity clustering:** process of arranging planning matrix information so that clusters of information with a predetermined level or type of affinity are placed next to each other on a matrix report. **Bottom-up planning:** a generic information systems planning methodology that identifies and defines IS development projects based upon solving operational business problems or taking advantage of some business opportunities. **Competitive strategy:** the method by which an organization attempts to achieve its mission and objectives. Corporate strategic planning: an ongoing process that defines the mission, objectives, strategies of an organization. **Data dictionary:** a centralized repository of information about data such as meaning, relationships to other data, origin, usage, and format. Electronic commerce (EC): internet based communication to support day-to-day government, business, and customer activities. Incremental commitment: a strategy in systems analysis and design in which the project is reviewed after each phase and continuation of the project is rejustified. Information systems planning (ISP): an orderly means of assessing the information needs of an organization and defining the systems, databases and technologies that will best satisfy those needs. Internet-of-Things (IoT): a broad class of physical objects that feature an internet address and connectivity that communicate between these objects and other internet enabled devices and systems. Mission statement: a statement that makes it clear what business a company is in. Internet: large, worldwide network of networks that use common protocol to communicate with each other. Objective statements: a series of statements that express an organization's qualitative and quantitative goals for reaching a desired future position. Top-down planning: generic methodology that atte3mpts to gain a broad understanding of information systems needs of the entire organization. Value chain analysis: analyzing an organization's activities to determine where value is added to products and/or services and the costs incurred for doing so; it usually also includes a comparison with the activities, added value, and costs of other organizations for the purpose of making improvements in the organization's operations and performance. 5 Baseline Project Plan (BPP): major outcome and deliverable from the project initiation and planning phase that contains the best estimate of a project's scope, benefits, costs, risks, and resource requirements. Break-even analysis Business case: the justification for an information system, presented in terms of the tangible and intangible economic benefits and costs and the technical and organizational feasibility of the proposed system. Discount rate: the rate of return used to compute the present value of future cash flows. Legal and contractual feasibility: the process of assessing potential legal and contractual ramifications due to the construction of a system. One-time cost: a cost associated with project start up and development or system startup. Economic feasibility: process of identifying the financial benefits and costs associated with a development project. Intangible benefit: a benefit derived from the creation of an information system that cannot be easily measured in dollars or with certainty. Intangible cost: a cost with an information system that cannot be easily measured in dollars or with certainty. Operational feasibility: the process of assessing the degree to which a proposed system solves business problems or takes advantage of business opportunities. Political feasibility: the process of evaluating how key stakeholders within the organization view the proposed system. Present value: the current value of a future cash flow. Project Scope Statement (PSS): a document prepared for the customer that describes the project will deliver and outlines generally at a high level all work required to complete the project. Recurring cost: a cost resulting from the ongoing evolution and use of a system. Schedule feasibility: the process of assessing the degree to which the potential time frame and completion dates for all major activities within a project meet organizational deadlines and constraints for affecting change. Tangible benefit: a benefit derived from the creation of an information system that can be measured in dollars and with certainty. Tangible cost: a cost associated with an information system that can be measured in dollars and with certainty. Technical feasibility: a process of assessing the development organization's ability to construct a proposed system. Time value of money (TVM): the concept that money available today is worth more than the same amount tomorrow. Total cost of ownership (TCO): the cost of owning and operating a system, including the total cost acquisition, as well as costs associated with ongoing use and maintenance. Walk-through: a peer group review of any product created during the systems development process; also called a structured walk-through. 8 Associative entity Attribute Binary relationship Business rules Candidate key Cardinality Composite attribute Conceptual data model Degree Derived attribute Disjoint rule Domain Entity instance Entity-relationship data model (E-R model) Entity-relationship diagram (E-R diagram) Entity type Identifier Multivalued attribute Optional attribute Overlap rule Partial specialization rule Relationship Repeating group Required attribute Subtype Supertype Ternary relationship Total specialization rule Triggering operation (trigger) Unary relationship 9 Calculated field: a field that can be derived from other database fields, also known as a computer field or derived field. Data type: a coding scheme recognized by system software for representing organizational data. Default value: a value a field will assume unless an explicit value is entered for that field. Denormalization: the process of splitting or combining normalized relations into physical tables based on affinity of use of rows and fields. Field: the smallest unit of named application data recognized by system software. File organization: a technique for physically arranging the records of a file. Foreign key: an attribute that appears as a nonprimary key attribute in one relation and a primary key attribute in another relation. Functional dependency: a constraint between two attributes in which the value of one attribute is determined by the value of another attribute. Hashed file organization: a file organization in which the address of each row is determined using an algorithm. Homonym Index: Indexed file organization: a file organization in which rows are stored either sequentially or nonsequentially, and an index is created that allows software to locate indivudal. Normalization: the process of converting complex data structures into simple, stable data structures. Null value: a special field value, distinct from zero, blank, or any other value, that indicates that the value for the field is missing or otherwise unknown. Physical file: a named set of table rows stored in a contiguous section of secondary memory. Physical table: a named set of rows and columns that specifies the fields in each row of the table. Pointer: a field of data that can be used to locate a related field or row of data. Primary key: an attribute whose value is unique across all occurrences of a relation.