Glossary

A

Acceptance Criteria
[Quality]
Definition: Predefined, measurable conditions that a deliverable must meet to be formally accepted by a reviewer or stakeholder.
Practicum Example: In Milestone 6, teams defined acceptance criteria for deliverables like the “Training Manual,” requiring completeness, formatting consistency, and stakeholder sign-off.
Where Used: QA Checklist, Milestone 6

Actual Cost (AC)
[Budget]
Definition: The total costs incurred for completed work during a specific time period.
Practicum Example: Teams used timesheet data to calculate actual cost of labor in their Budget Tracking Logs (e.g., 24 hours × $85/hr = $2,040 for Business Analyst labor).
Where Used: Milestone 6 – Budget Control Log

Assumption
[Planning]
Definition: A condition or event presumed true during planning, which must be tracked because it may later prove false and introduce risk.
Practicum Example: An assumption might be that stakeholder SMEs will be available within 48 hours for deliverable review—if not, schedule risk is introduced.
Where Used: Project Charter, Risk Register

B

Backlog
[Agile/Planning]
Definition: A dynamic, prioritized list of work items or deliverables that have yet to be completed.
Practicum Context: While not formal Agile, teams may have tracked incomplete deliverables in their Scope Control Register as an informal backlog.
Where Used: Milestone 5 – Scope Tracking

Baseline
[Control]
Definition: The original, approved version of the project’s scope, schedule, or budget used for comparison to actual results.
Practicum Example: Students used the Milestone 4 budget as a fixed baseline to compare against actual spending and calculate cost variance in Milestone 6.
Where Used: Variance Analysis Table

Blocker
[Schedule/Execution]
Definition: An unresolved issue that prevents a task from being started or completed.
Practicum Example: A missing SME interview was logged as a blocker for stakeholder training content completion.
Where Used: Milestone 5 – Schedule Tracker

Budget Burn-Down
[Budget]
Definition: A tracking method that shows how much of the project budget has been spent over time compared to what remains.
Practicum Example: Teams created weekly cumulative views of budget usage to show if they were burning funds faster than planned.
Where Used: Milestone 6 – Budget Tracking Log

C

Change Request
[Control]
Definition: A formal proposal to alter scope, timeline, or budget, usually requiring sponsor or PM approval.
Practicum Example: Teams flagged new client-requested features in their Scope Control Register and logged them as “Proposed Scope Change.”
Where Used: Milestone 5 – Scope Change Flag, Escalation Protocol

Contingency
[Risk/Budget]
Definition: Budget or time buffer set aside to absorb unforeseen costs, schedule delays, or risks.
Practicum Example: An 8% contingency line was included in budgets to account for potential vendor delays or late sign-offs.
Where Used: Milestone 4 – Budget Submission

Control Dashboard (Lite)
[Control/Communication]
Definition: A one-page visual summary of current project status, used to communicate progress, risk, and upcoming milestones.
Practicum Example: Teams presented milestone status, task completion %, and RAG flags on their weekly dashboards for sponsor review.
Where Used: Milestone 5 – Dashboard

D

Defect Log
[Quality/Control]
Definition: A structured list of quality issues or defects reported in deliverables, used to manage resolution and accountability.
Practicum Example: Teams tracked issues in training decks (e.g., missing slide titles, inconsistent branding) with severity ratings and assigned owners.
Where Used: Milestone 6 – QA Tracker

Deliverable
[Scope/Execution]
Definition: A measurable output produced as part of the project (e.g., documents, tools, systems).
Practicum Example: “Stakeholder Onboarding Slides” was a deliverable assigned to the Instructional Lead with defined QA criteria.
Where Used: All Milestones

Dependency
[Schedule/Execution]
Definition: A relationship between tasks where one depends on the other to begin or finish.
Practicum Example: “Pilot Launch” is dependent on “Training Completion” and “Test Plan Sign-Off.”
Where Used: Milestone 3 – Task Sequencing

Perfect! Here's the next installment of your Expanded Glossary of Terms, covering E–H, with detailed definitions, category tags, practicum examples, and milestone references.

E

Effort Estimate
[Planning/Execution]
Definition: The number of hours or work units expected to be required to complete a task or deliverable.
Practicum Example: In Milestone 3, students estimated that developing a workflow diagram would take 12 hours of Business Analyst effort, which was later tied to labor cost in Milestone 4.
Where Used: Milestone 3 – Effort Estimation Table

Escalation Path / Protocol
[Control/Quality]
Definition: A structured decision-making route for handling unresolved issues or risks by progressively involving higher authorities.
Practicum Example: If a deliverable failed QA review twice, students escalated the issue from team lead → PM → sponsor using a 3-tier quality escalation matrix.
Where Used: Milestone 5 (Change Control) & Milestone 6 (Quality Escalation Flow)

Estimate at Completion (EAC)
[Budget/Control]
Definition: A forecast of the total cost of the project at completion, based on current progress and spending trends.
Practicum Note: Though not required in this practicum, students preparing to calculate budget burn-down could derive an EAC if project continuation is expected.
Where Used: Advanced Budget Tracking (optional)

Executive Summary
[Communication]
Definition: A concise, high-level overview of a plan, report, or deliverable designed to give sponsors a quick understanding of key points.
Practicum Example: The Project Charter and Final Budget Submission each began with a one-paragraph executive summary targeted at sponsors or decision-makers.
Where Used: Milestone 1 (Charter), Milestone 4 (Funding Narrative), Final Portfolio

F

Float (or Slack)
[Schedule]
Definition: The amount of time a task can be delayed without impacting the overall project deadline.
Practicum Note: Students analyzed float when sequencing tasks and determining which items were on the critical path.
Where Used: Milestone 3 – Task Dependencies & Sequencing

Forecasting
[Control/Budget]
Definition: The process of predicting future project performance based on current trends and progress.
Practicum Example: Students used their budget tracking logs and schedule status to forecast risk of overrun by comparing % of task completion vs. % of budget burned.
Where Used: Milestone 5 & 6 – Control Tools

G

Gantt Chart
[Schedule/Planning]
Definition: A visual project timeline that shows tasks, durations, and dependencies using horizontal bars across a calendar.
Practicum Note: Though not required graphically, students’ task schedules and milestone timelines were formatted similarly in Excel or tables.
Where Used: Milestone 3 – Milestone Schedule Table

Goal Statement
[Initiation/Charter]
Definition: A concise declaration of what the project aims to accomplish, typically featured in the charter.
Practicum Example: “To design and launch a stakeholder-ready clinical workflow system for UCMS by Week 12 with 95% deliverable approval.”
Where Used: Milestone 1 – Project Charter

H

Handoff
[Execution/QA]
Definition: The process of transferring responsibility for a deliverable from one role/team to another, usually after a review or approval.
Practicum Example: After completing a training manual, the Instructional Lead “handed it off” to the QA Reviewer, whose acceptance was required before milestone close.
Where Used: Milestone 6 – QA Acceptance Checklist

Health Status (Project Health)
[Control/Communication]
Definition: A high-level, color-coded (RAG) or summary indication of how a project is performing in terms of time, cost, and scope.
Practicum Example: Teams labeled their dashboard as 🟢 On Track, 🟡 At Risk, or 🔴 Delayed, based on whether major milestones were progressing as planned.
Where Used: Milestone 5 – Control Dashboard

I

Impact Assessment
[Risk/Change Control]
Definition: The process of evaluating the potential effects (positive or negative) that a proposed change, risk, or issue could have on the project's scope, schedule, budget, or quality.
Practicum Example: When students logged a scope change in Milestone 5 (e.g., adding accessibility features), they were expected to include a short impact assessment on labor, timeline, and budget.
Where Used: Milestone 5 – Scope Change Log / Escalation Protocol

Incremental Delivery
[Agile/Execution]
Definition: A project management technique where small, functional parts of the project are completed and delivered in stages, allowing for early feedback and faster value realization.
Practicum Note: Though the practicum uses a milestone-based structure, the team dashboard and weekly updates simulate an incremental approach to showing progress.
Where Used: Milestone 5 – Control Dashboard

Initiation Phase
[Lifecycle/Planning]
Definition: The earliest phase in a project’s lifecycle, during which high-level goals, stakeholders, and feasibility are defined, typically resulting in a Project Charter.
Practicum Example: Milestone 1 was entirely dedicated to Initiation—building a Charter, forming teams, clarifying objectives, and defining constraints.
Where Used: Milestone 1

Issue Log
[Control/Risk]
Definition: A living document that captures project problems as they occur, documenting status, ownership, and resolution steps.
Practicum Note: While separate from a defect log, issue logs can be included in control dashboards to flag process risks or team blockers.
Where Used: Milestone 5 – Blockers & Milestone Notes

J

Justification (Business Justification)
[Initiation/Budget]
Definition: A rationale or explanation for why a project, deliverable, or budget request is necessary and valuable to stakeholders.
Practicum Example: In Milestone 4, students wrote a narrative justification for their project budget to explain how funds support value delivery and risk mitigation.
Where Used: Milestone 1 – Charter; Milestone 4 – Budget Submission Narrative

K

Key Performance Indicator (KPI)
[Control/Quality]
Definition: A measurable value that demonstrates how effectively a project or team is achieving specific goals.
Practicum Note: While not formally labeled KPIs, students used metrics such as "% of deliverables accepted," “# of QA issues resolved,” or “% of budget used” as de facto KPIs in dashboards.
Where Used: Milestone 5 – Control Dashboard; Milestone 6 – QA & Budget Reports

Kickoff Meeting
[Initiation/Team Coordination]
Definition: A formal meeting that launches the project, aligns team members, reviews the Charter, and establishes early operating norms.
Practicum Example: Teams simulated this through early team formation, tool setup, and clarifying roles/responsibilities.
Where Used: Milestone 1 – Team Formation & Charter Introduction

L

Lag Time
[Scheduling]
Definition: A planned delay between tasks where the successor must wait a specific amount of time before starting, even after the predecessor finishes.
Practicum Example: When designing milestone schedules in Milestone 3, teams may have added lag between "Finalizing Test Plan" and "Conducting Pilot Test" to allow for review.
Where Used: Milestone 3 – Task Dependencies & Sequencing

Lessons Learned
[Closeout/Reflection]
Definition: Knowledge gained during the project from successes, failures, or unexpected challenges, used to improve future project performance.
Practicum Example: At the end of each milestone, students completed a Reflection and Debrief section, simulating a formal lessons-learned workshop.
Where Used: All Milestones – Reflection Sections; Final Portfolio

Lifecycle (Project Lifecycle)
[Planning/PMBOK]
Definition: The stages a project passes through from start to finish, typically: Initiate → Plan → Execute → Monitor & Control → Close.
Practicum Context: The entire practicum is organized around a hybrid lifecycle model, aligning with both PMBOK phases and Agile-style delivery rhythms.
Where Used: Whole Practicum – Executive Summary & Milestone Structure

M

Milestone
[Schedule/Control]
Definition: A major progress point or achievement in a project that represents the completion of a key phase, deliverable set, or decision gate.
Practicum Example: Each chapter in this practicum is framed as a milestone (e.g., Milestone 4: Budget Submission), allowing teams to simulate phase-based delivery with checkpoint reviews.
Where Used: All Milestones – Milestone Schedule, Control Dashboard

Milestone Schedule
[Planning/Schedule]
Definition: A project timeline that focuses on critical milestones rather than granular task-level activities.
Practicum Example: In Milestone 3, students created a milestone schedule highlighting deliverables like "Finalized Requirements" and "Go-Live Pilot Launch," each with dates and dependencies.
Where Used: Milestone 3 – Section 4: Milestone Schedule

Mitigation Strategy
[Risk Management]
Definition: A plan or set of actions developed to reduce the probability or impact of a known risk.
Practicum Example: A team might plan to create stakeholder backup reviewers to mitigate the risk of key stakeholder unavailability during QA sign-off.
Where Used: Risk Breakdown Structures (optional), QA Planning in Milestone 6

N

Narrative Summary
[Communication/Leadership]
Definition: A brief written explanation that contextualizes data or plans for non-technical stakeholders—often attached to budgets, dashboards, or deliverables.
Practicum Example: In Milestone 4, students submitted a Funding Narrative explaining their budget’s logic, assumptions, and contingency.
Where Used: Milestones 1, 4, and 6 – Executive Summaries and Variance Explanations

Non-Labor Costs
[Budget]
Definition: All expenses not directly tied to personnel hours, such as licenses, hardware, software subscriptions, travel, or vendor services.
Practicum Example: Students tracked non-labor costs like “PM software license” or “on-site kickoff travel” as part of their Budget Tracker.
Where Used: Milestone 4 – Budget Planning; Milestone 6 – Actual Cost Tracking

O

On Track
[Control/Status]
Definition: A project, deliverable, or task that is progressing according to plan, with no major risks or deviations.
Practicum Example: In Milestone 5 dashboards, tasks marked “On Track” were displayed in green with notes like “on schedule, 80% complete.”
Where Used: Milestone 5 – Status Reporting Tools

Operational Readiness
[Execution/Delivery]
Definition: The state of preparedness of the team, tools, and deliverables to begin execution or launch.
Practicum Example: Teams reviewed final QA checklists and updated dashboards before transitioning from planning to pilot launch.
Where Used: Milestone 5–6 Transition

P

Peer Review
[Quality Assurance]
Definition: An internal quality check in which a teammate or role-peer examines a deliverable for clarity, completeness, and alignment with criteria before formal sign-off.
Practicum Example: In Milestone 6, teams simulated peer reviews of training decks and QA plans before submitting them for stakeholder acceptance.
Where Used: QA Workflow – Milestone 6

Planned Value (PV)
[Budget/EVMS]
Definition: The estimated cost of work planned to be completed by a certain time, used in earned value management (EVM).
Practicum Note: While not required in detail, PV concepts underlie the "Planned Budget" column in budget control tools.
Where Used: Milestone 6 – Budget Comparison Logic

Portfolio (Project Portfolio)
[Professional Development]
Definition: A curated set of project artifacts, reflections, and evidence demonstrating a student’s or professional’s capabilities in project delivery.
Practicum Example: Students are encouraged to compile their charter, budget, dashboard, and QA tracker into a Capstone Portfolio to present to employers or instructors.
Where Used: Final Book Section – Portfolio Assembly

Progress Tracker
[Control/Schedule]
Definition: A tool used to monitor how much work has been completed compared to what was planned—can include % complete, status labels, or milestone pacing.
Practicum Example: Students used task-level progress tracking in Milestone 5 to monitor weekly deliverable status.
Where Used: Milestone 5 – Schedule Tracker

Project Charter
[Initiation/Leadership]
Definition: A foundational document that outlines the project’s purpose, scope, goals, key stakeholders, constraints, and success criteria.
Practicum Example: In Milestone 1, every team developed a full charter including objectives, roles, and sponsor context for their UCMS engagement.
Where Used: Milestone 1 – Entire Chapter

Project Sponsor
[Governance]
Definition: The person or group responsible for authorizing the project, approving funding, and making high-level decisions.
Practicum Example: The fictional sponsor at UCMS played a key role in approving scope changes, budget allocations, and milestone sign-offs throughout the simulation.
Where Used: Milestones 1, 4, 5, and 6 – Escalation and Approval

Project Timeline
[Schedule/Planning]
Definition: The chronological map of when project tasks and milestones are planned to occur.
Practicum Example: Teams developed a 12-week timeline aligning milestone submissions with simulated project delivery checkpoints.
Where Used: Milestone 3 – Milestone Schedule; Milestone 5 – Dashboard

Q

QA (Quality Assurance)
[Quality]
Definition: A proactive, process-oriented approach that ensures deliverables meet specified standards before final acceptance.
Practicum Example: In Milestone 6, students designed QA Checklists to evaluate each major deliverable against predefined acceptance criteria.
Where Used: Milestone 6 – QA Framework

QA Gate
[Quality/Control]
Definition: A review or approval checkpoint where deliverables must meet quality standards before proceeding to the next phase.
Practicum Example: The final sign-off of training materials served as a QA Gate before stakeholder training rollout.
Where Used: Milestone 6 – Quality Control Flow

Quality Criteria
[Quality]
Definition: Specific, measurable attributes that a deliverable must satisfy to be considered acceptable.
Practicum Example: “No more than 5 typos, aligned to UCMS template, and reviewed by SME” were sample criteria for a stakeholder deck.
Where Used: Milestone 6 – QA Checklist

Quality Escalation
[Quality/Control]
Definition: A defined process for resolving unresolved or critical quality issues by escalating them through predefined decision levels.
Practicum Example: Teams escalated issues from QA Lead → PM → Sponsor when deliverables failed QA review more than twice.
Where Used: Milestone 6 – Optional Escalation Process

R

RAG Status
[Control/Communication]
Definition: A Red–Amber–Green color-coded system used to quickly convey project health or issue severity.
Practicum Example: Dashboards displayed milestones as 🟢 On Track, 🟡 At Risk, or 🔴 Delayed, based on variance from schedule or deliverables.
Where Used: Milestone 5 – Project Control Dashboard

Rework
[Quality]
Definition: Additional effort required to correct a deliverable that fails to meet quality standards.
Practicum Example: If a training manual was returned due to format issues, the time spent revising it was classified as rework.
Where Used: Milestone 6 – QA Tracker

Requirements Document
[Scope/Planning]
Definition: A formalized document that outlines functional and non-functional expectations of the project deliverables.
Practicum Example: Provided by UCMS, this document shaped project scope, training materials, and workflow development.
Where Used: Milestone 2 – Project Definition

Risk Register
[Risk Management]
Definition: A tool that logs project risks, their likelihood, potential impact, and mitigation or contingency plans.
Practicum Example: While not required, teams could build one to track SME unavailability, system delays, or sign-off bottlenecks.
Where Used: Optional – Risk Breakdown (Milestone 2), Escalation Planning

S

Scope Creep
[Scope/Control]
Definition: The unplanned or unauthorized expansion of project scope without corresponding adjustments to budget, timeline, or resources.
Practicum Example: Teams flagged scope creep when stakeholders requested additional features midstream without change request approval.
Where Used: Milestone 5 – Scope Control Register

Scope Register
[Scope/Control]
Definition: A centralized tool used to track each deliverable’s completion status, changes, ownership, and scope alignment.
Practicum Example: Students updated status weekly and marked any scope changes for sponsor review.
Where Used: Milestone 5 – Scope Control Tracker

Sponsor
[Governance]
Definition: The executive stakeholder who authorizes and funds the project and makes final decisions on scope, budget, and timeline.
Practicum Example: In the UCMS scenario, the sponsor played a central role in milestone reviews and change approvals.
Where Used: Milestone 1, 4, 5, 6 – Sign-Off, Approvals, Escalations

Stakeholder
[Initiation/Communication]
Definition: Any person or group affected by or able to influence project decisions, outcomes, or success.
Practicum Example: SME reviewers, UCMS department heads, and external reviewers were all project stakeholders with defined roles.
Where Used: All Milestones – Stakeholder Maps, Review Loops

Status Tracker
[Control]
Definition: A dynamic table or tool used to log the progress of tasks or deliverables against expected timelines.
Practicum Example: Teams used status trackers to report weekly progress with indicators like “Complete,” “In Progress,” or “Blocked.”
Where Used: Milestone 5 – Schedule Progress Tracker

T

Task Dependency
[Scheduling]
Definition: A logical relationship between tasks that determines the order of execution (e.g., Task B can’t start until Task A finishes).
Practicum Example: “Begin Pilot Test” was dependent on “Complete QA Review.”
Where Used: Milestone 3 – Task Sequencing & Gantt Simulation

Timeline
[Scheduling]
Definition: A visual or structured schedule showing when tasks, deliverables, or milestones occur.
Practicum Example: Students created 12-week milestone timelines with color-coded flags and date labels.
Where Used: Milestone 3 – Schedule Table; Milestone 5 – Dashboard

Time Tracking
[Control/Budget]
Definition: The process of recording hours spent on project tasks, typically used to calculate labor cost and monitor effort burn.
Practicum Example: Teams tracked hours per role and compared them to effort estimates in their budget log.
Where Used: Milestone 6 – Actual Cost Calculations

U

User Acceptance Testing (UAT)
[Quality/Execution]
Definition: The process by which end users test the functionality and usability of a system or deliverable to determine if it meets their needs.
Practicum Note: While not fully implemented, students could simulate UAT during stakeholder walkthroughs of training materials or workflow prototypes.
Where Used: Milestone 6 – Optional QA Method

V

Variance
[Control/Budget]
Definition: The measurable difference between planned and actual results in cost, time, or scope.
Practicum Example: A $750 overage in training budget was logged as a +15% variance, explained in the Variance Analysis Table.
Where Used: Milestone 6 – Budget Control & Variance Logs

Visual Status Indicator
[Control/Communication]
Definition: An icon or symbol (such as color or emoji) used to communicate task health quickly and clearly.
Practicum Example: ✅ = Complete, 🟢 = On Track, 🔴 = Delayed were common visual cues in dashboards.
Where Used: Milestone 5 – Control Dashboard

W

WBS (Work Breakdown Structure)
[Planning/Scope]
Definition: A hierarchical structure that breaks the total scope of a project into smaller, manageable components or work packages.
Practicum Example: Students created WBS structures for the UCMS project including phases like “Design Training,” “Build Workflow,” “Conduct Pilot.”
Where Used: Milestone 3 – Section 1: WBS

Work Package
[Execution/Planning]
Definition: The lowest-level element in a WBS, which can be assigned, scheduled, and tracked.
Practicum Example: “Create Stakeholder Quick-Reference Guide” was a Level 3 work package under “Stakeholder Onboarding.”
Where Used: Milestone 3 – WBS Hierarchy

Y–Z

 

 

 

Example and Directions

Words (or words that have the same definition)	The definition is case sensitive	(Optional) Image to display with the definition [Not displayed in Glossary, only in pop-up on pages]	(Optional) Caption for Image	(Optional) External or Internal Link	(Optional) Source for Definition
(Eg. "Genetic, Hereditary, DNA ...")	(Eg. "Relating to genes or heredity")		The infamous double helix	https://bio.libretexts.org/	CC-BY-SA; Delmar Larsen