A general guideline regarding the estimation of task duration. Task durations between 8 hours (or one day) and 80 hours (10 working days, or two weeks) are generally sized to a manageable duration.
The method by which a project incurs the cost of a task or a resource. The three types of accrual are start, prorated, and end.
A detail about task progress recorded in a plan in Microsoft Project. Prior to recording actuals, the project plan contains scheduled or planned information. Comparing planned project information to actuals helps the project manager better control project execution.
The portion of the capacity of a resource devoted to work on a specific task.
The matching of a work resource (a person or a piece of equipment) to a task. You can also assign a material or cost resource to a task, but those resources have no effect on work or duration.
In a table, a quick way to view or organize only the task or resource information that meets the criteria you choose.
A task for which Microsoft Project dynamically adjusts the start or finish date to account for schedule changes in a project plan.
A calendar that can serve as the project calendar or a task calendar. A base calendar also defines the default working times for resource calendars. Microsoft Project includes three base calendars named Standard, 24 Hours, and Night Shift. You can customize these, or you can use them as a basis for your own base calendar.
The original project plan, saved for later comparison with the revised or updated project plan. The baseline includes the planned start and finish dates, durations and work values of tasks and assignments, as well as their planned costs. Project plans can have up to 11 baselines.
A method of developing a project plan that starts with the lowest-level tasks and organizes them into broad phases.
The settings that define the working days and time for a project, resources, and tasks.
A plan in Microsoft Project that contains one or more inserted project plans. The inserted projects are linked to the consolidated project so that any changes to the inserted projects are reflected in the consolidated plan, and vice versa. A consolidated project plan is also known as a master project.
A restriction, such as Must Start On (MSO) or Finish No Later Than (FNLT), that you can place on the start or finish date of a task.
The manner in which a resource’s work on a task is scheduled over time. Microsoft Project includes several predefined work contours that you can apply to an assignment. For example, a back-loaded contour schedules a small amount of work at the beginning of an assignment and then schedules increasing amounts of work as time progresses. You can also contour an assignment manually by editing work values in a usage view, such as the Resource Usage view. Applying a predefined contour or manually contouring an assignment causes Project to display a work contour icon in the Indicators column.
The resources required to carry out a project, including the people who do the work, the equipment used, and the materials consumed as the work is completed. Cost is one side of the project triangle model.
The resource pay rates that are stored on the Costs tab of the Resource Information dialog box. You can have up to five separate cost rate tables per resource.
A type of resource used to represent financial costs associated with tasks in a project. Use cost resources to account for standard categories of costs that you want to track in a project, such as costs for travel or catering. A cost resource does no work and has no effect on the scheduling of a task to which it is assigned.
A series of tasks that, if delayed, will push out the end date of a project.
A date value that you can enter for a task that indicates the latest date by which you want the task to be completed. If the scheduled completion date of a task is later than its deadline, Microsoft Project notifies you. The benefit of entering deadline dates is that they do not constrain tasks.
The final product, service, or event that a project is intended to produce.
A link between a predecessor task and a successor task. A dependency controls the start or finish of one task relative to the start or finish of the other task. The most common dependency is finish-to-start (FS), in which the finish date of the predecessor task determines the start date of the successor task.
The program into which you place the data when exchanging data between Microsoft Project and another program.
The span of working time that you expect it will take to complete a task.
A scheduling method in which the work of a task remains constant regardless of the number of resources assigned to it. As resources are added to a task, the duration decreases, but the total work remains the same and is distributed among the assigned resources. Effort-driven scheduling is turned off by default, but it can be turned on for fixed-unit or fixed-duration tasks. Effort-driven scheduling is always turned on for fixed-work tasks.
The uninterrupted span of time that it will take to finish a task, based on a 24-hour day and a 7-day week. Elapsed duration is not limited by project, resource, or task calendars; it is continuous.
Project management practiced in a formal, consistent way throughout an organization.
The grid on the left side of the default Gantt Chart view.
The specifications for exporting fields from Microsoft Project to other file formats, such as Tab-delimited format. Project includes several export maps, which you can use as they are or modify.
The lowest-level information about a task, resource, or assignment.
In a view, a way to see or highlight only the task or resource information that meets the criteria you choose.
A fixed quantity of a material resource to be consumed in the completion of an assignment.
A set amount of money budgeted for a task. This amount is independent of resource costs and task duration.
A task type in which the duration value is fixed. If you change the amount of work that you expect a task to require, Microsoft Project recalculates the resource assignment’s peak units for each resource. If you change duration or units, Project recalculates the work.
A task type in which a resource assignment’s units value is fixed. If you change the duration of a task, Microsoft Project recalculates the amount of work scheduled for the task. If you change units or work, Project recalculates the duration.
A task type in which the work value is fixed. If you change the duration of the task, Microsoft Project recalculates the resource assignment’s peak units for each resource. If you change units or work, Project recalculates the duration.
A constraint type that gives Microsoft Project the flexibility to change the start or finish dates (but not the duration) of a task. As Soon As Possible (ASAP) and As Late As Possible (ALAP) are examples of flexible constraints.
The amount of time that a task can be delayed without delaying the start date of another task.
The condition of a resource when the total work of his or her task assignments is exactly equal to his or her work capacity.
A predefined view in Microsoft Project consisting of a table (the Entry table by default) on the left and a graphical bar chart on the right that shows the project plan over time.
A task that represents a link from one plan to another in Microsoft Project. Ghost tasks appear as gray bars.
A template in Microsoft Project named Global.mpt that contains the default views, tables, filters, and other items that Project uses.
A way to reorder task or resource information in a table and display summary values for each group. You can specify several levels of groups. (The term group is also used to refer to the Resource Group field, which is unrelated.)
A resource field in which you can specify a group name (such as a department) with which you want to associate a resource. If you organize resources into groups, you can sort, filter, or group resources by group.
A link to another file, a specific location in a file, a page on the Internet, or a page on an intranet.
A set of specifications for importing specific data to or from fields in Microsoft Project. Project includes several built-in maps, which you can modify or use as they are. Import and export maps are sometimes referred to as data maps.
A constraint type that forces a task to begin or end on a certain date. Must Start On (MSO) and Must Finish On (MFO) are both inflexible constraints.
In Microsoft Project, a plan that is inserted into another plan, called a consolidated plan. An inserted project is also known as a subproject.
A task’s start and finish values, saved for later comparison. Each plan in Microsoft Project can have, at most, 10 interim plans.
A delay between tasks that have a task relationship. For example, lag time causes the successor task in a finish-to-start (FS) relationship to begin some time after its predecessor task concludes.
An overlap between tasks that have a task relationship. For example, lead time causes the successor task in a finish-to-start (FS) relationship to begin before its predecessor task concludes. In Microsoft Project, you enter lead time as negative lag time.
A manager of a group of resources; also called a functional manager. A line manager might also have project management skills and responsibilities, depending on the organization’s structure.
A logical relationship between tasks that controls sequence and dependency. In the Gantt Chart and Network Diagram views, links appear as lines between tasks.
A recorded or programmed set of instructions that carry out a specific action when initiated. Macros in Microsoft Project use Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA).
A task for which Microsoft Project does not set a start or finish date or duration automatically. Such a task can include any type of value you want in most fields.
The consumables that are used up as a project progresses. As with work resources, you assign material resources to tasks. Unlike work resources, material resources have no effect on the total amount of work scheduled on a task.
The maximum capacity (as entered in the Max. Units field) of a resource to accomplish tasks. If you allocate the resource beyond its capacity, Microsoft Project alerts you that the resource is overallocated.
A significant event that is reached within the project or imposed upon the project. In Microsoft Project, milestones normally are represented as tasks with zero duration.
The amount of time that tasks overlap due to a conflict between task relationships and constraints.
A base calendar included with Microsoft Project designed to accommodate an 11:00 P.M.–8:00 A.M. “graveyard” work shift.
The tasks that have slack. Noncritical tasks can finish within their slack time without affecting the project completion date.
The information (including linked or embedded files) that you want to associate with a task, resource, or assignment.
A protocol that enables you to transfer information, such as a chart or text (called an object), to documents in different programs.
An activity that has no planned end date and is repetitive in nature. Examples include accounting, managing human resources, and some manufacturing tasks.
In Microsoft Project, a dialog box with which you can copy views, tables, filters, and other items between the Global.mpt template and other plans or between two different plans.
A hierarchy of summary tasks and subtasks within Microsoft Project, usually corresponding to major phases of work.
The condition of resources when they are assigned to do more work than is their normal work capacity.
A sequence of tasks that represent a major portion of the project’s work. In Microsoft Project, phases are represented by summary tasks.
The first major phase of project management work. Planning includes all the work in developing a project schedule up to the point where the tracking of actual work begins.
A task whose start or end date determines the start or finish of another task or tasks, called successor tasks.
The quality, features, and functions (often called specifications) of the deliverable of the project.
A department within an organization that oversees a collection of projects (such as producing wings and producing engines), each of which contributes to a complete deliverable (such as an airplane) and the organization’s strategic objectives.
A graphical representation on a bar in the Gantt Chart view that shows how much of a task has been completed.
A temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service.
The base calendar that is used by the entire project. The project calendar defines normal working and nonworking days and times.
The work required to produce a deliverable with agreed-upon quality, features, and functions.
A summary task that contains top-level information such as duration, work, and costs for the entire project. The project summary task has a task ID of 0 and is displayed through the Show/Hide group of the Format tab.
A popular model of project management in which time, cost, and scope are represented as the three sides of a triangle. A change to one side will affect at least one of the other two sides. There are many variations on this model.
A task that repeats at established intervals. You can create a recurring task that repeats for a fixed number of times or that ends by a specific date.
The type of dependency between two tasks, visually indicated by a link line. The types of relationships include finish-to-start (FS), start-to-start (SS), finish-to-finish (FF), and start-to-finish (SF). Also known as a link, a logical relationship, a task dependency, or a precedence relationship.
A format designed for printing. Microsoft Project includes several predefined reports, each focusing on specific aspects of your project data. You can also define your own reports. Another type of report is a visual report, which exports structured data to Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Visio for graphical representation and analysis.
The working and nonworking days and times of an individual work resource.
A method of resolving resource overallocation by delaying the start date of an assignment or an entire task or splitting up the work on a task. Microsoft Project can level resources automatically, or you can do it manually.
A person who oversees resource usage in project activities, specifically to manage the time allocation and costs of resources. A resource manager might also have project management skills and responsibilities, depending on the organization’s structure.
In Microsoft Project, a plan that other projects use for their resource information. Resource pools contain information about resources’ task assignments from all project plans (called sharer plans) linked to the resource pool.
People, equipment, and material (and the associated costs of each) needed to complete the work on a project.
A user interface design used by Microsoft Office 2010 applications. In the ribbon interface, commands are organized into groups and tabs for quick access.
An event that decreases the likelihood of completing the project on time, within budget, and to specification (or, less likely, an opportunity to improve project performance).
A representation of how Microsoft Project calculates work, based on the duration and resource units of an assignment. The scheduling formula is Duration × Units = Work.
The products or services to be provided by a project and the work required to deliver it. For project planning, it’s useful to distinguish between product scope and project scope. Scope is one side of the project triangle model.
A constraint type that gives Microsoft Project the flexibility to change the start and finish dates of a task within one date boundary. Start No Earlier Than (SNET), Start No Later Than (SNLT), Finish No Earlier Than (FNET), and Finish No Later Than (FNLT) are all semi-flexible constraints.
The chronological order in which tasks occur. A sequence is ordered from left to right in most views that include a timescale, such as the Gantt Chart view.
A project plan that is linked to a resource pool. Sharer plans use resources from a resource pool.
A menu that you display by pointing to an item on the screen and then right-clicking. Shortcut menus contain only the commands that apply to the item to which you are pointing.
The amount of time that a task can be delayed without delaying a successor task (free slack) or the project end date (total slack). Slack is also known as float.
A way of ordering task or resource information in a view by the criteria you choose.
When exchanging data between Microsoft Project and another program, the program in which the data resided originally.
An interruption in a task, represented in the Gantt bar as a dotted line between segments of a task. You can split a task multiple times.
An individual or organization that both provides financial support and champions the project team within the larger organization.
The people or organizations that might be affected by project activities (those who “have a stake” in its success). These also include the resources working on the project as well as others (such as customers) external to the project work.
A base calendar included with Microsoft Project designed to accommodate an 8:00 A.M.–5:00 P.M., Monday through Friday work shift.
The date that you specify (not necessarily the current date) that determines how Microsoft Project calculates earned value data.
A task whose start or finish is driven by another task or tasks, called predecessor tasks.
A task that is made up of and summarizes the subtasks below it. In Microsoft Project, phases of project work are represented by summary tasks.
A spreadsheet-like presentation of project data, organized in vertical columns and horizontal rows. Each column represents one of the many fields in Microsoft Project, and each row represents a single task or resource. In a usage view, additional rows represent assignments.
A project activity that has a starting and finishing point. A task is the basic building block of a project.
The base calendar that is used by a single task. A task calendar defines working and nonworking times for a task, regardless of settings in the project calendar.
A unique number that Microsoft Project assigns to each task in a project. In the Entry table, the task ID appears in the far-left column.
A numeric ranking between 0 and 1000 of a task’s importance and appropriateness for resource leveling. Tasks with the lowest priority are delayed or split first if necessary. The default value is 500.
A setting applied to a task that determines how Microsoft Project schedules the task, based on which of the three scheduling formula values is fixed. The three task types are fixed units, fixed duration, and fixed work.
In Microsoft Project, a file format that enables you to reuse existing project plans as the basis for new project plans. Project includes several templates that relate to a variety of industries, and you can create your own templates.
The scheduled durations of individual tasks and the overall project. Time is one side of the project triangle model.
A measurement of the quantity of a deliverable that can be completed over a given time period, usually expressed as a ratio. For example, “paint one wall per day” describes a quantity of a deliverable (a painted wall) that can be produced in a given time period (a day). Note that the time period used in a metric is work, not elapsed duration.
A task, resource, or assignment value that is distributed over time. The values of timephased fields appear in the timescale grid on the right side of a view, such as the Task Usage or Resource Usage view.
The timescale appears in a view, such as the Gantt Chart or Resource Usage view, as a band across the top of the grid and denotes units of time. To customize the timescale, do this: On the View tab, in the Zoom group, click the down arrow to the right of the Timescale box and then click Timescale.
A method of developing a project plan by identifying the highest-level phases or summary tasks before breaking them into lower-level components or subtasks.
The amount of time that a task can be delayed without delaying the project’s end date.
The second major phase of project management work. Tracking includes all the collecting, entering, and analyzing of actual project performance values, such as work on tasks and actual durations.
The condition of resources when they are assigned to do less work than their normal work capacity. For example, a full-time resource who has only 25 hours of work assigned in a 40-hour work week is underallocated.
A standard way of measuring the capacity of a resource to work when you assign the resource to a task in Microsoft Project. Units are one variable in the scheduling formula: Duration × Units = Work.
A quantity of a material resource to be consumed that will change if the duration of the task to which it is assigned changes.
A deviation from the schedule or budget established by the baseline plan.
A visual representation of the tasks or resources in your project. The three categories of views are charts, sheets, and forms. Views enable you to enter, organize, and examine information in a variety of formats.
The total scheduled effort for a task, a resource, a resource assignment, or an entire project. Work is measured in person-hours and might not match the duration of the task. Work is one variable in the scheduling formula: Duration × Units = Work.
The identification of every task in a project that reflects that task’s location in the hierarchy of the project.
The people and equipment that do the work of the project.