Project planning and project management glossary

Achievement (status)

An achievement (status) is an update of a plan which takes account of the progress of the tasks / projects and the changes in their duration.

Allocation

An allocation (of a resource to a task) is the result of the automatic PlanningForce scheduling process.

Calendars

A calendar is a range of dates and/or days during which a task can be planned, or not, (done) or some resources will be available, or not.

Capacities

Capacities are calendars and coefficients that can be applied to task requirements and resources.

Capacity curve

A capacity curve represents the capacity of work, expressed in man days of a resource, i.e. its total capacity reduced by its unavailability due to calendars, illnesses, vacations, etc.

Category

A category is complementary information that can be associated to a task or resource. This information can be used to filter data displayed in the different views and screens of our project planning software.

Coefficients

In our project scheduling software, a coefficient is a set of values applied to tasks or resources to simulate the impact of events or factors which will affect its feasibility / availability or efficiency.

Dependency

A dependency is a chronological link between two elements of a project. Dependencies are sequential constraints used for the relative positioning of tasks, milestones, task groups and projects.

(Theoretical) duration

The theoretical duration of a task assumes that there are enough resources to carry it out with an efficiency of 100% for each (task) requirement.

(Effective) duration

The effective duration (or the final duration) of a task is its ‘real’ duration; this notion has to be compared to the ‘theoretical’ one, which can be seen as the initial one.

Efficiency

The efficiency is the capability of a resource to achieve a task within its theoretical duration.

Effort

The effort is the task duration multiplied by the number of roles required to achieve that task.

Income

Income (monetary) can be generated by tasks and milestones. Depending on the type of income chosen (one-off or pro-rated), a task (or milestone) brings in money when it is fully completed, or at a certain percentage of accomplishment.

Input Gantt

The Input Gantt illustrates, in a bar chart, the project structure presented at infinite capacity (this means without resource restrictions and without coefficient effects and calendar interruptions).

KPIs

The Key Performance Indicators are metrics that help to assess the present state of a simulation. The KPIs define a set of values used to measure against and classify different simulations.

Level

A level is a grade or an experience that can be associated with an efficiency.

Milestone

A milestone is a task with zero or instant duration. Milestones are used as markers in a project to set up production points, tasks or moments of synchronization, dates of billing or reporting, and markers or junctions of results.

Output Gantt

The Output Gantt illustrates, in a bar chart, the result of the scheduling process. The Output Gantt of PlanningForce not only displays the tasks, but also the allocated resources according to task requirements.

Plan

A plan is composed of projects, allocations, simulations and achievement status.

Project

A project consists of a temporary endeavour undertaken to create a product or service. A project is composed of tasks and milestones which can be regrouped and interdependent.

Reports

Reports are printable views of the results, available in PDF or HTLM formats.

Resource

A resource represents a person, a group of people, a subcontractor, etc, who can be scheduled on one or several tasks.

Resource usage

Resource usage is a curve that indicates how the total capacity of a resource has been used according to the scheduling; this total capacity is divided into unavailability, availability, inefficient allocations and efficient allocations.

Role

A role is a main competence associated to a person; it also expresses what is required for a task to be done. The role is mandatory in PlanningForce to describe task requirements and people.

Simulation

A simulation is the status of a plan containing projects, resources, calendars, coefficients and constraints.

Skill

A skill is an additional competence used in relation to the assignment of roles to tasks. Use of skills is not mandatory. Skills allow the user to define task requirements and resources more precisely.

Snapshot

A snapshot is equivalent to the ‘save as’ function, but applied to a simulation. This means that the changes made before a snapshot are reported on the snapshot (simulation) and not on the parent simulation.

Scheduling

Scheduling is the automatic process by which PlanningForce plans tasks and allocates resources to them according to task requirements.

Task

A task is an activity which is carried out by resources within a definite duration.

Task requirement

A task requirement is composed of one or more roles and skills that are necessary for the achievement of the task.