Audit Trail is a step-by-step record by which accounting, trade details, or other financial data can be traced to their source. Audit trails are used to verify and track many types of transactions, including accounting transactions and trades in brokerage accounts

Bar Chart or bar graph is a chart or graph that presents categorical data with rectangular bars with heights or lengths proportional to the values that they represent. The bars can be plotted vertically or horizontally. A vertical bar chart is sometimes called a column chart

Brainstorming is an information-gathering technique that is a tool and technique of the Identify Risks process. It involves assembling in one place subject matter experts, team members, risk management team members, and anyone else who might benefit from the process and querying them on possible risk events

Budget is a planning, monitorization, and recording tool that includes estimates and final totals for a project and all its activities to ensure that costs are constrained

Change Control is the process of identifying, controlling and documenting changes to a control unit; it is typically executed by a change control board, which evaluates a formal change request and recommends approving or rejection; this process also provides for tracking activities

Change Control Board (CCB) is a team of stakeholders established by the organization and given the authority via the configuration management system to review all change requests and approve them, delay them, or deny them

Chi-Square Distribution is named after the Greek letter Chi, and is used for hypothesis testing and helps determine the distribution of a sample variance

Communications Management Plan outlines the communication expectations and needs and describes how they will be addressed throughout the entirety of the project; it is an output of communication management process

Compromising is situation where opposing sides partially relinquish positions for a Lose- Lose solution

Confronting is situation where opposing sides address concerns directly for a Win-Win solution

Configuration Management provides oversight to the project and ensures changes applied to the project are executed in a controlled, process-driven manner with appropriate levels of quality assurance, testing and compliance to document project requirements; it includes applied controls that incorporate the maintenance of the control organization, change control standards, version control standards and oversight of the change control process; this formal discipline delivers policies, procedures, tools and methods used to identify products and determine baselines

Corrective Action is a documented process to help drive project activities back into alignment with the project's critical path and project management plan

Cost Plus Fixed Fee (CPFF) is a type of cost-reimbursable contract where the buyer reimburses the seller for the seller’s allowable costs, plus a fixed amount of profit

Cost Reimbursable Contracts require payments to the seller for all costs incurred to complete work plus an additional fee that represents the sellers’ profit

Crashing is about increasing manpower and/or assets in order to reduce the completion time of a project

Critical Path is the longest path through the project; made up of activities with zero float

Critical Path Methodology (CPM) is a method that determines a single early and late start date and early and late finish date for each activity on the project to determine both the longest path of the project schedule network diagram and the finish date of the project. It is also known as critical path method

Delphi Technique is used to gain consensus among a team of experts; within this technique, experts participate anonymously and are asked a series of questions provided by a facilitator

Enterprise Environmental Factors are internal or external factors based on an organization’s culture that can impact, negatively or positively, project management options

FAN chart is a tool used to record stakeholder classification; the three classifications are For, Against, and Neutral

Fast Tracking is scheduling simultaneous tasks in order to complete a job in less time

Issue Log is a document in the project management process that details the issues that could potentially arise and describes how the issues were resolved. It is a form of tracking used as a process input or output

Lag Time (lags) is about permitting a delay in successor activity

Lead Time (leads) about permitting an acceleration of successor activity

Matrix Organizations is an organization type that combines both functional and projectized characteristics. There are three types of matrix organizations. Weak matrix organizations lean more toward the functional organization, and the project manager role is more of a coordinator or facilitator; authority is more limited. Strong matrices lean more toward the projectized organization and may have full-time project managers. They would also have levels of authority comparable to that of a projectized organization. The balanced matrix organization may appreciate the need for project management, but may not provide a project manager with a comprehensive degree of authority to manage or fund the initiative

Monte Carlo Analysis is a mathematical technique that predicts possible outcomes of an uncertain event. Computer programs use this method to analyze past data and predict a range of future outcomes based on a choice of action

Organizational Processes Assets is an accumulation of tools, processes, and techniques that are retained by the business in order to standardize processes and practices

Poisson Distribution is used to determine the random occurrence of a project constraint such as a period of time or an event

Procurement Management Plan is a subsidiary plan of the project management plan that is used to describe how the project team will obtain goods and services from vendors or service providers that are typically outside of the organization; it describes how the procurement process will be managed relevant to project

Progressive Elaboration is the accumulation of knowledge over time that is applied repeatedly, which results in the individual gaining different levels of experience

Project is a temporary endeavor with a defined beginning and end, undertaking to meet unique goals and objectives, typically to bring about beneficial change or added value

Project Management Office (PMO) provides organizational focus for the management of projects within a performing organization using program and/or portfolio structures to manage project relationships

Project Charter describes a project in the initial approach toward the project's product. Helps illustrate what needs to be accomplished and provides a preliminary approach on how the project will proceed

Project Deliverables refer to the services or products produced when the project is completed for the project sponsor

Project Management is application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements

Project Management Plan is the document detailing all aspects of a project including baselines that are referenced throughout the project’s lifecycle to keep the project on track

Project Manager is the individual charged with managing a temporary endeavor from beginning to end who monitors project progress and ensures that project activities stay on task, under budget, and finishes on time

Project Quality Management incorporates risk activities to ensure that quality assurance and quality planning are delivering the level of quality expected. Qualitative and quantitative analysis helps identify risk and determine whether corrective or preventive measures are necessary

Project Stakeholder Management is the knowledge area including the inputs, tools and techniques, and outputs involved in identifying stakeholders, planning stakeholder management, and managing and controlling stakeholder engagement

Project Statement of Work is incorporated to help support the development of the Project Charter; it helps to answer the Who, What, When, Where and Why-type questions of the project

Qualitative Risk Analysis is the process of prioritizing risks for further analysis and action; it combines risks and their probability of occurrences and ranks them accordingly

Quality Control concerns with meeting the quality requirements specified for each deliverable. It is an activity that is usually performed before verification, as the quality attributes of a deliverable will obviously affect its acceptance

Quantitative Risk Analysis provides results that may be based upon mathematical formulas, simulation methods and statistical analysis; this analysis type goes through the usual process practice of generating inputs and applying those inputs to tools and techniques to generate project artifacts or project document updates

RACI diagram stands for Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed; it can be used to detail what roles are associated to key team members

Resource Levelling is a technique applied after analyzing input information to ensure that project activities remain on target

Resource Optimization Techniques used to optimize the distribution of work among resource

RFI a request for information, bids or tender offers

RFP a request for proposal is a document that solicits a proposal, often made through a bidding process, by an agency or company interested in procurement of a commodity, service, or valuable asset, to potential suppliers to submit business proposals

RFQ a request for quotation

Risk Acceptance typically takes place when both the probability and impact is identified as low; here the project team acknowledges the risks and determines that no action is required to be taken; a response to positive and negative risks

Risk refers to the potential external events that will negatively impact a project’s progress

Rolling Wave Technique is an iterative scheduling technique that uses progressive elaboration to plan the project as it unfolds. This is typically used when there is not enough information to create a complete schedule up front

Rolling Wave is updating details of the Work Breakdown Structure on an ongoing basis

Schedule Baseline is developed from the schedule network analysis. The baseline is used to measure all future work activities

Schedule Compression permits the project manager to compress the project schedule without impacting scope by addressing activities that are behind schedule to realign with the project’s critical path

Schedule Performance Index measures progress achieved compared to progress planned; used to forecast project completion estimates; SPI = EV divided by PV. The schedule performance index provides a measurement of the project work performed

Scope is knowledge area of project management that defines and details activities necessary to deliver a project to completion

Scope Creep is a phenomenon that occurs when additional work gets incorporated in a project

Sponsor is the individual or group outside the project team that initiates the project by requesting for the service or product and beginning the project charter

Stakeholder Analysis is a technique used in the Identify Stakeholder process that is used to gather and analyze information to determine who interests should be taken into account

Stakeholder Register a customizable communication tool; helps provide the answers up front in regard to engaging and coordinating efforts amongst stakeholders

Statements of Work is developed by the vendors that provide explicit details that correlate to actions and interactions intended to be delivered throughout the project lifecycles

Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) are individuals with knowledge on a specific topic or trade who provide details that can be used in expert judgment; it’s knowledge sharing

Three-Point Estimates also known as the PERT technique. Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) is a method used to examine the tasks in a schedule and determine a Critical Path Method variation (CPM). It analyzes the time required to complete each task and its associated dependencies to determine the minimum time to complete a project.

Tornado Diagram is appropriately named because its appearance resembles the final of a tornado; it is simply a bar chart used for comparative analysis

Trend Analysis examines performance over time to indicate deterioration or improvement

Validate Scope is a process that leads to the approval of project deliverables, and Control Scope ensures the intended deliverable is developed with the proper levels of quality, with no deviations or unplanned changes 

What-if Scenario provides a review of multiple scenarios that may be required to realign schedule activities with the project plan

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) gives the project manager and team the ability to decompose project-based features to their lowest elements that can be monitored, managed, measured, and delivered upon. Details developed within the WBS permit the project manager to determine the project’s critical path and schedule, and provide a tool to develop and deliver project metrics.