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Wideman Comparative Wideman Comparative Glossary of Common Project Management Terms v5.5 is copyright © R. Max Wideman, 2000-2012.

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BAC - to - Baseline Concept

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Term
Definition     Editor's Choice
 
Source
BAC
See Budget at Completion

  
See Baseline at Completion

  
Back Charge
See Backcharge. [D02400]

  
Backcharge
The cost of corrective action taken by the purchaser, chargeable to the supplier under the terms of the contract. [D00122]

 PMK87
Backward Pass
Calculation of the latest finish times by working from finish to start for the uncompleted portion of a network of activities. [D04315]

 026
Calculation of late finish times (dates) for all uncompleted network activities. Determined by working backwards through each activity. [D00123]

 PMK87
Calculation of latest finish and start dates. Used in Critical Path Method scheduling. [D00124]

 CCCP
A procedure within time analysis to calculate the late start and late finish dates of all activities in a project. [D00125]

 WST
Bad Debts
Actual or estimated losses arising from uncollectible accounts receivable due from customers and other claims, and any directly associated costs (e.g., collection costs and legal costs). [D03799]

 GAT
Balance
The amount remaining after summing a set of cost data. Alternatively, to trade off one item against another. [D02401]

  
Balance Point
In project portfolio management, an Executive decision on the allocation of resources between competing demands within a portfolio, such as between Operations, Projects, Other Work, and so on. See also Portfolio Balancing. [D05885]

 PPM
Balanced Matrix
An organizational matrix where functions and projects have the same priority. [D00126]

 WST
Balanced Scorecard
A scorecard for monitoring business performance and normally presented in four parts: customer, development/learning, internal improvement, and finance. [D05886]

 BRM
See Scoring a Project's Contribution. [D04353]

 PCD
A management and measurement system that enables organizations to clarify their vision and strategy, and translate them into action. It provides feedback for both the internal business processes and external outcomes in order to continuously improve strategic performance and results. [D05612]

 WSG
A system that measures and manages an organization's progress towards strategic objectives, incorporating financial indicators plus the perspectives of customer, internal business and learning/innovation. The scorecard shows how these measures are interlinked and affect each other, enabling an organization's past, present and potential performance to be tracked and managed. Designing and implementing a balanced scorecard enables the organization to decide what is vital for the business and hence set appropriate goals and motivate staff accordingly. [D05887]

 102
Balanced Scorecard Approach ("BSA")
A business methodology designed to assess the performance of an enterprise in more than just financial terms, developed by Kaplan and Norton of Harvard Business School, 1996. When applied to evaluating the relative merits of proposed projects, BSA assists in evaluating the contribution of project objectives to the enterprise based on four "balanced" perspectives of: financial, internal process, customer, and learning or growth. [D04913]

 RMW
Bank
A planned accumulation of work in progress to permit reasonable fluctuations in performance during times of coordination or associated operation. [D02403]

 PMDT
Banking
Setting aside, or put in reserve. For example, holiday time may be worked instead and the corresponding hours "banked", to be drawn upon at some future time. [D02402]

 RMW
Bar Chart
A view of project data that uses horizontal bars on a time scale to depict activity information. Frequently called a Gantt chart. [D00130]

 WST
A graphic presentation of work activities shown by a time-scaled bar line (sometimes referred to as a Gantt Chart). [D00127]

 PMK87
A project plan in which the activities are denoted graphically by lines on a times scale. [D00128]

 NPMT
A scheduling tool (also called a Gantt chart) in which the time span of each activity is shown as a horizontal line, the ends of which correspond to the start and finish of the activity as indicated by a date line at the bottom of the chart. [D00129]

 SPM p304-9
Chart on which activities and their durations are represented by lines drawn to a common time scale.
Note 1: A Gantt chart is a specific type of bar chart and should not be used as a synonym for bar chart.
Note 2: See also Cascade Chart. [D04571]

 APM
BS
Bargaining
Persuasion, alteration of assumptions and positions, give-and-take, that may apply to price, schedule, technical requirements, type of contract, or other terms of a proposed contract. [D03800]

 GAT
Bargaining Power
The power of each party in the bargaining process is relative. It comes in many forms and is never totally one-sided, because both parties have bargaining strengths and weaknesses. It must be perceived by at least one party to have an effect on negotiations. In fact, the power does not have to be real as long it is perceived. [D03801]

 GAT
Barriers
Obstacles in the way of progress, mutual understanding, negotiated settlements, etc. [D02404]

 RMW
Base
Bottom support, or initial reference, or starting point. [D02405]

 RMW
Resources needed to operate and maintain capabilities that exist at the beginning of the fiscal year throughout the budget year. [D03994]

 CSM
Base Cost
The sum of the costs of a project corresponding to identified elements of work. [D06368]

 Costin
Base Estimate
Of cost or duration, represents the most likely outcome if everything on the project happens exactly according to the given information and assumptions on which the estimate was based. The base estimate should be devoid of all forms of contingency. [D05613]

  
Baseline
The value or condition against which all future measurements will be compared. [D04916]

 RMW
A copy of the project schedule for a particular time (usually before the project is started) that can be used for comparison with the current schedule. [D00131]

 WST
A formally approved version of a configuration item, regardless of the media, formally designated and fixed at a specific time during the configuration’s life cycle. [D00132]

 008 -3
A way to track project progress by comparing original plan estimates against actual progress. A baseline contains original scheduling, resource and cost estimates. [D00133]

 MSP98
Management plan and/or scope document fixed at a specific point in time in the project life cycle and used as a basis for reference. [D00134]

 FWH
See Baseline Plan [D00135]

  
A planning and control instrument in the form of a summary of attributes such as quantity, quality, timing, costs, etc, that establishes a formal reference for comparison and verification of subsequent efforts, progress, analysis and control. Can be for project, business or technical management control. [D04316]

 RMW
The work scope, the schedule plan of milestones and activities, and their time-phased budgets together constitute a Baseline. [D02260]

 010
A defined quantity or quality used as a starting point for subsequent efforts and progress measurement. Can be a technical baseline or a cost baseline, etc. [D02278]

 DSMC
A set of dates and costs frozen at the start of the project and used as a basis for comparison as the project progresses. [D03590]

 PNG
The gate controlled elaboration of functional, performance, and physical characteristics, mutually agreed to by buyer and seller, and under formal change control. Typical baselines are User Requirements Baseline, Concept Baseline, System Specification Baseline, Design-to Baseline, Build-to Baseline, As-built Baseline, As-tested Baseline, As-fielded Baseline, etc. [D03995]

 CSM
Reference levels against which the project is monitored and controlled. [D04572]

 APM
BS
A reviewed and approved release of artifacts that constitutes an agreed basis for further evolution or development and that can be changed only through a formal procedure, such as change management and configuration control. [D04689]

 RUP
An element of the business case for a program, describing costs and performance levels that would be achieved if those operations continued unchanged over the planned period of the program. The baseline is used to compare the costs and benefits of the options evaluated in the business case. [D04914]

 KSI
The set of assumptions and methods which are used as the basis for the evaluation of risk in a project and its subsequent management. Risk analysis is impossible without a baseline which would, for example, include information on the objectives of the project, values of key financial parameters like discount rates, assumed levels of cash flows, financial model adopted, etc. [D04915]

 RAMP
A snapshot; a position or situation that is recorded. Although the position may be updated later, the baseline remains unchanged and available as a reminder of the original state and as a comparison against the current position. Products that have passed their quality checks and are approved are baselined products. Anything "baselined" should be under version control in configuration management and "frozen", i.e. no changes to that version are allowed. [D05260]

 PRNC2 2002
The value or trend line of a measure at a particular point in time that is normally during the justification/planning phase of a proposed investment in change. [D05888]

 BRM
Baseline at Completion ("BAC")
Total completed cost of work as originally planned. [D02242]

 PMST
Baseline Concept
Management's project management plan for a project fixed prior to commencement. [D00136]

 PMK87
Definitions for page B00: 50


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