- Folly
-
 An art form developed by the hide bound in which the same old mistakes are made, but different results are expected. [D03862]
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PNG |
- Force Account
- See Day Work Account [D00715]
|
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- Force Majeure
- An event not reasonably anticipated at the time of forming a contract or starting a project, such as those referred to as "acts of God". For example: failure of the financial system, fall of the government, unusually severe weather, severe earthquakes, etc. [D05648]
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RMW |
- Forced Analysis
- Most PM software can force schedule analysis where a project is re-analyzed even if no new data has been entered. The feature is used for an analysis on the project by itself after it has been analyzed with other projects in multi-project processing (or vice versa). A leveled schedule may also be removed by forcing schedule analysis. [D02254]
|
PMST |
- Forced Ranking
- All projects and programs are given a unique ranking without duplication, i.e. no two projects are marked #1, top priority. [D05780]
|
088 |
- Forcing
- The project manager uses his power to direct the solution. This is a type of win-lose agreement where one side gets its way and the other does not. [D00716]
|
PMK87 |
- Forecast
- An estimate and prediction of future conditions and events based on information and knowledge available at the time of the forecast. [D00717]
|
PMK87 |
- Forecast At Completion
-
 See Estimate at Completion. [D05999]
|
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- Scheduled cost for a task. [D00718]
|
WST |
- Forecast Final Cost
- The sum of committed cost and estimated to complete. See Cost Types. [D00721]
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CCCP |
- See Estimate at Completion. [D00719]
|
|
- The anticipated cost of a project or component when it is complete. The sum of the committed cost to date and the estimated cost to complete. [D00720]
|
PMK87 |
- Forecast Remaining Work
- Estimation of the work still to be done to complete a project or activity as of the given cutoff date. [D02783]
|
RMW |
- Forecast Report
- A regular report to senior personnel, sponsors and/or stakeholders summarizing the anticipated position of a project in terms of final completion date, cost, scope changes, risks and issues outstanding, etc.
Editor's Note: Progress Report or Status Report is the most common type of project reporting. Unfortunately, this typically misses the point of project management which is to anticipate the conditions at the end of the project and to enable users or customers to plan for the use of the project's products upon completion. [D04478]
|
RMW |
- Forecast To Complete
- See Estimate to Complete. [D00722]
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- Forecast to Completion ("FTC")
- Forecast to Completion is the cost to completion based upon the actual performance to date and assumes that the rate of expenditure continues as at present i.e. FTC = ACWP x 100 / % complete
[D02253]
|
PMST |
- Forecasting
- The collection of the latest available information on time, costs, productivity (etc.) to date, as a basis for estimating final outcomes. [D02784]
|
RMW |
- Estimating in advance, trending. [D00723]
|
NPMT |
- The work performed to estimate and predict future conditions and events. Forecasting is an activity of the management function of planning. Forecasting is often confused with budgeting, which is a definitive allocation of resources rather than a prediction or estimate. [D00724]
|
PMK87 |
- Foreign
- Belonging to another company, organization, nation or country. [D02785]
|
Webster |
- Form of Organization
- See Organization Structure. [D02786]
|
|
- Form, Fit and Function Data
- Either
- For Hardware: Data relating to items, components, processes that are sufficient to enable physical and
functional interchangeability, as well as data identifying source, size, configuration, mating and attachment characteristics, functional characteristics, and performance requirements, or
- For Computer Software: Data identifying source, functional characteristics, and performance requirements, but specifically excludes the source code, algorithm, process, formulae, and flow charts of the software.
[D03505]
|
GAT |
- Formal
- Done in accordance with official, conventional, or customary form. Done with ceremony. Official and for the record. [D02849]
|
RMW |
- Done according to established custom. [D02787]
|
Webster |
- Formal Authority
- The ability (of a project manager) to gain support because project personnel perceive the project manager as being officially empowered to issue orders. [D02888]
|
PMDT |
- Formal Bid
- Bid/quotation/letter/proposal submitted by the prospective suppliers in response to the Request for Proposal, Request for Quotation. [D00725]
|
PMK87 |
- Formal Qualification Review
- A joint control gate at which the Buyer, based on analysis and test data, determines that the Seller's design will survive the qualification environment as defined in the System Specifications. [D00726]
|
VPM p291-4 |
- Formal Reprogramming
- See Reprogramming. [D04635]
|
QWF |
- Formative Quality Evaluation
- The process of reviewing the project data at key junctures during the project's life cycle for a comparative analysis against the pre-established quality specifications. This evaluation is ongoing during the life of the project to ensure that timely changes can be made as needed to protect the success of the project. [D00727]
|
PMK87
QMPP |
- Forming
- The first stage of Team Building where members get to know each other and set up ground rules on behavior. [D03845]
|
PNG |
- Formulation
- The process of putting together in a prescribed form. [D02788]
|
Webster |
- Forward Pass
- Calculating the earliest start dates moving from left to right along a network. [D00729]
|
CPMUSC p176-8 |
- A procedure within time analysis to determine the early start and early finish dates of activities. [D00728]
|
WST |
- Calculation of the earliest start and earliest finish dates on a precedence network. [D00730]
|
CCCP |
- Network calculations which determine the earliest start/earliest finish time (date) of each activity. These calculations are from data date through the logical flow of each activity. [D00731]
|
PMK87 |
- The process of calculating the early start and early finish dates of project activities. See also network analysis. [D00732]
|
PMK96 |
- FP
- See Fixed Price Contract
|
|
- FPPIF
- See Fixed Price Plus Incentive Fee Contract
|
|
- Fractal
- A geometric shape having the property that each smaller portion of it can be viewed as a reduced scale replica of the whole.
Editor's Note: Fractal is a common feature of the project management process when viewed from the perspective of a work breakdown structure. That is to say, the principles that are applicable at the highest level of the hierarchy are equally applicable down through the hierarchy to the smallest task. Only the scale of operation changes [D04983]
|
RMW |
- A series of self-similar shapes of varying size. Every shape in the series is geometrically similar varying only in size. There are many such shapes in nature including the common garden snail and many sea shells. It is particularly relevant to the project life span wherein the principles of project management are applicable at any level from the whole project down to the individual task level. Only the degree of application changes. [D04903]
|
RMW |
- Fragnet
- See Subnet [D00733]
|
|
- Framework
- A structure providing support. The structure may be physical as in construction, or notional as in the display of ideas. [D02789]
|
RMW |
- FRD
- See Functional Requirements Document
|
|
- Free Float ("FF")
- The maximum amount by which an activity can be delayed beyond its early dates without delaying any successor activity beyond its early dates. [D00736]
|
WST |
- The amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying the early start of any immediately following activities. See also float. [D00734]
|
PMK96 |
- The amount of time (in work units) an activity may be delayed without affecting the early start of the activity immediately following. [D00735]
|
PMK87 |
- The excess time available before the start of the following activity, assuming that both activities start on their early start date. Free float is calculated in the following way: Free Float = Earliest Start of Following Activity - Earliest Start of Present Activity - Duration of Present Activity. On the activity's calendar, free float is the length of time from the end of the activity to the earliest early start date from among all of its successors. If the activity has no successors, the project finish date is used. Since free float is meaningless for hammocks, it is set to zero. For the common case where all lags are finish-to-start lags of zero, the free float represents the number of work days that an activity can be delayed before it affects any other activity in the project. [D02255]
|
PMST |
- The amount of time an activity may be delayed without causing any knock on delay to successor activities. [D03846]
|
PNG |
- The delay possible for an activity if all preceding activities start as early as possible whilst all subsequent activities also start at their earliest time - an equivalent (and easier) definition is the delay possible in an activity if it starts at its earliest time and all subsequent activities start at their earliest time. The effect of this free float is to push the total float associated with a chain of successive non-critical activities onto the last activity in the chain. [D04984]
|
052 |
- Free Riding
- A situation where some project team members do less work than the others.
Editor's Note: Also known as "Free Loading". [D02641]
|
PMH p319 |
- An undesirable condition in which one or more team members does less work than others, typically with malicious intent to take advantage of other team members or the organization. [D02340]
|
PMH p319 |
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Definitions for page F03: 51
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