5th Edition Glossary - Association for Project Management

Glossary of project management termsproject deliverables are built orconstructed.Business-as-usual An organisation’snormal day-to-day operations.Business case The business case providesjustification for undertaking aproject, in terms of evaluating the benefit,cost and risk of alternative optionsand the rationale for the preferred solution.Its purpose is to obtain managementcommitment and approval forinvestment in the project. The businesscase is owned by the sponsor.Business change manager(s) The roleresponsible for benefits managementfrom identification through to realisationand ensuring the implementationand embedding of the new capabilitiesdelivered by projects. May be more thanone individual.Business objectives The overall objectivesof the business as opposed to theproject.Business risk assessment The assessmentof risk to business objectivesrather than risk to achieving projectobjectives.Business to business (B2B) Theexchange of services, information andproducts from a business to anotherbusiness – generally undertakenelectronically using the World WideWeb.Business to consumer (B2C) Theexchange of services, information andproducts from a business to a consumer– generally undertaken electronicallyusing the World Wide Web.Calendars A project calendar liststime intervals in which activities orresources can or cannot be scheduled. Aproject usually has one default calendarfor the normal workweek (Mondaythrough Friday, for example), but mayhave other calendars as well. Each calendarcan be customised with its ownholidays and extra work days.Resources and activities can be attachedto any of the calendars that are defined.Capability A project capability (oroutcome) that enables a benefit to beachieved. Alternatively having thenecessary attributes to perform oraccomplish.Capability maturity models An organisationalmodel that describes a numberof evolutionary levels in which anorganisation manages its processes,from ad hoc use of processes to continualimprovement of its processes.Capital Monetary investment in theproject. Alternatively wealth used oravailable for use in the production ofmore wealth.Capital cost* The carrying cost in abalance sheet of acquiring an assetand bringing it to the point where it iscapable of performing its intendedfunction over a future series of periods.See revenue cost.Capital employed* The amount ofinvestment in an organisation orproject, normally the sum of fixed andcurrent assets, less current liabilities at aparticular date.Capital expenditure (CapEX) The longtermexpenditure for property, plantand equipment.Cash flow* Cash receipts and paymentsin a specified period.Cash flow forecast A prediction of thedifference between cash received andpayments to be made during a specificperiod or for the duration of the project.Central repository A central locationwhere data and information is stored.This can be a physical location, such as a129