Active The project is currently underway.

Admin superuser A global profile that gives a user read/write privileges for application-wide information and features. This information includes all projects, resources, cost accounts, and users. An Admin superuser always has access to all resources. If resource security is enabled, resource access settings will be ignored. As late as possible constraint A restriction you impose on an activity or work unit with positive float that allows it to start as late as possible without delaying its successors. This constraint sets the early dates as late as possible without affecting successor activities. Backward pass The calculation of late dates of activities in a project. The backward pass begins with the latest early finish date of the last activity, or the imposed project finish date if one exists, and works backward to the first activity in the project. The late start and finish dates of each activity calculate based on durations, constraints, and relationships. Baseline A snapshot of a project plan. This "snapshot" provides a target against which you can track a project's cost, schedule, and performance. Bucket A bucket is another term for "timeperiod." In Primavera applications, you can view, enter, and edit activity and assignment data in various buckets, such as daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly, and financial period. The term "bucket" is generally used in reference to the Project Management module's future period bucket planning feature, which enables you to manually enter and edit assignment data for some activities in future period buckets. Contract Manager The Contract Manager module (formerly known as Expedition) is Primaveras contract management and project administration tool. You can link the Project Management module to Contract Manager, then link Contract Manager projects to Project Management module projects. When projects are linked, you can import data from Contract Manager and view it in the Project Management module and the Primavera Web application.

Cost Performance Index Cost Performance Index (CPI) = Earned Value Cost / Actual Cost Critical path The critical path is a series of activities that determines a project's completion time. The duration of the activities on the critical path controls the duration of the entire project; a delay to any of these activities will delay the finish date of the entire project. Critical activities are defined by either the total float or the longest path in the project network.

Critical Path Method (CPM) scheduling The method by which activity durations and the relationships between activities are used to mathematically calculate a schedule for the entire project. CPM focuses your attention on the critical path of activities that affect the completion date for the project or an intermediate deadline.

Early dates, the earliest possible dates each activity can start and finish, and late dates, the latest possible dates each activity can start and finish without delaying the project finish or an intermediate deadline (constraint) are also calculated. Current Project Resources Current project resources are resources that belong to any of the following categories:

Assigned to an activity in the currently open project(s) Assigned to a risk in the currently open project(s) Assigned to an issue in the currently open project(s) Assigned to the currently open project(s) on the WBS or Project level in Primavera's Web application

Data date The date to use as the starting point for schedule calculations. Change the data date to the current date when you record progress. Data Source A category of information. The data source component in the Report Editor corresponds to the subject area you select when you use the wizard to create a report. Examples of data sources are activities, cost accounts, expense categories, and work breakdown structure (WBS). Earned Value Cost Earned Value Cost is the portion of the budgeted total cost of the activity that is actually completed as of the project data date. Computed as Earned Value Cost = Budget at Completion * Performance % Complete. The method for computing the performance percent complete depends on the earned-value technique selected for the activity's WBS. Else: statement Specifies what changes should be made to project data when the If conditions are not met in a Global change specification. EPS (Enterprise Project Structure) The hierarchical structure of your database of projects. Use the EPS to perform top-down budgeting, manage multiple projects, implement coding standards, and maintain security throughout the enterprise. EPS node A level above a project in the EPS hierarchy. Estimate to Complete The estimated cost to complete the activity. Computed as either the remaining total cost for the activity (Remaining Total Cost), or as PF * (Budget at Completion - Earned Value Cost), depending on the earned-value technique selected for the activity's WBS. Estimate at Completion The estimated cost at completion for the activity. Computed as the actual total cost plus the estimate-to-complete cost; Estimate at Completion = Actual Cost + Estimate to

Complete. Note that the method for computing Estimate to Complete depends on the earned-value technique selected for the activity's WBS. Exclusive A user with Exclusive access to a project can open and edit a master copy of the project. Only one user at a time can have Exclusive access to a project. Exclusive A user with Exclusive access to a project can open and edit a master copy of the project. Only one user at a time can have Exclusive access to a project. Field Separator In a delimited text file, the character used to separate fields or categories of information. Finish milestone activity A finish milestone activity marks the end of a major stage in the project. Since a finish milestone activity does not have a duration, it is sometimes referred to as a zero duration activity. A finish milestone may have a primary resource and expenses associated with it, but cannot have resource assignments, role assignments, or time-based costs such as labor. You can assign work products and documents to a finish milestone. Finish on constraint A restriction you place on an activity by imposing a finish date. The finish on constraint can delay an early finish or accelerate a late finish to satisfy the imposed date. Finish on or after constraint A restriction you impose on an activity that limits the earliest time it can complete. The finish on or after constraint reduces float to coordinate parallel activities, ensuring that the finish of an activity is not scheduled before the specified date. It is usually applied to activities that have few predecessors that must finish before the next phase of a project. Finish on or before constraint A restriction you impose on an activity that limits the latest time it can be finished. The finish on or before constraint affects only late dates. Use this constraint to ensure that the late finish date of an activity is not later than the date you impose. Finish to finish (FF) relationship

A relationship in which the finish of a successor activity depends on the finish of its predecessor activity.

Finish to start (FS) relationship A relationship in which the start of a successor activity depends on the completion of its predecessor activity. This is the default activity relationship.

Forward pass The calculation of early dates for a project. The forward pass starts at the beginning of the project and continues to the end to calculate the earliest start and finish dates for each activity. FTP (File Transfer Protocol) A method for transferring HTML documents to a World Wide Web server. An FTP program defines how a local computer communicates with a remote computer and enables you to transfer files between these computers. If you are using Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, or Windows NT, your operating system provides a command line FTP program; if you are using another operating system, various FTP programs are available from your Internet provider or from download sites on the Internet. Group Organizing project data by a common attribute. Each group of activities is listed under a colored band. HTML (Hypertext Markup Language)

A platform-independent language which allows documents created in a variety of environments to be placed on a single server and accessed through a browser. HTML documents are indicated by an .HTM or .HTML extension. If: statement Defines conditions under which certain changes should be made to project data. When the If statement is true, the changes specified in the Then statement are applied. When the If statement is not true, the changes in the Else statement are applied, providing an Else statement has been defined. Inactive Work on the project has ceased or is placed on hold. Issue code A code created in the Primavera Web application that enables you to organize issues according to certain categories, such as responsibility, subproject, or any other classification that is meaningful to you. Lag An offset or delay from an activity to its successor. Lag can be positive or negative and it is based on the calendar of the successor activity. Level of effort activity A level of effort activitys duration is dependent on its predecessor and/or successor activities. Level of effort activities cannot have constraints assigned to them. Level of effort activities is not included when leveling resources. Use level of effort activities for on-going tasks that depend on other activities. For example, you could assign level of effort activities for clerical work, a security guard, or even some aspects of project management. A level of effort activity is similar to but different from a hammock activity.

A level of effort activity uses its assigned calendar to summarize its dates. Hammocks are not scheduled using their own calendar. Any type of relationship can be assigned to a level of effort activity. Only a startto-start and finish-to-finish relationship can be assigned to a hammock activity. A level of effort activity's duration is calculated from the earliest early start of its predecessors/successors (linked to the start end of the level of effort activity) to the latest early finish of its predecessors/successors (linked to the finish end of the level of effort activity).

A hammock activitys duration is calculated from the earliest early start of its predecessors to the latest early finish of its successor activities. Mandatory finish constraint A restriction you impose on an activity that sets its early and late finish dates equal to the date you specify. The mandatory finish date is used regardless of its effect on network logic. This constraint affects the late dates for all activities that lead to the constrained activity and all early dates for the activities that lead from the constrained activity.

Note

When mandatory constraints are placed on calendar nonworktime, the early and late dates are not set equal to each other. The early date is moved forward to the next valid work time and the late date is moved back (earlier) to the first valid work time. This can cause negative float in the schedule.

Mandatory start constraint A restriction you impose on an activity that sets its early and late start dates equal to the date you specify. The mandatory early start date is used regardless of its effect on network logic. A mandatory early start date could affect the late dates for all activities that lead to the constrained activity and all early dates for the activities that lead from the constrained activity.

Note

When mandatory constraints are placed on calendar nonworktime, the early and late dates are not set equal to each other. The early date is moved forward to the next valid worktime and the late date is moved back (earlier) to the first valid worktime. This can cause negative float in the schedule.

Manual future period buckets/values A manual future period bucket is a future period resource or role assignment bucket, or timeperiod, that contains a value that was manually entered or edited in the Resource Usage Spreadsheet (in the Resource Assignments or Activities windows). Typically, a resource or role assignment to an activity that has a manually-entered value in a future period bucket is referred to as an assignment with "manual future period buckets" or "manual future period values."

Methodology Management The Methodology Management module is a system for authoring and storing methodologies, or project plan templates. By using the Methodology Management module, your organization can gather its best practices and store them in a central location. This allows project managers to create custom project plans by selecting, combining, and tailoring methodologies, rather than creating project plans from scratch for each new project. In this way, your organization can continually improve and refine methodology activities, estimates, and other information with each new project. OBS (organizational breakdown structure) An OBS is a hierarchical arrangement of a project's management structure. User access and privileges to nodes and projects within the enterprise projects structure (EPS) hierarchy are implemented via a responsible manager defined in the enterprise-wide OBS hierarchy. Out-of-sequence progress Work completed for an activity before it is scheduled to occur. In a conventional relationship, an activity that starts before its predecessor completes shows out-ofsequence progress. Page Header and Footer In a compiled report, the page header appears at the top of every page, after the report's standard header. The page footer appears at the bottom of every page, before the report's standard footer. Parent Cost Account A cost account that contains other, lower level cost accounts. Parent Data Source A data source that contains other, embedded data sources. When compiling a report with embedded data sources, a single record for the parent data source compiles, then records for all embedded data sources that match the compiled parent record compile. This process repeats for each additional record compiled for the parent data source. Parent Element A WBS or OBS element that contains other, lower level elements.

Parent Resource A resource that contains other, lower level resources.

Performance Factor (PF) User-defined performance factor, (PF), for computing earned-value estimate-to-complete (ETC). ETC is computed as either ETC = PF * ( Budget at Completion - Earned Value Cost) or as the remaining total cost for the activity. This choice can be made for each WBS. Planned The project is in the planning phase. Work has not yet begun. Planned Value Cost Planned Value Cost is the portion of the budgeted total cost of the activity that is scheduled to be completed as of the project data date, according to the baseline. Computed as Planned Value Cost = Individual resource Budget At Completion * (Data Date of current project - Baseline Assignment Start Date) / (Baseline Assignment Finish Date - Baseline Assignment Start Date). The Planned Value Cost of an activity is the sum of the Planned Value Cost of each individual resource assignment on the activity. If an activity has a resource or role assignment with manually-defined future period bucket values, Planned Value Cost is calculated using the manual assignment values. If an activity has no resources, its Planned Value Cost is calculated as the Budget At Completion * Schedule % Complete [(Data date - Baseline Start) / (Planned Finish Baseline Start)]. The Schedule % Complete specifies how much of the activity's original duration has been completed so far.

Plug-in Methodology A plug-in methodology solves specific development needs and can be plugged in, or linked, to a base methodology as needed. Plug-in methodologies are specialized topics that may or may not be required by a project. Examples of plug-in methodologies are quality assurance, independent auditing, and extra security. A project plan can combine zero, one, or more plug-in methodologies with a base methodology. Predecessor

An activity that must occur before another activity. A predecessor activity controls the start or finish date of its successors. An activity can have multiple predecessors, each with a different relationship to it. Primavera products Project management software that enables you to budget, prioritize, plan, administer, and manage multiple projects; optimize limited, shared resources; control changes; and consistently move projects to on-time and on-budget completion. It provides customizable interfaces, scalable and flexible tools, and easy integration with project management software, including Primaveras Contract Manager software and Microsoft Project. Primavera provides simple data exchange with Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Project, as well as other Primavera applications such as Contract Manager (Expedition), Methodology Management, P3, and Contractor. Primavera's Web Application The Primavera Web application provides browser-based access to project, portfolio, and resource data across the enterprise. Every user of the Primavera Web application can create customized Dashboards to create an individualized and focused view of the specific projects and categories of project data that are most relevant to their role in managing projects and resources. Project Workspaces and Workgroups extend the model of customizable, focused data views by enabling designated project team members to create a uniform team view of data that relates to one specific project or to a subset of activities within a project. Navigation links provide access to a wide range of data views and features that enable users of the Primavera Web application to manage their projects from initial concept review and approval through to completion. User interface views enable and disable application functionality per user to provide a customized view of the application. Project A project constitutes a plan for creating a product or service. A project has a start and finish date and consists of some or all of the following: activities, resource assignments, a work breakdown structure (WBS), an organizational breakdown structure (OBS), calendars, relationships, baselines, expenses, risks, issues, thresholds, and project-specific codes, reports, and work products and documents. Project Complexity A projects complexity value can be between 0 and 100. If the project complexity value equals 0, the Project Management module uses the low estimate for each activity. If the project complexity value equals 100, the Project Management module uses the high estimate for each activity. For project complexity values between 0 and 100, the Project Management module calculates an intermediate value between the low and high

estimates for each activity. The value calculated using the project complexity factor is then copied into the budgeted labor/nonlabor units and expense costs for each activity. ProjectLink Primavera ProjectLink is a plug-in that enables MSP users to work in the MSP environment while being connected to Primavera's enterprise features. The functionality allows MSP users to open from / save to the Primavera database from within the MSP application. Moreover, MSP users will have the ability to invoke Primavera's enterprise resource management functionality from within the MSP environment.

ProjectLink enables existing MSP projects to be saved to the Primavera database so that Primavera users can view and make minor edits to MSP projects in the Project Management module and Primavera's Web application, while MSP users can continue to edit data in Microsoft Project. Conversely, when Project Management module/Primavera Web application users create new projects in Primavera applications, they can export them to Microsoft Project; MSP users can then save the projects to the Primavera database using ProjectLink.

The capability to save MSP projects to the Primavera database benefits organizations that have a substantial amount of project data stored in Microsoft Project but require some users to have the additional functionality and optimized data organization available within Primavera. Those users can view and make minor edits to existing MSP-managed projects within Primavera. Users who are more familiar with MSP can continue to use MSP as their daily project management tool. Project Reports Project reports are specific to the open project only. You cannot run a project report for any other project. Project superuser A project profile that gives a user read/write privileges for all project/OBS specific information and features.

Read Only A user with Read Only access to a project can view the project, but cannot change any of the project's information.

Report Canvas The Report Canvas is the main component of the Edit Report window. Use it to add, edit, and position report components.

Report cells You can include three types of cells in a report.

Text cells can contain either custom text that you specify; variable report data, such as a page number or date; the title of a database field; or the actual content of a database field. Line cells contain a horizontal line whose size you can specify. Image cells contain a graphic that you specify.

Report Header and Footer In a compiled report, the report header appears before the report's details and on the first page of the report only. The report footer appears after the report's details and on the last page of the report only. Resource dependent activity Resources assigned to this type of activity are scheduled to work according to the resources calendars rather than the activitys calendar. The activitys duration is determined by the availability of resources to work on the activity. Use resource dependent activities when multiple resources assigned to the same activity can work independently. Resource dependent activity Resources assigned to this type of activity are scheduled to work according to the resources calendars rather than the activitys calendar. The activitys duration is determined by the availability of resources to work on the activity. Use resource dependent activities when multiple resources assigned to the same activity can work independently. Resource dependent activity Resources assigned to this type of activity are scheduled to work according to the resources calendars rather than the activitys calendar. The activitys duration is determined by the availability of resources to work on the activity.

Use resource dependent activities when multiple resources assigned to the same activity can work independently. Root Node If user security is enabled, your root node is the resource node in the resource hierarchy that you are assigned to. In other words, it is the highest level of resource you have access to. If you delete your root node you automatically get no access to any resources.

Schedule Performance Index Schedule Performance Index (SPI) = Earned Value Cost / Planned Value Cost Shared A user with Shared access to a project can open and edit a shared copy, rather than a master copy, of the project. More than one user at a time can have Shared access to a project. Sheet names When exporting data to an XLS file, each subject area is exported to a separate worksheet in Excel. You should not modify the sheet names. To import successfully, the Project Management module must recognize the sheet names. The following table displays the subject area and its sheet name in Excel.

Subject Area

Sheet Name

Activities Activity Relationships Expenses Resources Resource Assignments

TASK TASKPRED PROJCOST RSRC TASKRSRC

Size and Complexity Value

Use the Size and Complexity Wizard in the Project Architect wizard to perform bottomup estimations by selecting values for a set of estimation factors defined in Methodology Management. The value selections for each estimation factor are used to determine a projects size and complexity percentage. To calculate the size and complexity percentage, Project Architect adds all values you select, divides that sum by the sum of the maximum values for each factor, and produces a value between 0 and 1. This value is multiplied by 100. A projects size and complexity value can be between 0 and 100. If the size and complexity value equals 0, the Project Management module uses the low estimate for each activity. If the size and complexity value equals 100, the module uses the high estimate for each activity. For size and complexity values between 0 and 100, the module calculates an intermediate value between the low and high estimates for each activity. The value calculated using the size and complexity factor is then copied into the budgeted labor/nonlabor units and expense costs for each activity.

Start milestone activity A start milestone activity marks the beginning of a major stage in the project. Since a start milestone activity does not have a duration, it is sometimes referred to as a zero duration activity. A start milestone may have a primary resource and expenses associated with it, but cannot have resource assignments, role assignments, or time-based costs such as labor. You can assign work products or documents to a start milestone. Start on constraint A restriction you place on an activity by imposing a start date. The start on constraint can delay an early start or accelerate a late start to satisfy the imposed date. Unlike the mandatory start constraint, which can violate the network logic, this constraint protects it. Start on or after constraint A restriction you impose on an activity that limits the earliest time it can begin. When calculating a schedule, the start on or after constraint is used in the forward pass only if the calculated early start date will be earlier than the imposed date. This constraint affects only early dates. The early start date of an activity with a start on or after constraint cannot be earlier than the imposed date, although the network logic may cause the early start to occur later. Start on or before constraint

A restriction you impose on an activity that limits the latest date it can start. When calculating a schedule, the start on or before constraint is used in the backward pass only if the calculated late start date will be later than the imposed date. This constraint may decrease total float. It only affects late dates. Start to finish (SF) relationship A relationship between activities in which a successor activity cannot complete until its predecessor activity starts.

Start to start (SS) relationship A relationship between activities in which the start of a successor activity depends on the start of its predecessor. Successor An activity that must occur after another activity. An activity can have multiple successors, each with a different relationship to it.

Task dependent activity For a task dependent activity, assigned resources schedule according to the activitys calendar rather than according to their designated resource calendars. Use task dependent activities when multiple resources assigned to the same activity need to work together. Text Qualifier If you import or export information that contains the field delimiter you specify, this character separates fields or categories of information. For example, if you select comma (,) as the field delimiter and single quotes (') as the text qualifier, 'Smith, Bob', 55.00, 123-4567 imports/exports as three categories of information, not four. Then: statement

Initiates a change to the project data. When an If: statement is true, the changes specified in the Then: statement are applied. Then: statement Initiates a change to the project data. When an If: statement is true, the changes specified in the Then: statement are applied. Primavera Timesheets A project communication tool you can add on to the Project Management module.

Team members or Timesheets-licensed users can log into the Timesheets module, either over the Web or their local area network and receive a cross-project view of their assignments, access to Activity Details, and a simple timesheet to record their progress.

Note

The Timesheets module is available in Primavera product installations that use SQL server or Oracle databases.

Unique fields In Microsoft Excel, the unique fields are used as identifiers for activity data in the XLS export file. The following table displays the unique fields exported with each subject area. These fields should not be removed from the export file.

Subject Area Activities Activity Relationships

Unique field Activity ID Successor Predecessor Relationship Type Activity ID Expense Item Activity ID Resource ID Role ID

Expenses Resource Assignments

Cost Account ID

User interface view A user interface view is a customized view of the Primavera Web application that enables and disables access to Primavera Web application functionality. Administrators can define user interface views that correspond to the job functions performed by roles in their organization, then assign the views to the individual users who fulfill those roles. WBS (work breakdown structure) The hierarchy of work that must be accomplished to complete the project, which defines the product to be produced. The WBS is structured in levels of work detail, beginning with the product itself, and then is separated into identifiable work elements. WBS summary activity Use a WBS summary activity to summarize a WBS level. The WBS summary activity comprises a group of activities that share a common WBS level. For example, all activities whose WBS codes start with A (A.1, A.1.1, A.1.1.2, A.2, A.3 and so forth) can be part of one WBS activity whose WBS code is A. At a lower level, all activities whose WBS codes start with A.1 (A.1, A.1.1, A.1.1.2 and so forth) can be part of a WBS activity whose WBS code is A.1.

The dates calculated on a WBS summary activity are based on the earliest start date of the activities in the group and the latest finish date of these activities. The WBS summary activity duration is calculated based on its assigned calendar.

Note

You cannot assign constraints to WBS summary activities.

What-if The project is being analyzed before establishing a more permanent schedule.