Project Management Terminology - S

SAFETY PLAN   The standards and methods which minimize to an acceptable level the likelihood of accident or damage to people or equipment. 

SCHEDULE   A Schedule is the timetable for a project. It shows how project tasks and milestones are planned out over period of time. 

SCHEDULE CONTROL   Controlling schedule changes. 

SCHEDULE DATES   Start and finish dates calculated with regard to resource or external constraints as well as project logic.

SCHEDULE PERFORMANCE INDEX (SPI)   Ratio of work accomplished versus work planned, for a specified time period. The SPI is an efficiency rating for work accomplishment, comparing work accomplished to what should have been accomplished.

SCHEDULE VARIANCE (COST)   The difference between the budgeted cost of work performed and the budgeted cost of work scheduled at any point in time.

SCHEDULED FINISH   The earliest date on which an activity can start, having regard to resources or external constraints as well as project logic.

SCHEDULING   Scheduling is the process of determining when project activities will take place depending on defined durations and precedent activities. Schedule constraints specify when an activity should start or end based on duration, predecessors, external predecessor relationships, resources availability, or target dates.

SCOPE   The scope is the sum of work content of a project.

SCOPE CHANGE   Any change in a project scope that requires a change in the project's cost or schedule.

SCOPE CHANGE CONTROL   Controlling changes to the scope.

SCOPE OF WORK   A description of the work to be accomplished or resources to be supplied.

SCOPE VERIFICATION   Ensuring all identified project deliverables have been completed satisfactorily.

S-CURVE   A display of cumulative costs, labour hours or other quantities plotted against time.

SECONDARY RISK   The risk that may occur as a result of invoking a risk response or fallback plan.

SECONDMENT MATRIX   An organizational structure whereby team members are seconded from their respective departments to the project and are responsible to the project manager.

SEQUENCE   Sequence is the order in which activities will occur with respect to one another.

SLACK   Calculated time span within which an event has to occur within the logical and imposed constraints of the network, without affecting the total project duration.

Note 1: It may be made negative by an imposed date

Note 2: The term slack is used as referring only to an event.

SLIP CHART   A pictorial representation of the predicted completion dates of milestones (also referred to as Trend Chart)

SLIPPAGE   The amount of slack or float time used up by the current activity due to a delayed start or increased duration.

SOFT PROJECT   A project that is intended to bring about change and does not have a physical end product.

SOFT SKILLS   Soft skills include team building, conflict management and negotiation.

SOURCE SELECTION   Choosing from potential contractors

SPLITTABLE ACTIVITY   Activity that can be interrupted in order to allow its resources to be transferred temporarily to another activity.

SPONSOR   Individual or body for whom the project is undertaken and who is the primary risk taker.

STAGE   A nature high level subsection of project that has its own organizational structure, life span and manager.

STAGE PAYMENT   Payment part way through a project at some predetermined milestone.

STAKEHOLDER   A person or group of people who have a vested interest in the success of an organization and the environment in which the organization operates.

(Project stakeholders are people or organizations who have a vested interest in the environment, performance and/or outcome of the project.)

START EVENT OF A PROJECT   Event with succeeding, but no preceding activities. Note: There may be more than one start event.

STARTING ACTIVITY   A starting activity has no predecessors. It does not have to wait for any other activity to start.

START-TO-START LAG   Start-to-start lag is the minimum amount of time that must pass between the start of one activity and the start of its successor(s). This may be expressed in terms of duration or percentage.

STATEMENT OF WORK   A document stating the requirements for a given project task.

STATUS REPORTS   Written reports given to both the project team and to a responsible person on a regular basis stating the status of an activity, work package, or whole project. Status Reports should be used to control the project and to keep management informed of project status.

STEERING GROUP   A body established to monitor the project and give guidance to the project sponsor or project manager.

SUBCONTRACT   A contractual document which legally transfer the responsibility and effort of providing goods, services, data, or other hardware, from one firm to another.

SUBCONTRACTOR   An organization that supplies goods or services to a supplier.

SUBNET OR SUBNETWORK   A division of a project network diagram representing a subproject.

SUBPROJECT   A group activities represented as a single activity in a higher level of the same.

SUCCESS FACTORS   Critical factors that will ensure achievement of success criteria.

SUCCESSES CRITERIA   Criteria to be used for judging if the project is successful.

SUCCESSOR   A successor is an activity whose start or finish depends on the start or finish of a predecessor activity.

SUNK COSTS   Unavoidable costs (even if the project were to be terminated.)

SUPER-CRITICAL ACTIVITY   An activity that is behind schedule is considered to be super-critical. If it has been delayed to a point where its float is calculated to be a negative value.

SUPPLIER   Includes contractors, consultants and any organization that supplies services or goods to the customer.

SYSTEM   The complete technical output of the project including technical products.

SYSTEMS AND PROCEDURES   Systems and procedures detail the standard methods, practices and procedures of handling frequently occurring events within the project.

SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT   Management that includes the prime activities of systems analysis, systems design and engineering and systems development.