IT Project Management Glossary
Fifty terms an IT delivery programme uses every week, each defined without jargon and with the fields the artefact actually contains.
Assumption Log
An assumption log records what a plan takes to be true without proof, who made each assumption, how it will be validated and what
Benefits Realisation: Definition, Tracking and Ownership
What benefits realisation means, how benefits are tracked after go-live, who owns them once a project closes, and why tracking sto
Burn Rate
What burn rate means on an IT project, how it is calculated, how it is used to forecast, and why burn against budget can mislead.
Business Case: Structure, Contents and Ongoing Use
What a business case contains, how costs, benefits, options and assumptions are laid out, and why most stop being used the day the
Capacity Planning
What capacity planning is, how demand and supply are compared, where the constraint usually sits, and why capacity plans lose accu
Change Control Board: Membership, Remit and Cadence
What a change control board is, who sits on it, what it decides, how it differs from a steering committee, and the failure modes t
Change Request: Definition, Contents and Approval Path
What a change request is, what an impact assessment must cover, how requests are approved and logged, and why unassessed changes g
Cost Variance
What cost variance is, how it is calculated, how it differs from a simple budget-versus-spend comparison, and how variances get mi
Cutover
Cutover is the controlled transition from the old system to the new one: freeze, final migration, deployment, verification and the
Cutover Plan
A cutover plan sets out the approach to a go-live: scope, timeline, roles, go/no-go criteria, freeze, rollback, comms and post-cut
Cutover Runbook
A cutover runbook is the timed, task-level script executed during a go-live window: step, start time, duration, owner, dependency,
Data Migration
What data migration involves — profiling, mapping, cleansing, dry runs, reconciliation and sign-off — and where migrations lose ti
Defect Triage
What defect triage is, how severity and priority differ, who attends triage, and where defect backlogs become unmanageable before
Dependency
A dependency is work, a decision, data or a resource one team needs from another before it can finish its own. The fields that tra
Deployment Window
What a deployment window is, how it is sized and agreed, what the point of no return means, and why windows overrun on IT go-lives
Dress Rehearsal
A dress rehearsal is a full timed run of the cutover runbook at production volumes with the real people, producing corrected timin
Early Life Support
Early life support is the bounded period after go-live when the delivery team works alongside permanent support, with a rota, repo
Exception Report: When It Is Raised and What It Contains
What an exception report is, what triggers one, what it must contain, the options it puts to the board, and why exceptions get rep
Freeze Period
A freeze period is a window in which changes to named systems, data or configuration are not permitted, with a scope, exceptions r
Go-Live
Go-live is the point at which a new system starts being used for real work. What it involves, what is confirmed before it, and whe
Go/No-Go Decision
A go/no-go decision is a formal ruling on whether a release proceeds, taken against criteria agreed in advance, with named owners,
Highlight Report: Definition, Contents and Frequency
What a highlight report is in PRINCE2, what it contains, how it differs from a general status report and an exception report, and
Hypercare
Hypercare is the heightened support period straight after go-live, with a defined scope, staffing rota, triage route, reporting an
Issue Log
An issue log records problems that have already occurred and are affecting delivery, with severity, owner, resolution action and e
Lessons Learned: What the Record Should Contain
What a lessons learned record is, the fields that make one actionable, when lessons should be captured, and why most lessons logs
Milestone: Definition and What Makes One Useful
What a milestone is, the fields a milestone tracker needs, how milestones are used for reporting and baselining, and why vague one
PMO (Project Management Office)
What a PMO is, what it owns, the three common mandates, and where project management offices lose credibility with delivery teams.
Portfolio Management
What portfolio management is, what a portfolio register holds, how prioritisation and stage gates work, and why portfolios drift o
Programme Management
What programme management is, how it differs from project management, what a programme office holds, and where programmes commonly
Project Board: Definition, Roles and Decision Rights
What a project board is, the three interests it represents, what it decides at each stage boundary, and how it differs from a stee
Project Charter: What It Contains and What It Authorises
What a project charter contains, what authority it confers, how it is used after kickoff, and the sections that get skipped and ca
Project Closure: Definition and What Has to Be Done
What project closure means, the tasks it covers from acceptance to handover, who signs it off, and why projects drift without form
Project Status Report: Definition, Sections and Cadence
What a project status report contains, how often it goes out, who reads it, and the reporting habits that cost a project its credi
RACI Matrix: Definition, Rules and Common Failures
What a RACI matrix is, what responsible, accountable, consulted and informed mean, how it is built, and the rules that keep it fro
RAG Status: What Red, Amber and Green Mean
RAG status explained: what red, amber and green are meant to signal, how thresholds are defined, who sets the colour, and why ambe
RAID Log
A RAID log records risks, assumptions, issues and dependencies in one register. What it contains, how it is used, and where it sto
Reconciliation
What reconciliation means in a data migration or go-live: counts, control totals, sampling, tolerances and who signs off the resul
Release Management
What release management covers: release calendar, environments, approvals, freeze periods and rollback, and where release control
Resource Plan
What a resource plan contains, how allocations are recorded by week, how it differs from capacity planning, and where resource pla
Risk Register
A risk register logs events that have not happened yet, with probability, impact, response and owner. What it contains and where s
Rollback Plan
A rollback plan sets out how to return to the previous state: triggers, decision authority, point of no return, reverse sequence a
Service Transition
Service transition hands a system from the delivery team to the organisation that will run it: support model, documentation, acces
Smoke Test
A smoke test is a short, predefined set of checks run straight after deployment to confirm the system is up, connected and minimal
Stakeholder Map: Definition, Axes and How It Is Used
What a stakeholder map is, the axes used to plot stakeholders, how engagement follows from position, and why most maps are never r
Statement of Work (SOW)
What a statement of work contains, how deliverables and acceptance criteria are defined, and where vague SOWs cause disputes on IT
SteerCo: What the Abbreviation Means in Delivery
SteerCo is the working contraction of steering committee. What people mean by a SteerCo pack, a SteerCo slot and a SteerCo ask, an
Steering Committee: Definition, Membership and Purpose
What a steering committee is, who sits on it, what it decides, what it works from each cycle, and the failure modes that make it d
UAT (User Acceptance Testing)
What UAT is, who runs it, what entry and exit criteria cover, how defects are handled, and why UAT so often starts late and runs l
Vendor Management
What vendor management covers on an IT project: selection, SOWs, invoices, performance and escalation, and where supplier relation
Workstream
What a workstream is, how programmes split work into streams, what each stream owns, and why workstream boundaries create dependen