Activity
Work required to complete part of a product. An activity is always associated with one and only one product. Teams are assigned to the activity in a pattern of roles through contracts, including one primary, one decision, and any number of quality and assisting contracts.
Breakdown Structure
The hierarchical relationships for project elements of the same time, in particular the product breakdown structure (PBS) for the system being delivered, Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) for the phase based process and Organization Breakdown Structure (OBS)for the teams. See below for individual definitions.
Complexity
A measure of the cost of uncertainty reduction -- the gap between information as known by humans (tacit or transferable within a practical time horizon) and information of value to the project yet to be known (in artifacts and the external world.)
A product system that is fully explored and known is no longer complex if and only if the knowledge is available at no cost. Complexity is therefore a function of both the condition of information in the system as well as the state of knowledge of the human teams.
Contract
The assignment of a team to play a role on an activity. The four roles in this project design approach are primary, decision, quality, and assist.
When assigned a contract based role, a demand for the team's attention, capacity, and abilities is generated. Given limited capacities and priorities in projects not all roles are effectively fulfilled.
Coordination
Interaction by teams to satisfy the dependence amongst activities. With the GPD simulation method, coordination effort and cost are predicted and shown in Forecast Overview pie charts as well as coordination bars in the Gantt Charts.
Coordination Distance
A measure for two teams interacting in a project which is the proportion of their effective effort to satisfy their dependence compared to the nominal case.
Usually this term refers to a specific low-level transaction, such as pass-off across an individual dependency, in which the distance is a calibration measure of these two teams coordination efficiency compared to others.
When the total interactions across many activities and projects are considered, then the coordination distance is a high-level general measure referred to as a network distance. Not only the direct team to team transactions, but many intermediate transaction and disruptions can cause the effective network distance to be different than the transactional coordination distance.
Detail Pane
A panel, usually on the right side of every view, which shows the detail attributes of a project model element or relationship. The attributes of the element or relationship, for example an activty's name or a dependency's shape, can be viewed and changed in the Detail Pane if the user has locked the project object in "edit mode". (Edit mode is entered bl clikcing the edit button at the bottom of the detail pane, or by double clicking the object icon in the Designer View.)
The detail panes can be toggled to be hidden or shown.
Dependency
A need for interaction that matters -- a demand for coordination -- so that an activity's outcome is successful, e.g. (1) the product is realized as required and designed, the (2) phases reach key milestones with timely progress and acceptable cost, and (3) teams, well utilized, perform with quality as they supply abilities.
The dependency leads to an influence of one activity on the performance of another since satisfaction of these needs for results, information, or shared resources require attention. Dependencies are a continuous relationship between activities, rather than precedence relations between milestones. Dependencies may be mutual.
Effective Complexity
The proportion of coordination effort necessary to satisfy dependencies compared to the nominal work effort required to generate the information locally, within an activity.
Effective Work (aka Actual Effort)
The work as hours of actual effort spent, using (supplying) abilities, as realized in an actual project to complete its scope.
A team of high productivity, well experienced, and without interruption may be able to complete an activity's scope with less effective work than another team. However, if the resulting scope is the same, by definition the nominal work is the same.
Element
An Element is a component of a Project Model such as a Location, Team, Product, Activity, or Phase.
Global
Having multiple locations. Global projects which have teams based in different geographic locations yet coupled by dependent work.
The research that led to TeamPort focused on the drivers of complexity and coordination for globally distributed teams working on engineering systems development. However, since thenthis method has demonstrated value for teams working across various types of boundaries lacking a shared background. In these cases there is a shared need to generate awareness of the demand for coordination, which may differ from past experience or local habits.
Icon
An Icon is a visual representation in TeamPort of a Model Element or other Project component.
Idle
A team is idle when it has no activities it can work on because none are active. A team will have zero utilization while idle. See also Wait.
Information
A measure of the amount of knowledge content, in the context of a project the total knowledge needed for activity completion. Activities proceed driven by the work of teams, creating results, generating information, and thus reducing uncertainty. If the information is already known to the teams (and systems) which depend upon it, then no new information is required. However, communication may be required to transfer information from one team to another across dependencies.
Information Entropy
A measure of information needed for activity completion which remains unknown.
Information is of value when it becomes known and applicable; in a project system with relevant information already embedded in teams, the effective entropy is lower; coordination is demanded less in order to satisfy the dependencies across the project.(See effective complexity)
Location
A Location is a physical place where Teams will reside, Locations have a time zone, typical schedule and default calendar. A Location's position also determines the cost and time of Teams traveling during a project.
Local
Local refers not specifically to geographic proximity, but to the condition of members behaving with shared interests, background and under common control.
People in a local activity have the same work culture, local products the same standards, and so on. If there is coordination work in the local environment, the amounts are likely to be small in comparison to the total activity amount. Moreover, local coordination becomes embedded in behavior; that is, coordination becomes socially constructed as work. Thus, coordination time is considered a part of productivity rather than as a separate kind of work. Expectation for coordination timing and costs becomes embedded as a part of activity cost. Coordination in a local activity is less likely to be recognized explicitly.
Meeting
Meetings allow Teams to meet their communication demands either face to face or remotely. During a Meeting, all communication demands between participating Teams present are given equal time.
Milestone
Milestones indicate a level of progress on an Activity, Product, Phase, or the entire Project.
Model
A Model is a representation of a Project as defined and organized in TeamPort.
Nominal Work
The work effort required by a nominal (typical) individual of average abilities, with all resources and information needed for the work. The effort is considered
without interruption, coordination, or rework. Nominal work is a measure of activity scope which is not tied to any particular team.
OBS
Organization Breakdown Structure: A hierarchy of Teams. The OBS is created by dragging and dropping.
PBS
Product Breakdown Structure: A hierarchy of Products. The PBS is created by dragging and dropping.
Performance
The interplay and progress of teams leading to realization of a targeted scope within acceptable quality, cost and schedule.
Phase
Phases allow the building of a traditional Work Breakdown Structure (WBS).
Phases allow the grouping of Activities, and can be grouped as deeply as needed to create as many levels of WBS as required. (see WBS)
Product
A Product is the meaningful result of completed work. Examples of Products include a design, a document, or an assembly, such as a complex machine. Products have zero or more Activities, which allow the representation of work required to generate the Product. Products can be grouped to create a Product Breakdown Structure (PBS). (see PBS)
Progress
The change over time in the state of scope towards completion in a project.
Typically progress at the start of a project is 0, and proceeds in increasing form until all of scope has been realized, as measured in % of effort, cost, or functionality. Progress can also be measured in units such as drawings, documents, prototypes, and tests.
Project
A real-world project, program, initiative, or other effort that has the objective of creating a deliverable, requiring Teams to apply their abilities and attention to make progress
Project Architecture
The integration of product system, process, and organization systems.
These elements are linked by breakdown structure, dependence, and contracts.
Scope
The result of a project as measured by the outcome of activities.
Projects often have chartered or original target scope which may change as both targets and feasibility evolve. Scope can be measured in nominal work effort as well as progress units such as drawings, modules, documents, and systems delivered.
Simulation
An examination of the interplay of integrated of product systems, process workflow, and organization over the life of a project
Team
Teams are the primary unit for executing work. Team members are considered as a group rather than individually by TeamPort Simulator. Teams can be associated with zero or more Activities to indicate that the Team is responsible for participating in a role to realize the activty scope as part of realizing the associated Product. Teams can be grouped to create an Organizational Breakdown Structure (OBS). (see OBS)
Unexpected Impacts
Those resulting total project cost, schedule and quality which are not anticipated by a team given their past experience and traditional methods of forecasting.
The combination of a team''s previous experience and the unique architecture of the project at hand can lead to a team anticipating coordination and its value in the wrong activity and timing.
View
The main application sections of TeamPort Designer accessed by tabs in the upper left, which show a project model from a point of view. The five main Views in TeamPort Designer are the Locations, Architecture, 3 Column, Matrix, and Coordination Views.
Wait
Effort a team expends when blocked from activities on which it could be working. Wait is typically generated when a team cannot perform work on an in progress activity because the team is waiting for dependencies to be satisfied. A waiting team is utilized at its standard rates. See also Idle.
WBS
Work Breakdown Structure: A hierarchical representation of a Project's Activities and Phases. The WBS is created by dragging and dropping.
Work
Effort by teams over time to generate scope. Does not include coordination and wait.