Inspire Planner - Glossary of Terms | Inspire Planner Help Center

Below is a glossary of commonly used terms within Inspire Planner.

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Term		Definition

% Complete	-	Refers to how much of the Project or Project Task is completed in percentage.

% Overdue	-	The percentage the Task or Project is overdue.

% Slippage	-	The percentage the Project has slipped against the original schedule.

Actual Cost	-	Refers to the realized cost incurred for the work performed on a Task or Project.

Actual Effort	-	Refers to the actual time spent to complete a Task or Project.

Actual Finish Date	-	Refers to the date when a Project Task is completed.

Agile Projects	-	Is an iterative approach to delivering a Project throughout its lifecycle. Agile project methodology breaks projects into small pieces that are completed in work sessions often called Sprints.

Assigned To	-	Refers to the resource (user or contact) that the Task is assigned to.

Baseline Duration	-	Refers to the original span of time planned to complete a Task or Project. This is copied over from the Task/Project duration at the time when the Project Baseline was set.

Baseline Finish Date	-	Refers to the original finish date planned for a Task or Project. This is copied over from the Task/Project finish date at the time when the Project Baseline was set.

Baseline Start Date	-	Refers to the original start date planned for a Task or Project. This is copied over from the Task/Project start date at the time when the Project Baseline was set.

Budgeted Cost	-	Refers to the expected or estimated cost related to undertaking/completing a Task or Project.

Category	-	Task categories are like groups you can sort your Tasks into. For example, you may want to group Tasks between those activities that are billable vs. non-billable.

Checklist Items	-	Refers to a list of items that need to be completed as part of a Task.

Collaborator	-	Or Project Collaborator. Refers to users or contacts you add to the Project to work together. Adding a user or contact as a Collaborator gives them access to the Project. Collaborators can have viewer (read-only) or editor (read and write) access to Projects.

Constraint	-	Allows you to place restrictions on the way Inspire Planner calculates Task start and finish dates. This may be necessary when you need to take into account external factors such as hard deadlines. Constraint Types include "must start on", "must finish on", "start no earlier than", "start no later than", "finish no earlier than", and "finish no later than".

Constraint Date	-	Is the specific date associated with a constraint.

Cost Variance	-	Is the difference between Earned Value and Actual Cost.

Cost Variance %	-	The percentage of variance between Earned Value and Actual Cost.

Critical Path	-	Is the longest path (in time) from start to finish. It indicates the minimum time necessary to complete the entire Project.

Critical Task	-	Task(s) that cannot be delayed without affecting the Project finish date.

Days Left	-	Days left for a Task refers to the number of days left from current date until the Task finish date.

Days To Completion	-	For Projects, this refers to the number of days left from current date until the Project finish date.

Days Overdue	-	Refers to the number of days that the Task or Project is overdue.

Duration / Actual Duration	-	Refers to the length or span of time a Project or Project Task is expected to take.

Earned Effort	-	The effort earned to-date based on Project % complete.

Earned Value	-	The amount of the budgeted cost actually earned to-date based on Project % complete. By comparing earned value against planned value, you can determine how the Project is performing against its budget and schedule.

Effort Variance	-	The difference between Earned Effort and Actual Effort.

Effort Variance %	-	The percentage of variance between Earned Effort and Actual Effort.

Finish Date	-	Refers to the date the Project or Project Task is scheduled to finish.

Finish Variance	-	The amount of time that represents the difference between a baseline finish date of a Task or Project and it's currently scheduled finish date.

Free Slack	-	Is the amount of time that a Task can be delayed without delaying any successor Tasks. If the Task has no successors, free slack is the amount of time that a Task can be delayed without delaying the entire Project's finish date.

Lag Time	-	The amount of time whereby a successor task is required to be delayed with respect to its predecessor.

Lead Time	-	The amount of time whereby a successor task can be advanced or started ahead with respect to its predecessor.

Milestone	-	It is a marker or signal post in a Project used to measure progress toward the ultimate goal. It is a reference point that marks a significant event or a branching decision point within a Project.

Planned Effort	-	Refers to the planned or estimated time to complete a Task or Project.

Planned Value	-	Refers to the value of the work that should have been completed so far as per the Project schedule. For example, if you have Project duration of 12 months and a budgeted cost of $100,000, if the time elapsed has been 6 months, then the planned value is $50,000.

Predecessor	-	A Task (or activity) that must begin or end before a successor Task can proceed.

Priority	-	Refers to the urgency or importance of a Task in a Project.

Project	-	A series of tasks that need to be completed to reach a specific outcome. They can range from simple to complex and can be managed by one or more people.

Project Schedule / Project Plan	-	Indicates what needs to be done, which resources must be utilized and when Tasks are due. It's a timetable that outlines start and end dates and milestones that must be met for the Project to be completed on time.

Project Task	-	A task is a work item or activity related to a larger goal. It's a step on the road towards Project completion.

Project Type	-	Used to denote the type of Project methodology being used - Waterfall (schedule-based, standard Projects), Agile or Task List.

Portfolio	-	Refers to a grouping of Projects or programs.

Remaining Budget	-	Is the difference between the Budgeted Cost and Actual Cost of a Task or Project.

Remaining Effort	-	Is the difference between the Planned Effort and Actual Effort of a Task or Project.

Resource	-	Refers to the person (user or contact) that a task is assigned to.

Resource Allocation	-	The process of assigning the best available resources to Task and Projects based on workloads and availability.

Resource Attribute	-	Describes some characteristics of a resource. For example, this could be a skill, role, expertise, certification or region.

Project Issue	-	These are problems, gaps, inconsistencies, or conflicts that occur unexpectedly during the lifecycle of a Project.

Project Risk	-	Refers to any unexpected or uncertain event may or may not occur that can affect your Project - for better or worse.

Project Team	-	Or Project Team Member. Refers to the resources that will be utilized in the Project. These are the people (users or contacts) that you are assigning Tasks to.

Role	-	Refers to the Role of the resource responsible for completing a Task.

Salesforce Task	-	Tasks in Salesforce are to-do items that need to be completed by a suer to whom the task is assigned to.

Slippage	-	The amount of time a Task or Project has slipped against the baseline.

Start Date	-	Refers to the date the Project or Project Task is scheduled to begin.

Start Variance	-	The amount of time that represents the difference between a baseline start date of a Task or Project and it's currently scheduled start date.

Status	-	Used to denote the status of a Task or Project.

Successor	-	A Task (or activity) that follows another activity - not in the chronological sense but according to their dependency to each other.

Task List Projects	-	A more simplified model of managing a set of Tasks needed to be completed in a Project. Unlike Waterfall projects, Tasks within a Task List project do not have dependencies, and start/finish dates are optional.

Template	-	Or Project Template. Refers to a Project that already has some details in place such as tasks that need to be completed, duration, start/finish dates, dependencies, settings, etc. and is used to carry over the same details to quickly and easily create and populate new Projects.

Time Entry	-	Refers to time logged (or entered) against a Task, Project or any other Object for which Time Tracker is enabled.

Time Zone	-	Refers to the time zone used when plotting Task dates and times within the Project schedule.

Total Slack	-	Is the amount of time a Task can be delayed before the Project finish date is delayed.

Waterfall Projects	-	Or Standard Projects. Waterfall project methodology follows a linear, sequential approach where the schedule is based on a defined scope.

Inspire Planner - Glossary of Terms

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