Here is a list of common terminologies found in the Sensei IQ application with their definitions. Please refer to your organization’s work and portfolio management framework for business process terminologies.
| Assumptions | A log or a register that allows you to document any actions taken, often in planning a portfolio or program, that are believed to be true but cannot be confirmed, typically because the portfolio or program has no control over the conditions that are being documented. Example: Amount of data required will not impact the speed of the app |
| Benefits | A log or a register that allows you to prioritize and align all delivery work with organizational objectives and then measure and validate that the approved work is delivering the expected benefits against quantifiable targets. Example: Cost Reduction through increase of Productivity in IT by 10% |
| Benefit Outcomes | A log or a register that allows you to capture and define the expected outcomes and results expected from the benefits. Example: Reduction of Administration (based on the above benefit example) |
| Benefit Outputs | A log or register that allows you to capture and define the expected outputs and results expected from the benefits. Example: Purchase of Subscription (based on the above benefit example) |
| Benefits Tracking | A log or register that allows you to measure the realized values (actuals) against the expected results and validate the realization of the benefit over time. Example: Planned ($250K), Forecast ($250K) and Actual ($200K) |
| Business Process Flow (BPF) | A defined workflow that allows you to complete a stage gate checklist and advance an initiative to the next phase and/or stage based on the project type and your organization’s business processes or framework. Example: Planning, Execution, Closing phases |
| Challenges | A list that allows you to capture all business challenges as a central point for documenting and managing them; they are associated with contributing ideas to help identify the best solution to the challenge. Example: Customer retention for 6 to 12-month customers is slipping |
| Constraints | A log or a register that allows you to record known conditions that the portfolio or program must conform to or that may impact the overall work on the initiative including external factors that could impact progress or that must be adhered to. Example: Strong competition in the market |
| Decisions | A log or a register that allows you to identify and manage key decisions required to move the portfolio or program forward, or to record decisions made that do not impact the scope, cost, or schedule (i.e. do not require a change request). Example: Schedule a User Group Conference |
| Deliverables | A log or a register that allows you to capture the expected deliverables that the portfolio, program or project must produce to satisfy the stakeholder’s expectations. . Example: Network Design and Migration Document |
| Documents | A library of documents that leverages SharePoint document management to ensure that all relevant portfolio, program or project documents, as well as formal deliverables are available to all stakeholders in a centralized location for collaboration; can be accessed via either SharePoint directly, Microsoft Teams channel or within Sensei IQ. Example: PDF files, Templates, Images, Spreadsheets, PPT presentations, Meeting Notes |
| Financials | A log or a register that allows you to record the project budget, define the forecast cost, and update the actual cost of the project to track variance from the approved budget from planning through to closure. Example: Budget ($500K), Forecast ($400K), Actual ($200K) and Variance ($300K) |
| Ideas | A list that allows you to capture ideas whenever someone has a good suggestion that may warrant further investigation to determine potential organizational benefits. Example: Hire more operators during peak periods |
| Insights | A set of pre-configured Power BI report pages that allow you to monitor work and exceptions over all elements that exist for Strategy, Portfolio/Programs, Innovations, Intake, Projects, and Work and link back to the data in Sensei IQ for easy review and updating. Example: Leadership Insights, Intake Insights, Innovation Insights |
| Issues | A log or a register that allows you to track and manage all current challenges, or opportunities, that could impact the project’s or program’s successful conclusion by due date to help ensure they are resolved in a timely fashion. Example: Deployment Logistics tasks underestimated |
| Key Dates | A Kanban-style board that allows you to capture all the key dates related to a project, program or portfolio events of interest that the stakeholders are expecting the project to meet. Example: Target Companies Identified (High Risk), Second Company Acquired (Done) |
| Lessons | A log or a register that allows you (and your team) to record valuable knowledge gained during project execution that may be helpful for future projects to help the organization drive continuous process improvement. Example: Scope Control |
| Microsoft Teams (and Office 365 Groups) | A group created via Microsoft Office 365 and associated to a project, program or portfolio that allows you to identify who will be working on the project tasks and/or collaborate over project, program and portfolio support items. Important: In Sensei IQ, you automatically obtain read-write permission over a project, program and/or a portfolio record and their supporting items once you are added as a member of the associated Microsoft 365 groups. |
| Portfolios (area) | The area that provides you with an efficient way to manage all delivery initiatives beginning with identifying the challenges facing the organization, soliciting ideas to address the challenges where the best ones become proposals and eventually projects. And then projects can be combined into programs and portfolios. Tip: Click here for the Portfolio Area Overview. |
| Portfolios | A list that allows you to identify, prioritize, authorize, manage, and control projects, programs, and other related work to achieve specific strategic business objectives. A portfolio is a collection of projects and programs which help deliver a strategic business objective and designed to be dynamic with no defined financial or schedule constraints; Example: IT Portfolio |
| Programs | A list that allows you to identify, prioritize, authorize, manage, and control stand-alone programs of work or a group of related projects managed in a coordinated way to obtain benefits and control not available from managing them individually. A program can be a collection of projects which deliver a specific result, and therefore does have defined financial and schedule constraints. Example: Project and Portfolio Management Upgrade Program |
| Projects (area) | The area that provides you with an efficient way to manage all the projects across the organization with the ability to drill into the details of each including a summary, business case, supporting items, and documents. Tip: Click here for the Project Area Overview. |
| Projects | A list that allows you to create, manage, and control projects and other related work to achieve specific strategic business objectives/initiatives using a business process flow depending on the project type. A project can be linked to external execution tools such as Project for the web, Project Online, Jira and/or Azure DevOps; usually associated to a program of work or a portfolio. Example: Application SaaS Migration Project |
| Proposals | A list that allows you to identify, prioritize, authorize, manage, and control proposals that when selected and approved becomes a project and moves into the Planning phase. A proposal typically includes a brief description of the proposal, anticipated dates, key details from the business case, and a timeline of the notes or actions taken during the proposal creation intended to provide an executive summary of the proposal and support formal proposal and business case documents. Example: Replacement of PPM Software Proposal |
| Resources (area) | The area that provides you with an efficient way to manage all bookable resources, enterprise calendars, and resource requests across the organization with the ability to drill into the details of resources, their capacity, demand and allocation across projects, portfolios and proposals. Tip: The Resource Area Overview is coming soon. |
| Resources | A list that allows you to set-up and manage different types of bookable resources (generic, named or external) that can be assigned to the tasks in a project schedule; as well as resource allocation across projects and resource attributes such as department, primary role, line manager, timesheet manager, location, start and end date, enterprise calendar, target utilization and cost rate. Example: Business Analyst, Albert Connell, Tina Hamilton (Project Online), Evon Tech (JIRA Software) |
| Resource Plan | A plan that allows resource managers and project managers to negotiate an “agreement” through approvals of resource requests in order to make sure that resources with defined availability are being used appropriately and effectively throughout your organization. |
| Risks | A log or a register that allows you to track and manage all future challenges, or opportunities, that could impact the project’s or program’s successful conclusion based on likelihood, consequences, costs, and trigger dates to help prioritize which risks should be managed more closely and actively. Example: Resources may not be available to commit to the project |
| Settings | The area that allows your system administrator to facilitate self-serve configuration and maintenance of the system settings in the Sensei IQ application. |
| Stakeholders | A log or a register that allows you to identify a unique set of stakeholders and define their level of interest and involvement in a portfolio or program. Example: Anne Barnes, Chief Financial Officer, Quarterly updates |
| Status Updates | A log or register of status updates that allows you to monitor, control and report the progress of projects and programs including individual key performance indicators (KPIs) for the overall project health and supporting items as well as descriptive status narratives. Important: Once the project schedule and all supporting items are current and aligned, the initial status update created for a project or a program is normally set as the baseline and can be updated at a later time. |
| Strategic Goals | A list that allows you to align project and other related work with organizational initiatives and objectives more discrete and measurable goals typically associated to a single strategic theme. Example: Improve customer loyalty and stickiness by 40% by December 2022 |
| Strategic Themes | A list that allows you to align project and other related work with organizational initiatives and objectives using high-level themes that can be broken down into more discrete and measurable goals with specific results that you are responsible for delivering to executive management. Example: Become a National Service Provider |
| Strategy (area) | The area that provides you with an efficient way to set organization strategy using themes with clearly defined goals and proactively monitor progress through benefits realization tracking; it easily links back to portfolios and programs. Tip: Click here for the Strategy Area Overview. |
| Tasks (and Milestones) | A work breakdown structure (WBS) that allows you to identify all work required to complete the project with appropriate resources, realistic amount of work or time required and dependencies to ensure that work is completed in the appropriate sequence. Example: Determine the project scope (Task); Project Scope determined (Milestone) |
| Work (area) | A section of the Project area that is focused on you as an individual team member allowing you to reflect your current task progress to keep the project schedules up to date as well as managing all the project, program and portfolio support items like risks, issues decisions, change requests and lessons that you are involved in. Tip: Click here for the Work Area Overview. |
Click here to download a printable version of the glossary.
Disclaimer: Some definition of terms contained herein may vary from (or may not be available) in your organization’s Sensei IQ instance. Please contact your Project Management Office (PMO) or equivalent for assistance.