Glossary

Availability

A resource's availability is the amount of time a resource is available and can be allocated to a project.

Baseline

A baseline is a snapshot of the project schedule taken earlier in the project that you can later use to measure project progress against earlier estimates of project progress.

Category

Use Categories to select and filter different groups and classes of tasks, notes, or resources in the view.

Critical Path

Critical path is a set of tasks in a project for which any delay or expansion lengthens the project or causes project deadlines to slip. The critical path determines the project's earliest finish date.

Autoschedule uses the critical path value to determine the tasks that drive the project deadlines and constraints.

Critical Task

Critical tasks have a float of zero or less; therefore, when a critical task is delayed, the project finish date or other deadlines are affected.

Dependency

A dependency provides you with a means of ordering the relationship, timing, and logical sequence between a task within the same project (internal dependency) or between a task in your project and a task that is external to the project (external dependency).

Dependency Type

Dependency Type is the constraint you place on the detail task or milestone's start or finish date.

You can create the following types of dependencies to establish the relationship between the start and finish dates of dependent tasks:

• Finish-Start. The predecessor task's finish date determines the successor task's earliest possible start date. With this dependency type, the successor task cannot start until its predecessor task finishes.
• Finish-Finish. The predecessor task's finish date determines the successor task's earliest possible finish date. With this dependency type, the successor task cannot finish until its predecessor task finishes.
• Start-Start. The predecessor task's start date determines the successor task's earliest possible start date. With this dependency type, the successor task cannot start until its predecessor task starts.
• Start-Finish. The predecessor task's start date determines the successor task's earliest possible finish date. With this dependency type, the successor task cannot finish until its predecessor task starts.

Dependency Violation

A dependency violation is a dependency link that has been improperly set.

Duration

Duration is the length of time, in business days, a task requires from conception to completion, including the start and finish dates.

Earned Value Analysis (EVA)

Earned Value Analysis (EVA) is a statistical operation that compares the project's present actuals against what was planned. For example, it may compare the length of time a task would take, according to a baseline budget plan, to the actual length of time it took. EVA is also called Performance Measurement.

Estimate To Complete (ETC)

Estimate To Complete (ETC) is the estimated time for a resource to complete an assignment.

Fixed Duration

A fixed duration task is a constrained task that must finish in a specific amount of time. Fixed-duration tasks are constant and are not driven by resource assignments. A fixed-duration task is also called a time-constrained task.

Float

Float is the number of days that a task's initiation or completion can be delayed without adversely affecting the project finish date. Float is calculated using the following formula: Late Start - Early Start

Global File

The Global File is the default location of global settings, such as calendars, resource files, and note categories.

Global Resources

Global resources are those resources that are available to you to staff on projects when you are using Open Workbench with CA Clarity PPM. You can select a team of resources from a list of global resources and make them available to your project. The global list displays roles and resources to which you have booking rights.

Highlights

Highlights are the fonts, colors, symbols, and patterns you can define for highlighting project data.

Key Task

A Key Task is a task that you consider to be of key importance to the project. When you mark a task as a key task, its status does not impact any other Open Workbench behavior.

Lag

Lag is the predetermined amount of time between the start and/or finish time of two tasks in a project plan.

Lag Type

Lag Type is the unit of measure for the value you enter for lag. You can specify lag in terms of time or percent. Choices are Daily or Percent.

Percentage of duration is usually based on the length of the predecessor task. However, if you specify the dependency type as Finish-Finish, the percentage of duration is based on the length of the successor task.

Library

An Open Workbench library is a .rwl library file that stores view Library data, including the names of library groups that categorize views, sorts, and filters. Libraries also store the paths to and names of views, sorts, and filters that appear in the library groups.

Loading Pattern

A Loading Pattern defines how work is spread across the duation of a task. A resource's loading pattern defines how resource assignments are used to complete tasks when you recalcuate task duration and autoschedule your project. There are five patterns available to best help replicate how team members work on tasks.

Negative Lag

Negative Lag is the amount of time or percentage of task duration in which two tasks can be simultaneously in process in a project plan.

Notes

Notes let you record project-specific information for yourself or for other staff members.

Pending Estimate

A pending estimate is the pending state of ETC until a resource's project manager accepts or rejects the new value. You can edit the ETC, though you should only change it if you complete the assignment ahead of schedule or if you need more hours.

Project Status

A project status shows the results compared to the project plan. Status is determined in terms of costs, resources, deliverables, and whether the project is started, not started, or complete. In Open Workbench, a status indicator reflects the status of a project, or for a program, the status of its component projects.

Resources

Resources are the people needed to make sure a project is completed on time. Resources are assigned to project tasks.

Roles

Roles are generic resources that represent the job responsibilities of the resources assigned to a project. A role defines the work function while a resource identifies the individual who performs that role. Examples of roles include project manager, programmer, and business analyst.

Subnets

Subnets are a set of tasks in a project that have dependencies among themselves. During Autoschedule, you can choose to calculate and display separate critical paths for each subnet and for each task that does not have dependencies.

Task Priority

The Task Priority controls the order in which tasks are scheduled during autoschedule, subject to dependencies and task and resources constraints. Autoschedule, therefore, schedules tasks with higher priority ahead of tasks with lower priority.

Variable Duration

A Variable Duration task is a constrained task that can change when you autoschedule your project. Variable-duration tasks depend on the availability and number of assigned resources. A variable-duration task is also called a resource-constrained task.

Views

Views are the means by which you display a project plan and other project data.

Global Resources

Global resources are those resources that are available to you to staff on projects when you are using Open Workbench with CA Clarity PPM. You can select a team of resources from a list of global resources and make them available to your project. The global list displays roles and resources to which you have booking rights.