project management glossary
portfolio management
The management of a number of projects that do not share a common
objective. For example, the responsibility of an operations manager of a
company managing several different projects for different clients.
portfolio management system (pms)
A system for setting the stage for enterprise wide project management
during the initiation phase. The system requires all new projects across the
enterprise to be proposed in a consistent fashion, chosen under the same
criteria, rank ordered objectively relative to all other projects in the
enterprise and stored in a single database.
portfolio of projects
positive float
The amount of time available to complete non-critical activities or work
items without affecting the total project duration.
The amount of time that an activity's start can be delayed without
affecting the project completion date. An activity with positive float is not on
the critical path and is called a non-critical activity. Most software packages
calculate float time during schedule analysis. The difference between early and
late dates (start or finish) determines the amount of float.
