Glossary

The eight areas of clarification ask: what must be clarified? The five levels of responsibility ask: who carries responsibility where? The maturity level asks: how far has the organisation come with it? These three perspectives lie crosswise to each other and complement each other.

Eight areas of clarification The substantive questions that an organisation must answer in handling the new. They describe what must be clarified, not which hierarchical level is responsible. They are deliberately not called “levels”, to avoid confusion with the five levels of responsibility.

ASAP ASAP stands for Accelerated SAP and refers to an approach developed by SAP for introducing SAP systems. It structures SAP introductions into consecutive work stages. Today ASAP is relevant mainly in connection with existing or older SAP project models; newer SAP introductions typically work with SAP Activate. In the reference model, ASAP stands as an example of an existing process logic that can be accommodated.

The proven By the proven we mean what passes permanently into an organisation's normal operations after a successful project. A project creates something new; when its result is introduced, used and becomes part of normal work, it becomes something proven.

Digital project handbook The digital representation of its approach set up for an organisation: approach, roles, templates, checklists and further organisation-specific content in one place. It belongs to the organisation and stays with it after the mandate. It is not a comprehensive repository for all project results.

DIN 69901-5 DIN 69901 is a German series of standards on project management and project management systems. DIN 69901-5 is not a project management method but the part of the series that deals with project management terminology. In the reference model, the DIN therefore stands for a standards-oriented project management system and not for a single prescribed method.

Your own approach Not every company works according to a named external method. Many organisations have developed their own approach over the years – with their own project phases, roles, decision points, templates, reports and tools, or with elements of different methods. What matters is whether it suits the organisation, is understandable and can be applied reliably.

Five levels of responsibility Strategy, portfolio, steering, leadership and execution. They answer the question of who carries which responsibility at which level and takes which decisions. They are not the same as the eight areas of clarification.

Governance / project governance Governance refers to the binding framework within which an organisation makes decisions, distributes responsibility and exercises control. In project management, this covers in particular roles, decision rights, approvals, escalations and the question of who may approve, change or stop an undertaking.

Principles of action / cornerstones Principles of action are a few load-bearing guard rails by which people can align their decisions. They differ from an extensive set of rules because they also provide orientation in new situations. The terms principles of action and cornerstones mean the same thing.

HERMES HERMES is a project management method developed in Switzerland. It is used particularly in the public sector, but can also be used for other organisations and different kinds of undertakings. HERMES is results-oriented: not only activities but above all the results to be produced are at the centre. The phase model links tasks, roles, results and decision points and supports both classic and agile approaches.

HERMES is a good example of method neutrality: a company that already works with HERMES does not have to give up this approach. It can be adopted into the organisation-specific design of the reference model.

Good to know: the acronym HERMES originally stood for the German name of a handbook of the Swiss Confederation's electronic data centres, a method for developing systems. HERMES is the official standard for project management in the Swiss federal administration and is also used in many cantons, municipalities and companies.

Internal milestone A defined point within the concrete project execution, for example the end of an analysis, a design, a test or a sprint. In the reference model, internal milestones are distinguished from the higher-level management milestones.

Culture Culture refers to the shared attitudes, values and taken-for-granted assumptions of an organisation. It shows in how people actually deal with each other, decide, take responsibility, resolve conflicts and share knowledge. The Office presupposes a fundamentally sound culture and does not create it itself.

Lessons learned Lessons learned means deliberately recording experiences from a project: what worked, what did not, and what would we do the same or differently next time? The value only arises when these insights are actually available again and used in the next project.

Deliverable / minimum deliverable A deliverable is a defined result that must be produced in the course of a project, such as a decision, concept, plan, report or subject-matter solution. A minimum deliverable is a result that should at least exist for leading or steering an undertaking. Subject-matter project results are not automatically stored in the digital project handbook.

Management milestone A defined decision or leadership point in the course of a project. What is checked is not only whether subject-matter work has been completed, but whether the preconditions for the next step are in place and the undertaking continues to be supported. In the reference model, management milestones lie along the arc from the project impulse to use; their concrete design is specific to the organisation.

Method neutrality Method neutrality means that a company is not forced to adopt a particular project management method. Existing or desired approaches, phases and milestones can be classified and mapped in an organisation-specific way. Method-neutral does not mean structureless: the reference model creates a shared leadership framework.

PMI-based approach PMI stands for Project Management Institute. PMI is not a single project management method but an international professional organisation that develops standards, bodies of knowledge and qualifications for project management. The PMBOK Guide is particularly well known. “PMI-based” means a company-specific approach oriented to PMI standards and concepts. Such a design can also be accommodated in the reference model.

Portfolio / project portfolio The project portfolio is the overall view of an organisation's projects and undertakings. Portfolio management decides which undertakings are started, prioritised, postponed or ended and how they contribute to the strategy and available resources.

Premortem A premortem is a thinking tool before an important project decision. Those involved imagine that the undertaking has failed in the future and write down what could have led to it. The purpose is to make doubts and risks visible before a decision is made.

PRINCE2 PRINCE2 is an internationally widespread project management method. It places great emphasis on clear roles and responsibilities, traceable decisions, the continuous business justification of a project and controlled management from stage to stage. An important idea is tailoring: the method is adapted to size, complexity, risk and environment.

Project / the new A project is a time-limited undertaking with a specific result and its own coordination task. The more accessible expression “the new” refers to the uniqueness or particular nature of the specific undertaking, not automatically to a change business. This covers internal changes, system introductions, product development and construction projects as well as customer orders that are carried out as projects in the core business.

Project type / type of undertaking A project type describes a group of projects with similar characteristics, such as IT development projects, construction projects, procurement projects, and organisational and change projects. Different project types do not necessarily need the same internal execution.

Project impulse The project impulse is the starting point of a possible project. It can be an idea, a problem, an opportunity, a customer requirement, a strategic initiative or a necessary change. A project impulse is not yet a project order; first it must be clarified whether it should actually become an undertaking.

Project management Project management is an organisation's deliberate and orderly handling of projects. It covers not only scheduling or leading an individual project team, but also selection, governance, roles, reliable leadership information, approaches, tools and learning from undertakings.

Reference class forecasting Reference class forecasting supplements a project's inside view with the outside view of genuinely comparable undertakings. Instead of only asking how long one's own project will probably take, one looks at how comparable projects actually turned out in reality.

Reference model The Office's reference model is a generic leadership framework for projects. It gives company management a shared view of projects, even though individual undertakings may have different project types and approaches. It spans the arc from the project impulse through initialisation, concept, realisation and introduction to use, and shows management milestones along the way.

Maturity level The maturity level describes how far an organisation has come in deliberately shaping and recording its handling of projects. We distinguish six levels: person-dependent, documented, standardised, measurable, digitally supported and self-learning. The maturity level is not a grade but a map for the next sensible development step.

RUP RUP stands for Rational Unified Process and comes from software development. RUP combines an overarching phase structure with iterative development: a solution emerges step by step in several cycles. The four basic phases are usually called inception, elaboration, construction and transition.

SAFe SAFe stands for Scaled Agile Framework. It is a framework for coordinating agile and lean ways of working beyond individual teams in larger organisational contexts. It links teamwork with overarching planning, portfolio steering and shared decision-making and leadership structures.

SIA SIA stands for the Swiss Society of Engineers and Architects. SIA is not a single general project management method. In Swiss construction and planning, SIA standards and service models structure, among other things, phases, roles and services in the planning and realisation of construction projects.

Base organisation / line The base organisation, often also called the line, carries permanent responsibilities, processes and knowledge. Projects are time-limited and deliver a specific result. Line and project are not the same as run and change: a company can sell customer orders repeatedly as part of its core business and still lead each individual order as a project. Internal change projects typically hand their result over to the base organisation; customer projects to the customer or into the customer's use.

Tailoring Tailoring means deliberately adapting an existing approach to the concrete context. Not every project needs the same amount of documentation, roles, controls or work steps. Tailoring is a deliberate adaptation, not an arbitrary dissolution of the method.

Sunk costs Sunk costs are resources that have already been spent and cannot be recovered. In project decisions they easily lead to the error of thinking: “We have already invested so much, we cannot stop now.” For the decision to continue, however, what counts is the expected future benefit in relation to the resources still required.

Process model / project method A process model describes how a project is fundamentally handled and can contain phases, work steps, roles, results and decision points. A project method can additionally specify principles, practices and leadership logic. In practice, the terms are not always clearly separated. What matters is that different organisations may use different paths.

Why – How – What The idea comes from Simon Sinek's Golden Circle. We adopt the sequence but deliberately use the terms more narrowly: Why stands for culture and identity, How for governance and principles of action, What for concrete implementation in operations and in projects.