PROJECT MANAGEMENT & CONTROLS
The language of managing scope, cost, change, risk, information, commitments, and project performance from execution through completion.
ACCOUNTABILITY
The obligation to own a responsibility, decision, commitment, or result.
Across the Table: Accountability answers who owns the outcome—not simply who touched the work.
Use It — Field: “I own getting this crew ready for tomorrow.”
Use It — Management: “The superintendent is accountable for field readiness and will report unresolved constraints before mobilization.”
Related: Responsibility · Ownership · Action Item · RACI
ACTION ITEM
A specific task or follow-up assigned to a person with an expected completion point.
Across the Table: A meeting discussion becomes manageable when somebody owns the next action and everyone knows when it is due.
Use It — Field: “I'll call the vendor today and confirm the delivery.”
Use It — Management: “Material confirmation is an action item assigned to procurement for completion today.”
Related: Accountability · Owner · Due Date · Issue
APPROVAL
Formal or documented authorization to proceed, accept, change, purchase, or release something.
Across the Table: A conversation or assumption is not always approval. When authorization matters, we need to know who can approve it and capture the decision.
Use It — Field: “Don't order it until we have approval.”
Use It — Management: “The change is pending client approval before procurement can proceed.”
Related: Authority · Change Control · Decision · Documentation
ASSUMPTION
Something treated as true for planning or decision-making even though it has not yet been fully verified.
Across the Table: Assumptions are normal. Hidden assumptions are dangerous because the project can build commitments on information nobody confirmed.
Use It — Field: “We're assuming the outage gets approved Friday, but that's not confirmed.”
Use It — Management: “The current plan assumes Friday outage approval; that assumption remains a project risk.”
Related: Risk · Risk Register · Constraint · Validation
AUTHORITY
The formally or practically granted power to make a decision, approve an action, commit resources, or direct work.
Across the Table: Responsibility without enough authority creates delay. Good project control puts decisions at the level that can actually make them.
Use It — Field: “I can move my crew, but I can't approve that extra cost.”
Use It — Management: “Field leadership can reallocate labor, but commercial approval remains with the project manager.”
Related: Accountability · Approval · Escalation · RACI
BACKCHARGE
A cost charged to another responsible party for expense caused by its failure, damage, deficiency, or contractual obligation.
Across the Table: If another party creates cost, documentation is what turns 'they caused it' into a defensible commercial position.
Use It — Field: “We had to repair their damage. Track the labor, material, and pictures.”
Use It — Management: “We're documenting the corrective cost for potential backcharge to the responsible subcontractor.”
Related: Cost Exposure · Documentation · Rework · Contract
BASELINE
An approved reference point for scope, schedule, cost, or performance used to measure change and variance.
Across the Table: Without a baseline, 'we changed' has no stable reference. The baseline gives us something controlled to compare against.
Use It — Field: “This isn't what we originally planned.”
Use It — Management: “The current forecast differs from the approved baseline, and we're quantifying the variance.”
Related: Variance · Change Control · Forecast · Budget
BUDGET
The authorized or planned amount of money available for defined project work.
Across the Table: The budget is not just what we have spent. It is the financial plan against which commitments, actual cost, and forecast are controlled.
Use It — Field: “We've got money allowed for this work, but that doesn't mean spend it without checking.”
Use It — Management: “The proposed purchase is within the budget, but it still requires the appropriate authorization.”
Related: Cost Control · Forecast · Commitment · Actual Cost
CHANGE CONTROL
The structured process used to identify, evaluate, approve, document, and implement changes to controlled project requirements.
Across the Table: Change is normal. Uncontrolled change is what damages scope, cost, schedule, and accountability.
Use It — Field: “Before we change it, let's get direction and document what changed.”
Use It — Management: “The requested revision is being routed through change control before implementation.”
Related: Change Order · Scope Creep · Approval · Baseline
CHANGE ORDER
A formal modification to a contract or agreement that changes scope, cost, time, or other contractual requirements.
Across the Table: Doing extra work and getting paid for extra work are two different things. The change order is the commercial mechanism that formalizes the change.
Use It — Field: “That's extra work. We need it documented before we just absorb it.”
Use It — Management: “The added scope is being priced and submitted as a change order.”
Related: Change Control · Scope of Work · Cost Exposure · Contract
COMMITMENT
An obligation created by an agreement, purchase order, subcontract, promise, or authorized decision that commits the project to cost, time, or performance.
Across the Table: Money can be committed before an invoice arrives. Project controls need to see obligations coming, not only cash already spent.
Use It — Field: “We ordered it, so that money is already spoken for even though the bill isn't here.”
Use It — Management: “The purchase order represents a committed cost and is included in the current cost forecast.”
Related: Budget · Cost Forecast · Procurement · Actual Cost
COMMUNICATION PLAN
An agreed approach defining what project information needs to be communicated, to whom, when, and by what method.
Across the Table: More communication is not automatically better. The right information needs to reach the right people early enough to act on it.
Use It — Field: “Make sure the night crew, PM, and customer all get the outage update.”
Use It — Management: “The communication plan identifies the required outage notifications and responsible parties.”
Related: Stakeholder · Reporting · Escalation · Documentation
CONTINGENCY
A planned allowance or backup response reserved for uncertainty, risk, or conditions that may occur.
Across the Table: Contingency is not an excuse for weak planning. It is deliberate room or an alternate response for uncertainty we cannot fully eliminate.
Use It — Field: “If the primary lift fails, we've got a backup vendor.”
Use It — Management: “The project contingency includes an alternate equipment source for the identified availability risk.”
Related: Risk · Mitigation · Reserve · Forecast
CONTRACT
A binding agreement defining obligations, rights, scope, commercial terms, and other requirements between parties.
Across the Table: Field decisions can have contractual consequences. Knowing what the contract requires helps separate a reasonable request from an obligation.
Use It — Field: “Before we agree that's ours, check what the contract says.”
Use It — Management: “We're reviewing the contract to determine responsibility for the requested work.”
Related: Scope of Work · Change Order · Commercial Risk · Backcharge
COST CONTROL
The process of monitoring, managing, and influencing project costs so financial performance remains understood and controlled.
Across the Table: Cost control is not simply spending less. It means knowing what we planned, what we committed, what we spent, and where we expect to finish.
Use It — Field: “Track the extra hours. I want to know what this problem is costing us.”
Use It — Management: “We're tracking the labor impact and updating the cost forecast before the exposure grows.”
Related: Budget · Actual Cost · Cost Forecast · Variance
COST EXPOSURE
A potential or developing cost that the project may incur even if the final amount or responsibility is not yet settled.
Across the Table: Exposure is the money we can see coming before it becomes a final invoice or booked cost.
Use It — Field: “If we have to bring that crew back, this is going to cost us another trip.”
Use It — Management: “Remobilization represents a developing cost exposure that is not yet included in actual cost.”
Related: Risk · Cost Forecast · Change Order · Backcharge
COST FORECAST
The current estimate of where project cost is expected to finish based on actual cost, commitments, remaining work, risks, and known changes.
Across the Table: The budget is where we intended to finish. The cost forecast is where today's information says we're heading.
Use It — Field: “We're still under budget today, but these extra trips are going to eat that up.”
Use It — Management: “The current cost forecast includes expected remobilization and indicates pressure against the approved budget.”
Related: Budget · EAC · Actual Cost · Commitment
DECISION
A selected course of action that resolves a choice, issue, or question and allows the project to proceed.
Across the Table: A project can lose days waiting for a ten-minute decision. Good control makes the required decision, owner, and deadline visible.
Use It — Field: “We need somebody to decide which location we're using before the crew gets here.”
Use It — Management: “A location decision is required by Wednesday to protect Friday mobilization.”
Related: Authority · Action Item · Escalation · Decision Log
DECISION LOG
A record of significant project decisions, including what was decided, when, by whom, and sometimes the supporting rationale.
Across the Table: People remember decisions differently. A decision log preserves what the project actually agreed to.
Use It — Field: “Write down that they approved Option B so we're not arguing about it next month.”
Use It — Management: “The client approval of Option B has been captured in the decision log.”
Related: Decision · Documentation · Approval · Change Control
DELIVERABLE
A defined result, document, product, or completed piece of work that must be produced or provided by the project.
Across the Table: A deliverable is something the project owes—not necessarily something physically installed.
Use It — Field: “Don't close the site until the test results and pictures are uploaded.”
Use It — Management: “Testing records and closeout photographs remain outstanding project deliverables.”
Related: Closeout · Scope · Acceptance · Milestone
DOCUMENT CONTROL
The process used to manage the creation, review, revision, distribution, storage, and retrieval of controlled project documents.
Across the Table: The wrong drawing in the field can make good workmanship produce the wrong result. Document control protects which information is current and authoritative.
Use It — Field: “Make sure that's the latest revision before we build from it.”
Use It — Management: “Document control has issued the current drawing revision and superseded the previous version.”
Related: Revision · Distribution · Record · Change Control
DOCUMENTATION
Recorded information that provides evidence of project conditions, actions, decisions, communications, costs, or results.
Across the Table: Documentation turns memory and opinion into a record that can support decisions, claims, closeout, and accountability.
Use It — Field: “Take pictures and write down what happened before we fix it.”
Use It — Management: “We're documenting the existing condition, labor impact, and direction received before corrective work proceeds.”
Related: Record · Change Order · Backcharge · Decision Log
EAC — ESTIMATE AT COMPLETION
The current estimate of the total cost expected when the project or defined work is complete.
Across the Table: EAC answers the executive question: based on what we know now, what do we think this job will ultimately cost?
Use It — Field: “We've spent 80, but with what's left I think we're finishing around 110.”
Use It — Management: “The current EAC is $110,000 based on actual cost, commitments, and forecast remaining cost.”
Related: Cost Forecast · Budget · ETC · Actual Cost
ESCALATION
Moving an issue or decision to the appropriate higher level when it cannot be resolved with the authority, information, or resources available at the current level.
Across the Table: Escalation is not dumping a problem upward. It is getting the issue to the level that can make the required decision.
Use It — Field: “I can't approve that outage change, so I'm taking it to the PM.”
Use It — Management: “The issue has been escalated to the client because field leadership does not hold the required approval authority.”
Related: Authority · Issue · Decision · Accountability
ETC — ESTIMATE TO COMPLETE
The current estimate of the remaining cost required to finish the project or defined work.
Across the Table: Actual cost tells us what we already spent. ETC forces us to look forward and estimate what is still required.
Use It — Field: “We've spent 60, but I think we need another 25 to finish.”
Use It — Management: “The ETC is currently $25,000 based on remaining labor, material, and subcontract commitments.”
Related: EAC · Cost Forecast · Actual Cost · Remaining Work
ISSUE
A current problem, condition, or decision requiring attention or resolution.
Across the Table: A risk might happen. An issue already exists. Mixing the two makes project reporting less useful.
Use It — Field: “The material didn't show up. That's not a risk anymore; it's a problem we have now.”
Use It — Management: “The missed delivery is now an active issue requiring resolution and schedule-impact assessment.”
Related: Risk · Action Item · Escalation · Issue Log
ISSUE LOG
A controlled list used to track active project issues, ownership, status, actions, and resolution.
Across the Table: If an issue matters enough to discuss every week, it matters enough to track so it does not disappear between meetings.
Use It — Field: “Put the missing switchgear on the list and keep it open until we have a confirmed resolution.”
Use It — Management: “The switchgear delay remains open in the issue log with procurement assigned as owner.”
Related: Issue · Action Item · Owner · Reporting
LESSONS LEARNED
Knowledge captured from project experience about what worked, what failed, and what should be repeated or changed in future work.
Across the Table: A lesson is only useful if the next project can use it. Otherwise we just experienced the same problem once.
Use It — Field: “Next time, open every shipment before the crew mobilizes.”
Use It — Management: “Material verification before mobilization has been captured as a lesson learned for future sites.”
Related: Closeout · Continuous Improvement · Root Cause · Standard Work
MITIGATION
An action intended to reduce the probability or impact of a risk or developing problem.
Across the Table: Identifying a risk without deciding what to do about it is only reporting. Mitigation is the response.
Use It — Field: “We're short one lift, so I reserved a backup before tomorrow.”
Use It — Management: “The equipment-availability risk is being mitigated through a backup rental reservation.”
Related: Risk · Contingency · Action Item · Risk Register
OWNER
The person assigned responsibility for driving an action, issue, risk, decision, or deliverable to resolution or completion.
Across the Table: When everyone owns it, nobody owns it. One clear owner does not mean they perform every task; it means they drive the result.
Use It — Field: “Who's owning the material problem?”
Use It — Management: “Procurement is the assigned owner for resolving the material shortage.”
Related: Accountability · Action Item · RACI · Issue Log
PROCUREMENT
The process of obtaining required materials, equipment, services, or subcontracted work for the project.
Across the Table: Buying something is only part of procurement. Timing, specifications, approvals, vendor commitments, delivery, and commercial terms can all affect execution.
Use It — Field: “Don't just order it—make sure it's the right part and it'll be here before the crew needs it.”
Use It — Management: “Procurement is confirming technical compliance and delivery before releasing the purchase order.”
Related: Commitment · Lead Time · Vendor · Material Readiness
PROJECT CONTROLS
The integrated practices used to plan, measure, forecast, and control project scope, schedule, cost, risk, and performance.
Across the Table: Project controls turn field reality into information management can act on. The goal is not more spreadsheets; it is earlier visibility and better decisions.
Use It — Field: “Tell them what changed, what it costs, and what it does to the finish date.”
Use It — Management: “Project controls is evaluating the change across cost, schedule, risk, and forecast performance.”
Related: Baseline · Forecast · Variance · Change Control
PROJECT OBJECTIVE
A defined result the project is intended to achieve.
Across the Table: Activities describe what we do. Objectives explain what result those activities are supposed to produce.
Use It — Field: “We're not here just to install equipment; it has to be operational for the customer by Friday.”
Use It — Management: “The project objective is operational turnover by Friday while meeting safety, quality, scope, and performance requirements.”
Related: Deliverable · Milestone · Success Criteria · Scope
RACI
A responsibility-assignment framework identifying who is Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed for defined work or decisions.
Across the Table: RACI is a formal way to answer four questions field teams ask constantly: who does it, who owns it, who needs input, and who needs to know?
Use It — Field: “Who's doing this, and who has the final say?”
Use It — Management: “The RACI identifies the superintendent as Responsible and the project manager as Accountable for this deliverable.”
Related: Accountability · Responsibility · Authority · Stakeholder
RECORD
Project information retained as evidence of what occurred, was approved, was installed, or was communicated.
Across the Table: A record is what remains after the conversation is over. Good records protect continuity and reduce arguments about what happened.
Use It — Field: “Save that email and the pictures with the site file.”
Use It — Management: “The approval email and field photographs are being retained as project records.”
Related: Documentation · Document Control · Decision Log · Closeout
REPORTING
The structured communication of project status, performance, risks, issues, forecasts, and required decisions.
Across the Table: Good reporting is not a data dump. It tells the audience what changed, why it matters, and what needs attention.
Use It — Field: “Don't just tell them we're behind. Tell them why and what we're doing about it.”
Use It — Management: “The weekly report identifies the schedule variance, root cause, recovery action, and decision required.”
Related: Forecast · Variance · Issue · Stakeholder
RESERVE
Time, money, or other capacity intentionally held to address uncertainty or defined categories of risk.
Across the Table: Reserve is controlled protection against uncertainty, not spare money or time that automatically belongs to whoever finds it first.
Use It — Field: “We've got some money held back for unknowns; don't spend it like normal budget.”
Use It — Management: “Management reserve is being preserved for qualifying uncertainty rather than routine scope.”
Related: Contingency · Budget · Risk · Cost Control
RESPONSIBILITY
The duty to perform or manage an assigned piece of work.
Across the Table: Responsibility tells us what someone is expected to do. Accountability goes one step further and identifies who owns the result.
Use It — Field: “You're responsible for getting the material staged before the morning crew arrives.”
Use It — Management: “The field coordinator is responsible for material staging before shift startup.”
Related: Accountability · RACI · Owner · Delegation
RISK
An uncertain event or condition that, if it occurs, could affect project objectives.
Across the Table: A risk has not happened yet. Once it happens and requires resolution, it is generally managed as an issue.
Use It — Field: “That delivery might slip next week, so we need another option ready.”
Use It — Management: “The potential delivery delay is a project risk to the planned installation start.”
Related: Issue · Probability · Impact · Mitigation
RISK ASSESSMENT
The process of identifying risks and evaluating their probability, impact, and significance so an appropriate response can be selected.
Across the Table: Risk assessment is the disciplined version of looking ahead and asking what can hurt us, how badly, and what we're going to do about it.
Use It — Field: “If that crane doesn't show, how bad does it hurt us and what's Plan B?”
Use It — Management: “The team assessed crane availability as a high-impact schedule risk and established a mitigation response.”
Related: Risk · Mitigation · Probability · Impact
RISK REGISTER
A controlled record of identified project risks, typically including description, owner, assessment, response, and status.
Across the Table: The register makes future problems visible before they become today's emergency.
Use It — Field: “Put the long-lead equipment risk on the register and assign somebody to it.”
Use It — Management: “The long-lead equipment risk is recorded in the risk register with procurement as owner and weekly monitoring established.”
Related: Risk · Owner · Mitigation · Issue Log
SCOPE
The defined boundaries of the work, products, services, and results the project is responsible for delivering.
Across the Table: Scope answers what is included, what is not, and what the project has committed to produce.
Use It — Field: “Before we say yes, make sure that work is actually ours.”
Use It — Management: “We're verifying whether the requested installation is within the contracted project scope.”
Related: Scope of Work · Change Control · Deliverable · Contract
SCOPE CREEP
Uncontrolled expansion of project work beyond the approved scope without corresponding control of authorization, cost, or schedule.
Across the Table: Scope creep usually arrives one small request at a time. The damage comes when the project keeps saying yes without recognizing the cumulative impact.
Use It — Field: “They keep adding little extras while we're here.”
Use It — Management: “We're seeing uncontrolled scope growth that needs to be routed through change control before additional cost is absorbed.”
Related: Scope · Change Order · Change Control · Cost Exposure
STAKEHOLDER
A person, group, or organization that can affect, is affected by, or has an interest in the project or its outcome.
Across the Table: Not every stakeholder has the same authority, but ignoring the wrong one can still stop the job.
Use It — Field: “The building owner needs to know before we shut that system down.”
Use It — Management: “The facility representative is a key stakeholder and must be included in outage communication.”
Related: Communication Plan · RACI · Approval · Reporting
STATUS
The current condition or state of an activity, issue, deliverable, risk, or project at a defined point in time.
Across the Table: Status should tell us where something stands now, not repeat the history of everything that happened to it.
Use It — Field: “Is it done, blocked, or waiting on somebody?”
Use It — Management: “The deliverable status is pending client approval with no field action currently required.”
Related: Reporting · Data Date · Issue · Action Item
SUCCESS CRITERIA
The measurable conditions used to determine whether a project, phase, or deliverable achieved its intended result.
Across the Table: Finishing the work is not always the same as succeeding. Success criteria define what acceptable completion actually means.
Use It — Field: “Done means installed, tested, labeled, documented, and accepted.”
Use It — Management: “The success criteria require installation, commissioning, closeout documentation, and client acceptance.”
Related: Project Objective · Acceptance · Deliverable · Quality
TREND
A developing pattern in project performance that may indicate where cost, schedule, quality, productivity, or risk is heading.
Across the Table: One bad day may be noise. The same problem repeating every week is information.
Use It — Field: “That's the third time we've lost hours waiting on access. This is becoming a pattern.”
Use It — Management: “Repeated access delays show a negative productivity trend that requires corrective action.”
Related: Leading Indicator · Forecast · Variance · Root Cause
VALIDATION
The act of confirming that information, assumptions, requirements, or results are sufficiently accurate and appropriate for their intended use.
Across the Table: Good decisions depend on good inputs. Validation is checking before we build a commitment on information that may be wrong.
Use It — Field: “Don't plan the crew around that date until somebody confirms it.”
Use It — Management: “We're validating the vendor delivery date before incorporating it into the execution plan.”
Related: Assumption · Verification · Risk · Readiness
VARIANCE
The measurable difference between a baseline, budget, plan, or expected result and actual or forecast performance.
Across the Table: Variance identifies where reality separated from the plan. Management still needs to determine why and what action follows.
Use It — Field: “We planned 40 hours and used 56.”
Use It — Management: “Labor has an unfavorable 16-hour variance against the plan, and we're reviewing the cause.”
Related: Baseline · Actual vs. Planned · Forecast · Root Cause
VENDOR
An external party that supplies materials, equipment, services, or other project needs.
Across the Table: A vendor's promise can become a field constraint if delivery, quality, or technical requirements are not controlled.
Use It — Field: “Call them and confirm the equipment is actually shipping, not just 'scheduled to ship.'”
Use It — Management: “We're obtaining vendor confirmation of shipment and delivery before releasing field mobilization.”
Related: Procurement · Commitment · Lead Time · Risk
WBS — WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE
A hierarchical framework used to organize project scope into manageable components for planning, scheduling, cost control, and reporting.
Across the Table: The WBS gives the project a common structure so scope, schedule, cost, and reporting can be organized around the same pieces of work.
Use It — Field: “Break the job down by site, then by major work package so we can see where the problem is.”
Use It — Management: “The WBS organizes project performance by site and work package for integrated schedule and cost reporting.”
Related: Scope · Work Package · Project Controls · Schedule
WORK PACKAGE
A defined portion of project scope organized so it can be planned, assigned, executed, tracked, and controlled.
Across the Table: A work package turns a large project into a piece somebody can actually own and manage.
Use It — Field: “Give that crew the complete equipment-room package instead of feeding them one task at a time.”
Use It — Management: “The equipment-room work package includes the defined scope, schedule activities, budget, deliverables, and responsible owner.”
Related: WBS · Scope · Deliverable · Accountability
ACCEPTANCE
Formal or documented recognition that a deliverable, system, or completed work meets the required criteria.
Across the Table: The crew being finished does not automatically mean the customer has accepted the work.
Use It — Field: “We're done building it, but don't demobilize until we know it's accepted.”
Use It — Management: “The installation is complete and awaiting formal client acceptance before final closeout.”
Related: Success Criteria · Deliverable · Closeout · Approval
ACTUAL COST
Cost that has already been incurred and recorded for completed or ongoing project work.
Across the Table: Actual cost tells us what has happened financially. It does not tell us what the project will ultimately cost.
Use It — Field: “We've already spent 60 on this work; now we need to know what it takes to finish.”
Use It — Management: “Actual cost is $60,000, and the remaining forecast is being incorporated into EAC.”
Related: Budget · ETC · EAC · Cost Forecast
IMPACT
The consequence a risk, issue, change, or decision has on project objectives such as cost, schedule, scope, safety, or quality.
Across the Table: Saying something is a problem is incomplete. Impact explains why management should care.
Use It — Field: “If we miss that delivery, the crew loses two days and we pay another mobilization.”
Use It — Management: “The delivery issue carries both schedule and cost impact through lost production and potential remobilization.”
Related: Risk · Issue · Cost Exposure · Schedule Risk
PROBABILITY
The assessed likelihood that an uncertain risk event or condition will occur.
Across the Table: Probability helps separate something that could theoretically happen from something we should actively prepare for.
Use It — Field: “There's a real chance that equipment isn't here next week.”
Use It — Management: “The delivery risk is assessed as high probability based on the vendor's current status.”
Related: Risk · Impact · Risk Assessment · Risk Register