Glossary

Glossary:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Cost Baseline - "is a time-phased budget that will be used to measure and monitor cost performance on the project" (PMI, 1986)

Cost-Benefit Analysis - "conventionally an 'ends oriented' approach that requires a quantitative valuation of both resource inputs and outcomes." (Doughty, 1979). It focuses on both "competing goals as well as alternative activities". (Lent, 1979)

Cost Category - "All resources assigned to or consumed by the cost centre are organized into categories .... (such as) personnel salaries and benefits, administrative salaries and benefits, services, hardware and equipment, software, and facilities" (Beilby, 1979).

Cost Centre - "refers to that which is being costed; it may be a course, a small unit within a course or a program involving several courses ... (or) a particular organizational unit or function such as a library or administration" (Beilby, 1979)

Cost Change Control System - "defines the procedures by which the cost baseline may be changed. It includes the paperwork, tracking systems, and approval levels necessary for authorizing changes." (PMI, 1986)

Cost-Effectiveness - "the relationship between something's inputs (costs) and outcomes (effectiveness) relative to the particular goal being served and the alternative means of achieving it .... Effectiveness is usually not estimated in dollars, but rather is measured on a scale chosen to reflect the nature of the particular goal (e.g., achievement test scores)" (Lent, 1979).

Cost-Effectiveness Analysis - "a specialized kind of evaluation activity designed to help developers make informed decisions about the relative worth of alternative means to a given goal" (Lent, 1979). Doughty calls it "a 'means oriented' approach where the task is to select a strategy or product from a set of alternatives designed to accomplish specified goals .... there is less emphasis (contrasted with CBA) on numerical or monetary quantification of outcomes (Doughty, 1979).

Environmental Analysis - "the analysis of the context of instructional systems, both the physical and use aspects of the instructional products. It is a phenomenological approach to instructional design in that it seeks to describe the project 'as it is' in the real world, how it relates to the system(s) into which it will be embedded. It is a profile of where instruction occurs, who uses it, how it is used .... and how it will be sustained." (Tessmer, 1990).

Life Cycle of Costs - clusters costs into three developmental stages: design, investment, and operation (Beilby, 1979).

Project Cost Management - includes the processes required to ensure that the project is completed within the approved budget ... is primarily concerned with the cost of the resources needed to complete project activities.(Project Management Institute,1996).

Project Time Management - includes the processes required to ensure timely completion of the project (Project Management Institute,1996).

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) - "defines the project tasks, or work to be performed [expessed in terms of the product or result of the work, i.e., deliverables], and establishes a relationship between the tasks and the major project objectives. The WBS also establishes the framework for the scheduling and control of the project. It functions to establish a framework for summarizing the schedule and cost status of the project at progressively higher levels of management. (Cook, 1971).