Introduction

Welcome to the Praxis Framework comparative glossary.

The aim of this document is twofold. Firstly it acts as a conventional glossary of terms. Secondly, it provides comparisons between terms from the guides listed in the coverage section below. The glossary is in no way a substitute for the various guides. It merely explains the relationships between different terms so that someone familiar with one terminology can quickly discover equivalents or similarities in another. 

 

Using the glossary

The glossary contains many hyperlinks. Hyperlinks under headings in the left column are links to the Praxis Framework. These provide more extensive and detailed information about the term. Hyperlinks in the right hand column are internal to the glossary.

Unlike PRINCE2^TM activities and PMBoK® Guide processes, Praxis activities are not described by individual entries in the glossary as they are adequately covered by the links to the Praxis Framework web site. These activities are therefore highlighted in italics and not hyperlinked. The same is taken for steps in procedures in the PRINCE2 themes.

There are many references to ‘equivalent terms’ throughout the glossary to explain how terms in one guide relate to terms in another. These equivalences should not be seen as exact matches. Different guides have different structures and many of the ‘equivalent terms’ are approximate or near equivalents. To gain a full and detailed understanding of the relationships between terms they need to be seen in context in the corresponding guides.

 

Conventions

Language

The glossary is written in British English but an increasing number of pages that the glossary links to are being translated by volunteers around the world. Newly translated pages are frequently uploaded.

The links will take you to the English language pages which have links to any available translations.

Inclusion

The inclusion of a guide in the Praxis Glossary coverage does not automatically mean that every individual entry from the guide’s glossary is included. Many guides choose to include generic terms that have no special meaning within the field of P3 management. Some also include terms that are not sufficiently described within their own text. These are all excluded from the Praxis Glossary.

Capitalisation

The glossary includes terms from many different guides. Each guide has a different policy on capitalisation. For example:

• PRINCE2 capitalises process names, documents and roles.
• The PMBoK® guide capitalises process and knowledge area names but not documents and roles.
• ISO21500 capitalises the first letter of processes but not subject groups, documents or roles.
• The APM BoK only capitalises in accordance with normal written English.

The approach in this glossary is to capitalise processes as they are always unique to each guide. Document, role and other terms are often common to multiple guides, so these are only capitalised in accordance with normal written English.

Reference numbers

The PMBOK® guide and ISO21500 often have the same name for processes that are slightly different. To differentiate them, PMBoK® guide and ISO21500 processes have their reference numbers appended to the process name.

These can quickly be distinguished as the PMBoK® guide uses two digits and ISO21500 uses three.

 

Coverage

Version 1

Version 1.0 compares terms from the following guides: (Italic abbreviations in brackets are used to reference these guides within the glossary)

• Body of Knowledge v6 published by the Association for Project Management. (APM BoK)
• PRINCE2^TM 2009 edition published by Axelos Ltd.
• A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge fifth edition published by the Project Management Institute (PMBoK®guide).
• The Praxis Framework published by Praxis Framework Ltd.

Version 1.1 incorporates:

• PRINCE2 Agile^TM published by Axelos Ltd.
• The guide to Planning, Scheduling, Monitoring and Control published by the Association for Project Management (APM PSMC)

Version 1.2 incorporates

• The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), Schedule Assessment Guide (December 2015) (GAO SAG)
• Managing Successful Programmes fourth edition (MSP) published by Axelos Ltd.

Version 1.3 incorporates

• The Standard for Program Management (SPgM) third edition published by the Project Management Institute

 

Version 2

Version 2 accommodates multiple versions of the same guide and recognises that when new versions are published, the previous versions are still used. Definitions in Version 2 iterations of the glossary distinguish between different editions of guides and also where definitions remain unchanged.

For example, version 2.0 distinguishes between Managing Successful Programmes 4th edition (MSP 4th Ed.) and the 5th edition (MSP 5th Ed.). Terms that are common to both editions are simply labelled ‘MSP’)

Version 2.0 incorporates:

• Managing Successful Programmes 5th Edition (MSP 5th Ed.) 2020, published by Axelos Ltd.
• Body of Knowledge v7 published by the Association for Project Management (APM BoK7).
• The Scrum Guide, 2020 (Scrum 2020) [N.B. The scrum guide does not contain a glossary. We have extracted key terms from the guide and presented them in glossary format]
• The UK Government’s Project Delivery Standard (GovS 002)

 

Updates

The glossary will be updated regularly. Future updates will incorporate Management of Portfolios from Axelos and the Standard for Portfolios Management from the Project Management Institute and ISO21504. Subsequent updates will incorporate guides and standards for change, benefits management, value management and PM2, the free project management methodology from the European Commission.

To be notified about the release of new updates, you can either email us with ‘Praxis Glossary’ as the subject or simply follow us on Twitter.

 

 

PMBoK® is a registered trade mark of the Project Management Institute Inc.
PRINCE2^TM PRINCE2 Agile^TM and MSP® are registered trade marks of Axelos Ltd.
Praxis® is a registered trade mark of Praxis Framework Ltd.