Acronyms and Abbreviations - Project Management Knowledge

The following list includes all common acronyms and abbreviations that are used in the world of project management. Terms are linked to definitions where available. Please let me know if you miss an abbreviation or an acronym! I will also extend this list from time to time. However, this list is supposed to include only “pure” project management terms and not industry-specific ones (although I might include some of the software world).

Please note that some of the acronyms might have a different meaning in other contexts so you should take them with a grain of salt if you are not sure about the context. You may want to consult Wikipedia for other meanings.

AC	Actual Cost
ACWP	Actual Cost of Work Performed
AD	Activity Description
ADM	Arrow Diagramming Method
AE	Apportioned Effort
AF	Actual Finish date
AOA	Activity – On – Arrow
AON	Activity – On – Node
AS	Actual Start date
BAC	Budget At Completion
BCWP	Budgeted Cost of Work Performed
BCWS	Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled
BOM	Bill Of Materials
CA	Control Account
CAP	Control Account Plan
CCB	Change Control Board
COQ	Cost Of Quality
CPAF	Cost plus award fee
CPF	Cost-Plus-Fee
CPFF	Cost-Plus-Fixed-Fee
CPI	Cost Performance Index
CPIF	Cost-Plus-Incentive-Fee
CPM	Critical Path Method
CPPC	Cost-Plus-Percentage of Cost
CV	Cost Variance
CWBS	Contract Work Breakdown Structure
DD	Data Date
DU	Duration
DUR	Duration
EAC	Estimate at Completion
EF	Early Finish Date
EMV	Expected Monetary Value
ES	Early Start Date
ETC	Estimate to Complete
EV	Earned Value
EVM	Earned Valued Management
EVT	Earned Valued Technique
FF	Finish-to-Finish
FF	Free Float
FFP	Firm-Fixed-Price
FMEA	Failure Mode and Effect Analysis
FPIF	Fixed-Price-Incentive-Fee
FS	Finish-to-Start
IFB	Invitation for Bid
KPI	Key Performance Indicator
LF	Late Finish date
LOE	Level of Effort
LS	Late Start date
OBS	Organizational Breakdown Structure
OD	Original Duration
PC	Percent Complete
PCT	Percent Complete
PDM	Precedence Diagramming Method
PF	Planned Finish date
PM	Project Management
PM	Project Manager
PMBOK	Project Management Body Of Knowledge
PMIS	Project Management Information System
PMO	Program Management Office
PMO	Project Management Office
PMP	Project Management Professional
PS	Planned Start Date
PSWBS	Project Summary Work Breakdown Structure
PV	Planned Value
QA	Quality Assurance
QC	Quality Control
QFD	Quality Function Deployment
RAM	Responsibility Assignment Matrix
RBS	Resource Breakdown Structure
RBS	Risk Breakdown Structure
RD	Remaining Duration
RFP	Request for Proposal
RFQ	Request for Quotation
SF	Scheduled Finish date
SF	Start-to-Finish
SOW	Statement of Work
SPI	Scheduled Performance Index
SS	Scheduled Start date
SS	Start-to-Start
SV	Schedule Variance
SWAG	Sophisticated Wild Ass Guess
SWOT	Strenths, Weaknees, Oppurtunities, and Threads
TC	Target Completion date
TF	Target Finish date
TF	Total Float
T&M	Time and Material
TQM	Total Quality Management
TS	Target Start date
VE	Value Engineering
WBS	Work Breakdown Structure