Glossary of Project Management Terms – O

Objectives
Predetermined results toward which effort is directed.

Operation Phase
Period when the completed deliverable is used and maintained in service for its intended purpose.

Opportunity
The opposite of a threat. The chance to enhance the project benefits.

Order of Magnitude Estimate
An estimate carried out to give very approximate indication of likely out-turn costs.

Organisation Design
The design that is the most appropriate organisational design for a project.

Organisational Breakdown Structure (OBS)
Hierarchical way in which the organisation may be divided into management levels and groups, for planning and control purposes.

Organisational Planning
The process of identifying, assigning and documenting project responsibilities and relationships.

Original Budget
The initial budget established at or near the time a contract was signed or a project authorised, based on the negotiated contract cost or management’s authorisation.

Original Duration
The duration of activities or groups of activities as recorded in the Baseline Schedule.

Other Direct Costs (ODC)
A group of accounting elements, which can be isolated to specific tasks, other than labour and material. Included in ODC are such items as travel, computer time, and services.

Out-Of-Sequence Progress
Progress that has been reported even though activities that have been deemed predecessors in project logic have not been completed.

Output Format
Information that governs the final appearance of a report or drawing. (Usually refers to computer generated documents).

Outsourcing
Contracting-out, buying in facilities or work (as opposed to using in-house resourcing).

Overall Change Control
Co-ordinating and controlling changes across an entire project.

Overhead
Costs incurred in the operation of a business that cannot be directly related to the individual products or services being produced. See also “Indirect Cost”.

Overrun
Costs incurred in excess of the contract target costs on an incentive type contact or the estimated costs on a fixed fee contract. An overrun is that value of costs, which are needed to complete a project, over that value originally authorised by management.