Epicflow Glossary: Names of Features and Terms Used in the System

Epicflow is a multi-project and resource management software solution that has quite a few features that contribute to the successful project delivery in a multi-project environment. Many of them have unique names. To avoid confusion and misunderstanding, we’ve decided to compile a glossary to make not only our clients but those who are just curious about our product learn more about Epicflow’s functions.

Further, you will find two sections: the list of Epicflow features and the list of general terms used in the system. Be aware that to be able to use Epicflow, you should have an idea of every term and its definition.

The Names of Epicflow Tools and Their Descriptions

In this section, you’ll find all Epicflow features and functionalities with their definitions.

Bubble Graph

A chart with project and budget views to show project workflow against the background of time and budget constraints, correspondingly.

Budget View

On the Burnup graph, this mode helps project managers determine how much of their planned money was budgeted, scheduled, and burned.

Business Value

The assessment system that evaluates the significance of tasks for business goals.

Burnup Chart

A graph that displays the project team’s progress in terms of completing the project. It demonstrates the amount of work done and left in view of the approved budget.

Capacity View

Allows you to see your team’s maximum amount of output that can be produced. In the Epicflow system, it is measured in man-hours. It shows you the capacity for your groups or resources and designed to help project managers see the actual capacity of the employees in comparison to their load and output.

Dashboard

A panel that displays all projects in the system giving an idea of their current state against the remaining buffer in project and budget views on Bubble graph and Burnup chart.

Epicflow PM Challenge

A game whose goal is to test one’s multi-project management skills and intuition. Try it.

Future Load Graph

A chart that shows the project team load over time by examining a real-time project environment. It is used mainly to predict potential overload and avoid bottlenecks.

Gantt Chart

A graph that shows all projects with their tasks, subtasks, assignees, and milestones on a timeline.

Gantt View

A mode on the Pipeline when projects are displayed on the Gantt chart.

Group Management

A process of gathering resources into groups based on their characteristics and skills and further administering them in terms of resource allocation.

Group Risk Factor

A function of calculating the risk of the discrepancy between the initially estimated time for task accomplishment and the real time spent by the group of people working on the project.

Historical Load Graph

A chart that demonstrates the resource load, capacity, and output changes over time (for a period of time from the past until now).

Infinite Capacity Planning

Functionality that automatically calculates the best possible way of executing tasks taking into account their duration and relations.

Levelling

A feature that sets up task execution sequence depending on the priority and business value.

Manual Planning

A mode that allows a PM to reposition items in a timeline as well as increase or reduce their duration manually for certain purposes. This functionality is created specifically for external communication. It has no effect on prioritization and load graphs.

Material Resources

A type of resources required to deliver a project. Being opposed to human resources, it implies raw materials, tools, and equipment.

Module Library

A tool that stores typical project elements that can be used as templates for many projects by simple copying.

Multigroup

A type of group which allows you to unite groups and create the big one consisting of many smaller groups. Such an approach allows you to use it later for the compound group analysis and control.

Pipeline

Centralized view of all ongoing and inactive projects in the system and their milestones on a timeline. Its main features are projects prioritization, visualization of unfeasible planning, future load control and prediction of impacts of the new changes on other project flows. The middle part shows inactive projects.

Pipeline Filtering

Functionality that allows users to examine specific items on the Pipeline without displaying any other redundant data.

Pipeline Levelling

A means of setting up the sequence of tasks when running multiple projects depending on their priority, business value, and finite capacity of all projects.

Project Card

A collection of all project data, such as name, start date, due date, approved budget, remaining work, total expected work, and remaining budget.

Quick Edit Mode

A feature that allows users to make quick changes in the project structure by using key combinations or graphic interface.

Remaining Weeks

A chart that displays the dynamics of the planned work scope decrease in weeks for each resource or resource group.

Single-Project Levelling

Means to identify the sequence of accomplishing project tasks based on their priorities and/or business value and infinite capacity for this project.

Skill Advisor

Functionality that automatically finds a perfect match of a resource and a task based on the analysis of skills required for task completion and the resources’ skills. It helps to find the best employee to execute a certain task.

Skill Management Feature

A process of adding skills to tasks and resources, and their further administering with the aim to make resource allocation as efficient as possible.

Summary Card

A feature that structures all the information about a certain summary similar to a Task Card.

Task Card

A feature that presents all the information about a certain project task in a single place: task estimates, statuses, assignees, and comments.

Task List

A list of prioritized tasks. It’s used as a guideline of task accomplishment sequence by the team.

Task Management

A process of administering tasks (creating, altering, executing, completing, prioritizing, assigning) as part of a project with the aim to deliver it on time and within budget.

Timesheet

Functionality that provides a detailed overview of the project team output on the historical timeline. It’s a spreadsheet of team members’ performance where they register and correct their hours spent during a certain day for particular tasks.

Timesheet Filtering

Functionality that allows users to examine specific items in the Timesheet without displaying any other redundant data.

UCLT

A special group called “Un-Compressible Lead Time” that gathers tasks with fixed duration that can’t be changed by assigning more resources (e.g., the time required for concrete to become solid).

Unit Pool

A set of equipment required for certain tasks as part of the work on a project. Users can add a unit pool in the system or convert an existing user to it.

What-if Analysis/Simulation

A mode that makes it possible to try any project changes before implementing them in a real-time environment. It’s used to examine the impact of any transformations on the project flow in the future.

General PM Terms Used in Epicflow

This section contains common project management terms, which you come across when using Epicflow.

Advanced Report

A set of tables similar to a database setup. Advanced reports are available only for Pipeline and Gantt chart in the Quick Edit mode.

Advanced Report Export Permission

Conditions upon which a user can export basic and advanced reports.

Availability

The maximum amount of work that an employee is capable of completing in a given period. In Epicflow, it’s measured in FTE.

Baseline

The reference levels against which a project, programme or portfolio is monitored and controlled.

Basic Report

A report that contains the most important data and can be used as a stand-alone table (e.g., tasklist, timesheet, and resource tables).

Basic Report Export Permission

Conditions upon which a user can export only basic reports.

Buffer

Spare time before the end of the project any user can apply if required. Therewith, team members are guiding by the rule “leave the project in a better shape than it was when you started executing your task”.

Buffer Management

A process of consuming buffer to protect a project against uncertainties.

Budget Task

A task type which defines the total amount of man-hours allotted for the task(s), summary or project fulfilment.

Capacity

The percent index of employee’s capacity in a certain group to which he/she belongs.

Cloned Milestone

A milestone that has been copied to another project to enable inter-project relation feature.

Critical Chain

A chain of planned activities with the path to logical end points or to the end of the project.

Current %

The average value of the involvement of the resource in the group’s tasks given its involvement in other groups.

Demand

The expression of the Resources needed to undertake an activity (or standard service).

Demand-Signal

Aggregated approved demand from a demand-side owner (e.g. Project, IDT or Business).

Project Management Plan

A collection of key project information needed by the Project Manager to manage the project.

Full-time Equivalent (FTE)

A unit that indicates the workload of employee in a way that makes workloads or class loads comparable across various contexts. An FTE of 1.0 is equivalent to a full-time worker, while an FTE of 0.5 signals half of full work.

Governance

The framework of authority and accountability that defines and controls the outputs, outcomes and benefits from projects, programmes or portfolios. The mechanism whereby the investing organisation exerts financial and technical control over the deployment of the work and the realisation of value.

Group Capacity

A sum of all employees’ capacity multiplied on their availability in the group.

Group/Project/ Summary/Task/User Tag

A keyword that is used to find a certain item in the system.

Guaranteed %

The minimum mandatory level of involvement of the resource in the group’s tasks.

Issue

An unplanned event that has occurred, will occur or is extremely likely to occur and will have an impact on objectives. A feature that sets up task execution sequence depending on the priority and business value.

Levelling Delay

The difference between the time when a task gets ready to start and the time it was levelled to be initiated.

Man-hour

The amount of work done by an employee in an hour.

Milestone

A specific progress point in the project timeline visible in the pipeline. Milestones add significant value to resource scheduling and help project managers determine where their teams stand in terms of project progress.

Multigroup Capacity

A sum of all groups’ capacity which are a part of Multigroup.

Multi-Project Environment

Conditions upon which there is more than one project to be delivered.

Murphy’s law

A statement of Edward Murphy, according to which “If anything can go wrong, it will”.

Parkinson’s Law

A statement of Cyril Northcote Parkinson according to which “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion”.

Priority Coefficient

A value demonstrating the urgency and importance of a task as compared to others.

Programme

A unique and transient strategic endeavour undertaken to achieve a beneficial change and incorporating a group of related Projects and business-as-usual activities.

Project

A unique, transient endeavour, undertaken to achieve planned objectives, which could be defined in terms of outputs, outcomes or benefits. A project is usually deemed to be a success if it achieves the objectives according to their acceptance criteria, within an agreed timescale and budget.

Project Interdependency

A state in a multi-project environment where a shared resource pool is engaged, when one project task can be blocked by another project task.

Project Lifecycle

A framework comprising a set of distinct stages required to transform an idea into reality in the form of a project.

Resource

A resource is a person, facility, or major item of equipment, that can be used to deliver an activity and whose time needs to be actively managed.

Resource Demand

The formal expression of the resources needed to undertake an approved activity (e.g. business winning, project delivery, IRAD projects, facility maintenance, etc.)

Resource Supply

The provision of a resource to meet demand.

Resource Planning

An aggregate-level medium and long-term planning process which ensures the demand-signals and supply-plans are kept aligned.

Resource Planning

Combined with financial planning and delivered through the quarterly Operational Business Planning (OBP) process, which produces a single robust operational business plan for demand and supply sides for this-FY and next-FY.

Resource Management

The process of agreeing the assignment of specific resources to deliver specific known activities (“today’s work”) and on-going support activities.

Risk

An unpredicted action or event that can lead to either positive or negative consequences.

Schedule

A structured description of a set of time-bounded tasks/actions and the Resources required to achieve a set of defined outputs and benefits.

Scheduling

The process used to determine the overall project or programme duration. This includes identification and structuring of the scope, activities and their logical dependencies, and estimating activity durations, taking into account requirements and availability of resources.

Shared Resource Pool

A group of resources who work for many projects simultaneously in a multi-project environment.

Student Syndrome

A term that is used to denote procrastination. E.g., an employee will most likely start doing the task at the latest moment possible before the deadline believing that they have enough time to accomplish it.