| Benefits | A (directly or indirectly) measurable improvement resulting from an outcome perceived as an advantage by one or more stakeholders and that contributes towards one or more organisational strategic objective(s). |
| Benefits management | The identification, definition, monitoring, realisation and optimisation of benefits within and beyond a programme. |
| Benefits profile | Used to define each benefit (and dis-benefit) and provide a detailed understanding of what will be involved and how the benefit will be realised. |
| Benefits realisation manager (BRM) | Supports programme manager by taking the responsibility in benefits identification, mapping and realisation – ensures that necessary business benefits are realised. |
| Benefits realisation plan | Used to monitor realisation of benefits across the programme and set governing controls. |
| Business change manager (BCM) | Responsible for ensuring that the objectives have been sufficiently and accurately defined, managing the transition activities and undertaking and determining whether the intended benefits have been realised. |
| Business partner | Organisations that have a business or financial interest in the outcome of the programme. |
| Clients | Persons using the services of a professional entity or those who are procuring products or services from a professional entity. In legal context, a client may instruct a professional entity to act on the client’s behalf. In the programme sense, this document defines clients as ‘the body or group that procures the services of professionals to initiate and deliver projects or a programme of projects’. |
| Customer | Persons who are paying for a product or a service but not necessarily in the legal context represented by the professional entity. |
| Deliverable | What is to be provided as a result of an initiative or project – typically tangible and measurable. |
| Dis-benefit | A (directly or indirectly) measurable decline resulting from an outcome perceived as a negative by one or more stakeholders that may or may not affect one or more organisational strategic objective(s). |
| Issue | A relevant event that has happened or is likely to happen, wasn’t planned and requires management action. |
| Opportunity | A relevant but uncertain event that can have a favourable impact on objectives or benefits. |
| Outcome | The result of a change. Outcomes are desired when a change is conceived and are achieved as a result of the activities undertaken to reflect the change. |
| Output | The tangible or intangible effect of a planned activity or initiative. |
| Portfolio | A portfolio is a total collection of programmes and stand-alone projects managed by an organisation to achieve strategic objectives. |
| Programme | A programme is a collective of related projects coordinated to achieve desired benefits not possible from managing them as a group of individual projects. |
| Programme brief | Used to assess whether the programme is viable and achievable. |
| Programme communication manager (PrgCM) | Supports the programme manager by managing all internal and external communication channels, developing the programme communications plan and ensuring governance of internal and external communication protocols. |
| Programme delivery plan (PDP) | A detailed description of what the programme will deliver, how and when it will be achieved, financial implications of its delivery and implementation. |
| Programme financial manager (PrgFM) | Deals with complex financial issues including funding arrangements, cash flow and financial governance. Responsible for programme financial plan, budget and financial reporting. |
| Programme financial plan | A financial statement that collects all the costs that have been identified in relation to implementing the programme – often the funding streams are also identified in this document. |
| Programme management board (PrgMB) | A group established to support a programme sponsor in delivering a programme. |
| Programme management office (PMO) | The function providing the information and governance for a programme and its delivery objectives – it can provide support to more than one programme. |
| Programme manager (PrgM) | The role responsible for the setup, management and delivery of a programme – typically allocated to a single individual; for large and complex programmes an organisation can be given this role. |
| Programme mandate | Expansion of the vision statement setting out in greater detail what it is that the programme needs to achieve in terms of the outcomes and what it is that the programme seeks to deliver. |
| Programme monitor | In certain privately funded programmes, a programme monitor (sometimes known as funder/lender/investor’s advisor or monitor) may be appointed, on behalf of the funding entities, to safeguard the interest of the funders. |
| Programme sponsor (PrgS) | The main driving force behind a programme and often is the point of accountability for the delivery. |
| Programme sponsor board (PrgSB) | The driving group behind the programme which provides the investment decision and senior level governance for the rationale and objectives of the programme. |
| Programme timescale plan | An overall delivery time schedule for the programme. |
| Project | A project is a temporary and transient undertaking created to achieve agreed objectives and produce and deliver a product, service or result |
| Risk | An uncertain event or set of events that, if it occurs, has an effect on the achievement of the objectives. A risk is measured by a combination of the probability of a perceived threat or opportunity occurring and the magnitude of its impact on objectives. |
| Stakeholder | Any individual, group or organisation that can affect, be affected by or perceives itself to be affected by a programme. |
| Transition | The changes that need to take place in business as usual, which are aimed to be managed, as project outputs are exploited in order to achieve programme outcomes. |
| Transition plan | The schedule of activities to cover the transition phase of the benefits realisation plan. |
| Vision | A view of a better future that will be delivered by the programme. |
| Vision statement | A business vision for change setting out the intent and the benefits sought. |
The interpretations of the key terminologies are based on the current definitions and usage across a number of industries and current good practice. Some of the interpretations are specific to this document. Further references are includes in the Bibliography.