COGS (Manufacturing Company)

COGS (Manufacturing Company)

Beginning Inventory of Finished Goods+ Cost of Goods Manufactured=Finished Goods Available for Sale - Ending Inventory of
Finished Goods=Cost of Goods Sold

Beginning Inventory + COGM - Ending Inventory = Cost of Goods Sold

The formula to calculate the COGM is:

Add: Direct Materials Used

Add: Direct Labor Used

Add: Manufacturing Overhead

Add: Beginning Work in Process (WIP) Inventory

Deduct: Ending Work in Process (WIP) Inventory

= COGM

Gross income is to the amount of revenues that exceed the cost of goods sold
Net Profit is the amount of revenues that exceed the total costs of producing those revenues (total expenses)
A Gantt chart is a useful graphical tool which shows activities or tasks performed against time.

Predecessor is an activity whose start or finish controls start or finish of another activity.
Successor is an activity whose start or finish is controlled by start or finish of another activity.

General Project Management Terms

 

1. Project Plan
A project plan is one of the key formal documents created before starting any project. The document usually
consists of approved cost, schedule, and project scope.  It guides the execution of a project from initiation to
project closure. The project plan also lays the foundation for all kinds of communication among the
stakeholders.

Find the best project planning tools here:

The 19 Best Project Planning Tools of 2021

2. Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

A work breakdown structure comprehensively divides the project deliverables into manageable sections. This
hierarchical organizing of the team’s work helps everyone understand the nature of work better and execute
project goals effectively.
 

3. Critical Path Method (CPM)

CPM is an algorithm particularly used for scheduling project activities. It is used to determine the step-by-
step sequence of activities, which in turn determines the total time of the project. These activities must be
completed according to this set sequence to achieve the project goals.
 

4. Project Manager
The person responsible for handling every aspect of a project from the day it starts till it closes is called
a project manager. The responsibilities of a project manager typically entail powerful planning, smart
resource utilization, and managing the scope of the project.
 

5. Project Stakeholder
Any individual that has a direct or indirect interest in a project is known as a project stakeholder. They usually
affect or are affected by the project decisions being taken over the course of the project lifecycle. A
stakeholder can be anyone from the project team, executives, sponsors, customers, or the end-users.
 

6. Project Portfolio Management

Project portfolio management (PPM) involves collective management of a series of projects to achieve
organizational goals. It allows the teams to visualize the big picture of all projects and maximize the return on
investment.
 

7. Collaboration
The process of actively involving each team member in project activities is called collaboration. The whole
concept demands the development of an interconnected network through which individuals exchange
information and monitor the project performance.
 

8. Agile Project Management

Agile project management is an iterative and incremental approach to delivering projects. The approach
focuses on breaking down the project into small cycles, known as ‘iterations.’ These iterations are then
prioritized in terms of urgency or importance. There are multiple frameworks associated with agile
implementation, Scrum being one of the most popular ones.
 

9. Waterfall Model
Waterfall model is a traditional project management approach to the project lifecycle. The model works in a
similar pattern like a ‘waterfall’. The project development takes place systematically, from one phase to
another in a downward fashion. Each phase has to be completed before moving on to the next phase and
there is no overlapping of the phases, making it difficult to make any amendments.
 
10. Project Budget
Project budget is a formally approved document featuring a comprehensive list of financial resources,
including project expenses, required to complete a project.
 

11. Project Timeline

A project timeline outlines the project events in order of their occurrence. It captures exactly what needs to
be done over the course of the project lifecycle and how it will be done.

Gantt Project Management Terms

 
  Gantt Chart in
nTask
 

Simply put, Gantt charts are used for visualizing the project schedule in the form of a graph. The chart
illustrates what needs to be done at a particular time period during the project lifecycle. The key terms
associated with Gantt charts are:
 

12. Milestone
A milestone represents a major event in a project lifecycle. It is used as a reference point to measure the
progress of a project. Usually represented as diamonds, milestones greatly help with project scheduling and
monitoring.
 

13. Dependencies
Dependencies specify the relationship between project activities and the order in which they are to be
performed. There are 4 kinds of dependencies:
1. Start-to-start – Predecessor task must start before the Successor can start
2. Finish-to-start – Predecessor must finish before Successor can start
3. Start-to-finish – Predecessor must start before Successor can finish
4. Finish-to-finish – Predecessor must finish before Successor can finish
 

Also Read:
The 30 Best Gantt Chart Software for Project Management in 2021

Kanban Project Management Terms

 
 

A popular project management methodology, Kanban uses a virtual pinboard approach to delivering projects.

Utilizing movable cards for showing the project progress overtime is essentially what makes up a Kanban
system. When discussing Kanban, some of the commonly used project management terms are:
 

14. Work in Progress (WIP)

At any point during a project, the number of task items a team is currently working on is called work in
progress. It indicates the capacity of the team’s workflow at any moment.

15. Work in Progress Limit

WIP limit restricts the maximum amount of work that can exist in different stages of a workflow. Limiting
work in progress allows teams to identify bottlenecks faster and focus on single work items better.

16. Bottleneck
A bottleneck is a work stage where the inflow of workload is greater than the capacity of the system,
resulting in hindering the smooth flow of work overtime.

17. Scrum
Scrum is a popular framework utilized for successfully implementing agile. The framework uses the iterative
method of delivering projects and is based upon continuous systematic collaboration among team members
in between the project cycle.
 

18. Sprint
A sprint is a fixed unit of time during which specific tasks has to be completed. Typically, the duration of a
sprint is determined by the Scrum Master (team’s facilitator). During a sprint, daily standups are conducted to
monitor the progress towards sprint goals.

Meeting Project Management Terms

 
 

Professional team meetings are a core component of any project, but there are many meeting terminologies
that a lot of us don’t know about. Some of these commonly used project management terms are:
 

19. Kickoff Meeting

A kickoff meeting is generally the first meeting that occurs between the project team and their client. This
meeting usually occurs after the basic project details have been finalized, but the main project work has not
been started yet. It serves the purpose of reviewing the project expectations and to create alignment
between everyone involved in the project.

20. Meeting Agenda

A meeting agenda is simply a list of all the topics that are to be discussed during a meeting. It may include
detailed topic descriptions, their sequence, and the expected outcomes of each topic.

21. Meeting Minutes

Meeting minutes are written notes of whatever is discussed during a meeting. These minutes can be
circulated among meeting participants after the meeting to gain valuable insights and take appropriate
follow-up actions.
 

22. Stand-up Meeting

A stand-up meeting, also known as the daily Scrum, is a daily short meeting conducted to get an update from
every team member about their work progress. Usually, a stand-up meeting is conducted at the same time
and same place every day.
 

23. Follow Up
A meeting follow-up includes all the activities that are targeted towards collecting feedback from the
meeting participants after a meeting. Sometimes a dedicated follow-up meeting is conducted to serve the
purpose.

Related Article:
31 Best Meeting Management Software
 

Resourcing Project Management Terms

 

One of the most important project management concepts revolves around the term ‘resource’. Out of
numerous terminologies associated with resource management, some are:
 

24. Resource Allocation

Resource allocation involves scheduling and assigning resources for a project in the most efficient way
possible. The purpose of resource allocation is to maximize the use of available resources in a way that
supports the project’s end goals.
 

25. Resource Breakdown Structure

A comprehensive list of resources required to complete a project. This list is usually made according to the
function and resource type, facilitating the planning and control of a project work.

26. Resource Leveling

Resource leveling is the process of adjusting the project schedule in a way that keeps a resource use below a
set limit. It ensures that a resource doesn’t have to work overtime. Resource leveling has an impact on the
project’s critical path.

27. Resource Availability

Resource availability specifies whether a particular resource is available at a given time or not.

28. Resource Calendar

A resource calendar indicates all the working and non-working days a specific resource will be available.

Also Read:
Top 70 Most Inspiring Project Management Quotes of 2021

 
Project Risk Management Terms
 

 Risk Matrix in
nTask
 

Any uncertain event or condition that has a probability of occurrence during a project is typically known as a
project risk. Risks usually have the potential to impact the overall project objectives. Some common project
management terms related to project risk tracking include:
29. Risk Management
In a nutshell, the process of identifying and assessing risks to decrease their negative impact on project
operations is called risk management. During the process, it is made sure that overall project goals are not
affected in any way.
30. Risk Mitigation
A strategy devised to decrease the probability of adverse effects of risk is known as risk mitigation. A
successful risk mitigation strategy focuses on developing actions that reduce possible threats to overall
project objectives.

31. Risk Monitoring and Control

Risk monitoring and control involves tracking of how the risk responses are performing in comparison with
the original risk management plan.

32. Risk Owner

A person responsible for ensuring that a particular risk is managed appropriately is a risk owner. One of core
duties of a risk owner is to make sure that the mitigation strategy is implemented effectively. He can also
sometimes be involved with performing qualitative and quantitative risk analysis.

Issue Management and Bug Tracking Terms

33. Issue Management
The comprehensive process of identifying, resolving, and tracking issues associated with your projects comes
under issue management. The purpose of issue management is to timely resolve the issues before they
become big disasters.

34. Issue Tracking

Issue tracking is the process of identifying a possible bug or error in the product which is affecting its optimal
performance. Most of the time, a professional issue tracking software is kept in place for efficient issue
tracking.
35. Issue Log
A complete record of all the project issues (ongoing and closed), along with the persons responsible for
resolving them is included in an issue log. The document may also include each issue’s status and resolution
deadlines.
36. Issue Types
Issue type defines the particular category of an issue your project is likely to encounter during its lifecycle.
The process makes assigning and tracking issues easy for their timely resolution.

Usually, there are three types of issues your project encounters over its lifetime:

1. Bug – Any problem or issue that affects the functionality of your product

2. Epic – A large chunk of work consisting of multiple issues is called an epic
3. Story – Also known as ‘user stories’ are short feature requests from the perspective of an end-user

 
QA Project Management Terms
Quality of a project refers to a clearly defined set of deliverables by the stakeholders. What exactly do they
want from a project is usually defined in terms of project quality. Common QA project management terms
include:

37. Quality Planning

Quality planning identifies the expected quality standards that are to be met during the project, and creating
systems which ensure these standards are met with effectiveness. In quality planning, it is determined how
vigilant a team needs to be when fulfilling the quality standards.
38. Quality Assurance
Quality Assurance is a set of planned and systematic activities implemented to monitor the project processes
in a way that project quality requirements are fulfilled. Quality assurance is done during the project and
involves regular quality audits.
39. Quality Control
Quality control involves the use of standardized practices to evaluate whether the resulting product of a
project meets quality expectations or not. The process is conducted after the product has been created to
identify any changes that might be required in the quality assurance process.

40. Quality Management Plan

A quality management plan is a detailed plan consisting of stakeholders’ quality expectations, quality
assurance, and quality control policies to successfully execute a project. This plan is usually a part of the
project management plan.This marks the end of our compilation of project management concepts. If you
would like to make any corrections or additions to the list, please don’t hesitate to comment below.
Best Project Planning Tools of 2021
 

In this article, we have compiled a list of extremely effective team management and project planning tools
that you can adopt today to facilitate you to have efficient project planning, and at reasonable or no price at
all. Let’s begin.
 

1. nTask
 
 
Free project planning tools are few and far between.

The top of our list of project planning tools is the nTask  – a free, online project management tool designed
and created for teams, freelancers, and professionals in a host of industries. It offers a simplified interface in
front of highly robust software application that incorporates powerful and sophisticated features to facilitate
project management in all stages.
 

nTask entails a number of features that help you work with teams of all sizes, at all levels especially when it
comes to project initiation and planning. Especially with a transparent and simple to use a channel for
collaboration, nTask helps you set the basis for a successful project development lifecycle.
 

Key Features:
 

Here are some of the powerful features and modules nTask comprises to facilitate project planning:

1. A simplified user interface with access to a wide range of modules.

2. Dedicated task management and project management modules
3. Multiple team-specific workspaces
4. Create, assign, organize, prioritize and share tasks
5. Create and manage tasks independently or assign to a project
6. Create, assign and switch tasks between projects
7. Add comments on tasks and convert comments to tasks and vice versa
 8. Gantt charts to easily monitor project progress
9. Project reports and project timelines for monitoring project flow
10. Meeting management for arranging and keeping updates on meetings and post-meeting task follow-ups. You can set meetings
as one time or scheduled, recurring meetings.
11. Dedicated issue management module to identify and list down potential issues. You can list issues with relevant details such as
the Issue owner and issue status.
12. Dedicated risk management module to help identify and keep track of potential risks along with details such as risk owner and
risk status.
13. Alerts, notifications, and reminders to keep teams on track.
14. Free planning tool
15. Support due dates
16. Has a Free Version
 

Pricing Plan:
 nTask offers Free and Pro pricing plans.
 Paid Plan: nTask plan starts at $1 per month per user with an annual billing plan.
 nTask has it’s very own project planning tools offering
 

 Sign up for the best project management software today, it’s free!

Gantt charts, meeting planner, timesheets and more. Sign up today and organize work like never
before.

 Get Started for Free

 
2. Freedcamp
 

Another one of our recommended project planning tools is Freedcamp. Freedcamp is a cloud-based project
management tool with an efficient collaboration channel that teams and individuals can work with alike.

Freedcamp offers a broad spectrum of features to assist in project planning, team communication and
collaboration, time tracking, and a lot more. It makes use of Kanban boards and facilitates transparent task
management through these boards.
 

Key Features:
1. The key project planning features you can avail from this service include:
2. Creation and management of tasks and subtasks
3. Assign multiple statuses to tasks for task status update
4. Assign tasks to teams
5. Project templates for facilitating similar projects
6. Kanban boards for easy visual access
7. Team milestones and Gantt Charts for project planning and monitoring
8. Messaging and discussion boards for team collaboration
9. Calendar for scheduling tasks and meetings
10. Issue management and time tracking
11. Documentation store and shared file management
12. Pricing Plan:
13. Freedcamp offers free, Lite, Business, and Enterprise Plans.
14. Paid plans start from $ 3.99 per user per month.
15. Supports Due Dates
 

3. Azendoo
 
 

If you are looking for project planning tools that help you with teamwork and project management albeit on a
more reasonable investment, check out Azendoo.
 

With this project planning tool, you can organize tasks, collaborate with teams, and meet project goals
efficiently. It has a simple and easy-to-use interface where you can plan projects, share information, and track
work.

Key Features:
 

Azendoo helps you in effective project planning via the following features:

1. Task management
2. Task Assignment including public tasks
3. Commenting on tasks
4. Task views as Lists, Boards or Calendars
5. Personal tasks lists
6. Convert Email into tasks
7. Project and task templates
8. Report customization
9. Team and personalized discussions
10. Approvals and polls
11. Notifications and reminders
12. Goal priorities and permissions
13. Time Tracking
14. Online project planning tool
15. Free planning tool
16. Supports Due Dates
17. Has a Free Version
 

Pricing Plan:
 Azendoo offers a Starter, Business, and Enterprise plan.
  The paid plan starts with $7.50 per user per month. Starter and Business plans come with a free trial
 

4. MeisterTask
 

 
MeisterTask is one of the best project planning tools for task and project management. It eases team
collaboration and communication as well as makes project management more streamlined for project
managers.

MeisterTask also makes use of Kanban project dashboards, which helps with tasks staying more organized,
easily accessible, and efficiently manageable.

Tools used in project planning are a lot but given the key features it offers; MesiterTask is a good value for
value.

Key Features:
 

Here is a comprehensive list of project planning features you can avail with Meistertask:

1. Kanban Project Boards

2. Customized Dashboards
3. Tasks and sub-tasks management
4. Organizing tasks and prioritization through stars and tags
5. Task Relationships
6. Notes and comments to ease workflow
7. File attachments and information exchange
 8. MeisterTask is a project planning tool used in the management of large projects
9. Free planning tool
10. Supports Due Dates
11. Has a Free Version
 

Pricing Plan:
 Meistertask comes with free, Pro, Business and Enterprise payment plans.
 Paid Plan: Meistertask Pro charges $8.25 per user per month.