Glossary.

A short glossary of the specialist terms used in this book. These are necessarily abbreviated. Anyone working in the sector will know there is more to each of them than I have written here.

APM

The Association for Project Management. A UK-based professional body for project, programme, and portfolio managers, offering the APM PMQ and Chartered Project Professional (ChPP) qualifications.

ChPP

Chartered Project Professional. The APM’s chartered status for senior project, programme, and portfolio practitioners, awarded on evidence of professional competence.

FIDIC

International Federation of Consulting Engineers (Federation Internationale Des Ingenieurs-Conseils). Publishers of a widely used family of international construction and engineering contract forms (the Red, Yellow, Silver, and Gold Books).

Intelligent client function

The internal capability that holds an owner organisation’s accountability for the outcomes of a major programme, regardless of who is delivering it. Comprises sponsor, commercial literacy, technical literacy, performance interrogation, and board governance. Central to Buy and Hybrid paths and necessary on Build paths too.

MSP

Managing Successful Programmes. A widely used programme management framework, with associated practitioner qualifications.

NEC4

The fourth edition of the New Engineering Contract suite, including the Professional Services Contract (PSC) used for engagement of programme management providers. Designed for collaborative, transparent contract administration with active early-warning and compensation-event mechanisms.

Operating model

The structured description of how a function organises itself to deliver its purpose. Includes structure, roles, processes, governance, tools, and the relationships between them.

Owner organisation

A body that commissions major capital programmes, retaining final accountability for outcomes, rather than delivering them on contract for someone else. Often public sector or regulated infrastructure but not exclusively.

P3M3

Portfolio, Programme and Project Management Maturity Model. An assessment framework for organisational capability across portfolio, programme, and project management. Levels run from 1 (initial) to 5 (optimised).

PMO

Project Management Office. An internal function that supports project and programme delivery through standards, tooling, assurance, and reporting. Varies considerably in scope and authority between organisations.

Project Execution Plan

The controlled document setting out how a specific programme will be delivered — scope, organisation, controls, schedule, risk, commercial approach. Often abbreviated PEP.

Programme governance

The decision rights, escalation routes, gates, reporting standards, and risk appetite specific to a major programme. Distinct from operational governance and not interchangeable with it.

Programme management

The discipline of managing a coordinated set of related projects to achieve outcomes beyond what any single project could deliver. Distinct from project management in scope and from portfolio management in granularity.

Sponsor

The senior executive accountable to the board for a programme’s outcomes. Distinct from the Programme Director, who manages delivery. The sponsor’s role includes providing strategic direction, securing resources, removing organisational obstacles, and representing the programme at board level.

Stage / Stages

In the Owner’s Team Methodology, the five distinct phases of the capability cycle: Diagnose, Decide, Design, Mobilise, Sustain. They map to the five chapters of this book.