Q2;
Budget, Schedule, and Quality/Scope are the three important constraints in project management.
These three are also called Triple Contraints. These triple constraints are inter-related, that means a
change in one constraint will have an impact on the other two constraints.
Budget
The budget constraint refer to total amount of financial resources available for completing the
project. This constraint ensures that project is financially feasible.
Schedule
The schedule constraint refer to amount of time available for completion of project. It is very
important constraint as the projects should be completed in time so that there should be no delay in
the project.
Quality/scope
The last quality/scope refers to the quality and scope of the project. The quality constraint is to
ensure that project meets the qualities required by the client. And, Scope ensures that working
teams of the projects should focus on those qualitites required by client.
Example
A company is developing a new software product. The company has a budget of $1 million and a
deadline of 12 months to complete the project. The project team has identified the essential
features and functionality that the product must have in order to meet the customer's expectations.
If the project team decides to add new features or functionality to the product, the scope of the
project will increase. This will likely increase the cost of the project and/or extend the deadline for
completing the project.
If the company decides to reduce the budget for the project, the project team may have to reduce
the scope of the project or reduce the quality of the deliverables. If the company decides to shorten
the deadline for completing the project, the project team may have to increase the budget for the
project or reduce the scope of the project.
Conclusion
The three constraints in project management (budget, schedule, and quality/scope) are
interdependent. A little change is any contraint will effect other both constraints. There is no way to
manage them independently.
Project managers should consider the trade-offs between the three constraints when making
decisions about the project. For example, if the project team decides to add new features to the
product, they must also consider the impact on the budget and schedule.