Project Management: Time, Cost and Quality



Project Management: Time, Cost and Quality

Business project management is a practice that combines planning, motivating, organizing and controlling business resources to achieve specific goals outlined in a project. A project is a temporally set of goals drafted by a business with an aim of effecting change or adding value to the business (Iqbal, Azam & Qureshi, 2011). Projects are run concurrently with other business operations. The success of a project is determined by the management of resources allocated and the viability of the idea in the specific market. Unlike other business operations, projects are characterized by limited time and funding. They have well defined start and end with a clearly outlined timeline with each stage having different objectives. Managing a project, therefore, is about being able to balance between time and money in order to achieve the desired outcomes of the project.

The project life cycle involves, initiating the project, planning and designing the project timeline and objectives, executing the project as outlined in the plan, monitoring advancement and controlling the process and eventually closing the project with an analysis. Closing the project involves evaluating the achievements of the project compared to the set objectives at the beginning (Westland, 2007).

Project management, therefore, is involved in managing time available, controlling costs incurred in project implementation and ensuring quality of the project is maintained. This paper is meant to outline different approaches and methodologies used in managing time, costs and quality in a project. The relationship between these three fundamental objectives of every project is essential to project success. The ability to achieve time, cost and quality balance is significant in any project. Project managers strive to achieve this balance at every level of project management. Over the last few decades, cost, time and quality (The Iron Triangle), have become inextricably linked up with evaluating the success of project management (Atkinson, 1999). The aim of this paper is to shed some light on the approaches used in managing time, costs and quality in a project.

Critical discussion of the three primary objectives: Time, Cost, and Quality

Time is an essential part of the project dynamic. Time constraints are brought about by business needs, contractual obligations or other factors in the business environment. As with other resources, time is limited. This means that the faster a project is completed, the better it is for business. Time management is aimed at ensuring that the time allocated for the project is utilized efficiently towards the achievement of the goals outlined. A manager has to ensure that his or her team does not lag behind in implementing the project (Schwalbe, 2008).

Time influences the costs of the project. The relationship between time and costs is direct to some extent. During project planning and design, a timeline is drawn. It indicates the stages of the project. If time is not well managed and a team falls behind schedule, there are corresponding cost increments (Mokhtari, Baradaran Kazemzadeh & Salmasnia, ...