INTRODUCTION

Triple constraints (time, cost & scope) are the most important factor in project managemen. Controlled triple constraints leads us to a succussful project,while uncontrolled triple constraints has a negative effect on the project.Scope,time,and cost have a very strong connection.If this connection is weak,then the peroject migh fail.Scope management is: processes required to ensure that the project includes all the required work to complete the project succussfuly. Project is technically efforts which provide services and roducts.Successful projects require hard work to be done within a specific time.Time,cost,and time are the primary functions of any project.Well defined triple constraints leads the project to the success.Usually scope,time,and cost of any project being managed by the project managers. triple constraint is likely to be affected as well. For example, if the cost increases, it is logical to assume that the scope and time will increase as well. The same thing happens if the cost decreases, the scope and time will decrease too. It is the job of the project management team to respond to the project risk which is a possible incident or condition which can have a good or bad effect on the project.

In this critical research paper, i have reviewed 15 journals regarding to project scope management. The journals mostly regarding to the scope, time and cost management in conducting a project, particularly the scope change. In this critical journal review, I personally found that this topic is interesting as it allow the readers to understand the relations between time, cost, and scope and how they affect each other. The challenging part of this critical review point out the fact that it is essential to connect the scope,time,and cost simultaneously.

Review

From this journal review, ive fully developed the skill in understanding scope management doesn not only connect to time and cost as when scope affecting time and cost it indirectly affecting the entire project which include the risk management, communication management, quality management, human resources management etc.

Talking about project scope management, it involves in a lots of scope control. The very basic of scope management that ive found in this research paper is that the scope control By controlling the scope change, we will foresee the further action plan in the output result. S.STAUB and M.FISCHER felt that scope, cost and time must be defined in hierarchical system to accurately solve the problems in integrating this elements in project control system. If hierarchical system is used on scope control, how do we define scope change control? Not to mention the concept of triple constraints where scope, time and cost combine to reach the expected quality. It is important to understand that scope doesnt not go after or before time, it goes in line with the time management system in scope change control as well the cost. Another area of this research paper has shown the importance of scope change control against time and cost cost control. The author of this research paper explained the impact of scope creep on project. His idea mainly reflect on the Scope management dose not affect time and cost only,it affects the whole project as well.Scope management defines the direction of any project,and its requirements.Controlling the scope requires a very skilled project manger because scope migh expand ten time their size.This is called Scope creep. Scope Creep: is adding features and functionality to the scope without addressing the effects of it on the project management plan (PMP), project baselines or without customer agreement. Actually its very obvious that scope creep affects the project

time and the cost as well.The author mentioned how scope directely affects time,cost.For example:any change in scope will add more efforts which will increase the budget,and also it might change the project schedule.The author also mentioned what usually cause scope creep the 9 main reasons of scope creep in power plant projects have been identified as Poor change control, Poor cumentation, Poor information transformation, External changes, Internal changes, Unmanaged expectations, Not using scope statement for future decisions, Not using the correct technique for work break down structure (WBS), Not having a scope management plan. Referring to the Project management Insttitute,time is very important to reach your goal .Time management may be aided by a range of skills, tools, and techniques used to manage time when accomplishing specific tasks, projects and goals complying with a due date. This set encompasses a wide scope of activities, and these include planning, allocating, setting goals, delegation, analysis of time spent, monitoring, organizing, scheduling, and prioritizing.Time influences scope and cost as well, the more time you have,the more cost you will have,regardless of the changes in the project environment when the time passes which is very negative point. If two companies competing in the same industry are producing similar products, each company may be pressured to release their product before the other company.this is an example in how time affects any project. To create a successful project, a project manager must consider scope, time, and cost and balance these three often-competing goals. He or she must consider the following: Scope: What work will be done as part of the project? What unique product,service, or result does the customer or sponsor expect from the project? Time: How long should it take to complete the project? What is the projects schedule? Cost: What should it cost to complete the project? What is the projects budget

Managing the triple constraint involves making trade-offs between scope,time, and cost goals for a project. For example, you might need to increase the budget for a project to meet scope and time goals. Alternatively, you might have to reduce the scope of a project to meet time and cost goals. Because projects involve uncertainty and limited resources, it is rare to complete many projects according to the exact scope, time, and cost plans originally predicted. According to the Project Management institute and other sources Experienced project managers know that you must decide which aspect of the triple constraint is most important. If time is most important, you must often change the initial scope and/or cost goals to meet the schedule. If scope goals are most important, you may need to adjust time and/or cost goals. For example, to generate project ideas, suppose the project manager for the information technology collaboration project sent an e-mail survey to all employees, as planned. The initial time and cost estimate may have been one week and $5,000 to collect ideas based on this e-mail survey. Now, suppose the e-mail survey generated only a few good project ideas, and the scope goal was to collect at least thirty good ideas. Should the project team use a different method like focus groups or interviews to collect ideas? Even though it was not in the initial scope, time, or cost estimates, it would really help the project.

Based on the journals that i have reviewed ,quality is also an importat factor in triple constraints. Although the triple constraint describes how the basic elements of a project scope, time, and cost interrelate, other elements can also play significant roles. Referring to the Project management Insttitute,Quality is often a key factor in projects, as is customer or sponsor satisfaction.Some people, in fact, refer to the quadruple constraint of project management,including quality along with scope, time, and cost. Others believe that quality considerations, including customer satisfaction, must be inherent in setting the scope, time, and cost goals of a project. A project team may meet scope, time, and cost goals but fail to meet quality standards or satisfy their sponsor, if

they have not adequately addressed these concerns. For example, Anne Roberts may receive a fifty-page report describing thirty potential information technology projects and hear a presentation on the findings of the report. The project team may have completed the work on time and within the cost constraint, but the quality may have been unacceptable. Annes view of an executive presentation may be very different from the project teams view. The project manager should be communicating with the sponsor throughout the project to make sure the project meets his or her expectations. Cost management process is alos considered an important factor in project management,Because cost management is to the effective cost management, project managers must take responsibility of understanding how basic cost concepts, cost control, budgeting and cost estimate are critical to a successful execution of a project. This project cost management process will help you to:

Identify each of the costs within your project. Ensure that expenses are approved before purchasing. Keep a central record of all costs incurred. Control the overall cost of your project. Communication is among the more important factors for success in project management. Communication is the fuel that keeps the project running smoothly.Communication is like the floor for all projects. Effective communication is important during every phase of the project life cycle. During the initiation/planning phase careful attention needs to be given to detailed project communication planning. As stated in the Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK) from the Project Management Institute, communication planning involves Determining the information and communications needs of the stakeholders: who needs what information, when will they need it, and how will it be given to them. There are several factors to keep in mind during communication planning. The communication requirements of the project need to be given careful consideration. Some other things to be given consideration are the methods of communication to be utilized during

the project. These are the technologies or methods used to transfer information back and forth among project entities. Different forms of communication will need to be utilized for communicating with different types of stakeholders and different occasions. According to the information above,triple constraint is changeanle.Which means,whatever happened to any factor,it will affect the other factors as well.These three elements of a project are known to work in tandem with one another. Where one of these elements is restricted or extended, the other two elements will then also need to be either extended/increased in some way or restricted/reduced in some way. There is a balancing of the three elements that only when fully understood by the Project Manager, allows for the successful planning, resourcing and execution of a project. Project manager is responsible for balancing those three factors.he or she must understand how they affect each other simultaneously.In order to run the project smothly they should have met:

Accurately define process. Define terms related to the project. What will go wrong,WILL go wrong. Define process boundaries explicitly. Right people defining the scope. Define high level interfaces between processes. Conduct a health check on the process interfaces. Realizing that certain aspects of the project still make it too large to manage. The advantage in taking the time to go through all these activities is a more accurately-defined project from the perspective of expectations, reduction in the occurrence of unintended consequences, and the ability to measure not only efficiency but also the effectiveness of the changes made to the process. It also ensures that the real problems are being addressed versus the symptoms of the problems. In addition, it saves a great deal of time in the project due to the elimination of rework or redefinition. Also,

the resources and timeline are more accurate than any process project that skips any of these activities. Finally we should not forget the effect of scop creep on any project. Scope creep can originate from several sources and is a leading cause of project failure when handled poorly. You must take measures to control project embellishment and to ensure that you and your team dont fall victim to its unsavory results deadline delay and budget shortage. The scope control must be started on day one, Every development effort should have a corresponding project plan or project agreement, regardless of the situation. the following guidelines to set yourself up to successfully control the scope of your project(http://www.techrepublic.com): 1. Be sure you thoroughly understand the project vision. Meet with the project drivers and deliver an overview of the project as a whole for their review and comments

2. Understand your priorities and the priorities of the project drivers. Make an ordered list for your review throughout the project duration.

3. Define your deliverables and have them approved by the project drivers. Deliverables should be general descriptions of functionality to be completed during the project.

4. Break the approved deliverables into actual work requirements. The requirements should be as detailed as necessary and can be completed using a simple spreadsheet.

5. Break the project down into major and minor milestones and complete a generous project schedule to be approved by the project drivers. Minor milestones should not span more than a month. Whatever your method for determining task duration, leave room for error.

6. Once a schedule has been created, assign resources and determine your critical path using a PERT Chart or Work Breakdown Structure. Microsoft Project will create this for you.

7. Expect that there will be scope creep. Implement Change Order forms early and educate the project drivers on your processes.

If you can perform all of these steps immediately, great. However, even if you start with just a few, any that youre able to implement will bring you that much closer to avoiding and controlling scope creep. That way, you are in a better position to control your project, instead of your project controlling you.

Conclusion
According to the review and the information that I mentioned above,there is absolute connection between the three factorns in triple constraints.So any changes in scope, will affects cost and time as well.It means any change in one will influence the other. Managing the scop is the project manager job,in order to have a well defined scop,according to Kaz Young the project manager has to be on top of scope issues: 1. Ensure you have formal, written, agreement on the scope of the project - if the scope is 'fuzzy' you'll get stuck in issues of what is in scope and what is out of scope. It helps when you can clearly see that a proposed item is a variation from what is document.

2. Recognize the scope creep - know your specification/requirements. Recognize a variation to the agreed document and highlight it as a project issue.

3. Assess the Impact and determine the options. Assess the time and cost impact of the increase in scope and present this to whomever you need in order to get a decision. Depending upon the level of autonomy the project manager has within the project you may be able to make decisions upon the outcome yourself. Otherwise present the options to the decision makers in a succinct manner to enable them to make an informed decision.

4. Revise the Plan - depending upon the outcome of your discussions you may need to: Remove other functions to accommodate, increase time, increase the resourcing (and associated costs), increase the material costs to accommodate. Whatever your outcome, document it and make sure everyone is clear of the impacts on the project. Revise your plan to reflect the changes.

Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements. Stakeholders are the people involved in or affected by project activities. A framework for project management includes the project stakeholders, project management knowledge areas, and project management tools and techniques. The nine knowledge areas are project integration management, scope, time, cost, quality, human resources, communications, risk, and procurement management. Project portfolio management involves organizing and managing projects as a portfolio of investments that contribute to the entire enterprises success. Studies show that executive support is crucial to project success, as are other factors like user involvement, an experienced project manager, and clear business objectives. Project managers play a key role in helping projects and organizations succeed. They must perform various job duties, possess many skills, and continue to develop skills in project management, general management, and their application area, such as information technology. Soft skills, especially leadership, are particularly important for project managers. I found those journals particulary useful,and it gave me more insight about Scope,time,and cost. Triple constraints are very important factor leading to project success. As discussed above, many leading authors agree with this point of view and are conducting research to substantiate this grounded theory.As a project manager you must control the project scope because its the core of every project. A final quote, attributed to Andy Grove, chairman emeritus of Intel: Individuals, processes and organizations are perfectly designed to achieve whatever results they are currently getting, so if youre not happy with what you are achieving, its time to reconsider your assumptions and approaches to your process and product design methods.

References
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Assignment 1-Critical Review Examners Comments