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The Project Management Triangle (called also the Triple Constraint, Iron Triangle and 'Project Triangle') is a model of the constraints of project management. While its origins are unclear, it has been used since at least the 1950s.^[1] It contends that:

1. The quality of work is constrained by the project's budget, deadlines and scope (features).
2. The project manager can trade between constraints.
3. Changes in one constraint necessitate changes in others to compensate or quality will suffer.

For example, a project can be completed faster by increasing budget or cutting scope. Similarly, increasing scope may require equivalent increases in budget and schedule. Cutting budget without adjusting schedule or scope will lead to lower quality.

In practice, however, trading between constraints is not always possible. For example, throwing money (and people) at a fully staffed project can slow it down.^[2] Moreover, in poorly run projects it is often impossible to improve budget, schedule or scope without adversely affecting quality.

The Project Management Triangle is used to analyze projects.^[3] It is often misused to define success as delivering the required scope, at a reasonable quality, within the established budget and schedule.^[4][5][6] The Project Management Triangle is clearly insufficient as a model of project success because it omits crucial dimensions of success including impact on stakeholders,^[7] learning^[8] and user satisfaction.^[9]

• 3Project management triangle topics
  • 3.1Time
  • 3.2Cost
    • 3.2.1Cost Process Areas

Overview[edit]

The time constraint refers to the amount of time available to complete a project. The cost constraint refers to the budgeted amount available for the project. The scope constraint refers to what must be done to produce the project's end result. These three constraints are often competing constraints: increased scope typically means increased time and increased cost, a tight time constraint could mean increased costs and reduced scope, and a tight budget could mean increased time and reduced scope.

The discipline of project management is about providing the tools and techniques that enable the project team (not just the project manager) to organize their work to meet these constraints.

Another approach to project management is to consider the three constraints as finance, time and human resources. If you need to finish a job in a shorter time, you can throw more people at the problem, which in turn will raise the cost of the project, unless by doing this task quicker we will reduce costs elsewhere in the project by an equal amount.

As a project management graphic aid, a triangle can show time, resources, and technical objective as the sides of a triangle, instead of the corners.^[10] John Storck, a former instructor of the American Management Association's 'Basic Project Management' course, used a pair of triangles called triangle outer and triangle inner to represent the concept that the intent of a project is to complete on or before the allowed time, on or under budget, and to meet or exceed the required scope. The distance between the inner and outer triangles illustrated the hedge or contingency for each of the three elements. Bias could be shown by the distance. His example of a project with a strong time bias was the Alaska pipeline which essentially had to be done on time no matter the cost. After years of development, oil flowed out the end of the pipe within four minutes of schedule. In this illustration, the time side of triangle inner was effectively on top of the triangle outer line. This was true of the technical objective line also. The cost line of triangle inner, however, was outside since the project ran significantly over budget.

James P. Lewis ^[11] suggests that project scope represents the area of the triangle, and can be chosen as a variable to achieve project success. He calls this relationship PCTS (Performance, Cost, Time, Scope), and suggests that a project can pick any three.

The real value of the project triangle is to show the complexity that is present in any project. The plane area of the triangle represents the near infinite variations of priorities that could exist between the three competing values. By acknowledging the limitless variety, possible within the triangle, using this graphic aid can facilitate better project decisions and planning and ensure alignment among team members and the project owners.

STR Model[edit]

The STR model is a mathematical model which views the 'triangle model' as a graphic abstraction of the relationship:

Scope refers to complexity (which can also mean quality). Resources includes humans (workers), financial, and physical. Note that these values are not considered unbounded. For instance, if one baker can make a loaf of bread in an hour in an oven, that doesn't mean ten bakers could make ten loaves in one hour in the same oven (Due to the oven capacity).

Project management triangle topics[edit]

Time[edit]

For analytical purposes, the time required to produce a deliverable is estimated using several techniques. One method is to identify tasks needed to produce the deliverables documented in a work breakdown structure or WBS. The work effort for each task is estimated and those estimates are rolled up into the final deliverable estimate.

The tasks are also prioritized, dependencies between tasks are identified, and this information is documented in a project schedule. The dependencies between the tasks can affect the length of the overall project (dependency constrained), as can the availability of resources (resource constrained). Time is different from all other resources and cost categories.

Using actual cost of previous, similar projects as the basis for estimating the cost of current project.

According to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) the Project Time Management processes include:

1. Plan Schedule Management
2. Define Activities
3. Sequence Activities
4. Estimate Activity Resources
5. Estimate Activity Durations
6. Develop Schedule
7. Control Schedule

Define Activities[edit]

1. Inputs: Management Plan, Scope Baseline, Enterprise environmental factors, Organizational process assets
2. Tools: Decomposition, Rolling Wave Planning, Expert Judgment
3. Outputs: Activity list, Activity attributes, Milestone list

Activity sequencing[edit]

1. Inputs: Project Scope Statement, Activity List, Activity Attributes, Milestones List, Approved change requests
2. Tools: Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM), Arrow Diagramming Method (ADM), Schedule Network templates, dependency degeneration, applying leads and lags
3. Outputs: Project Schedule Network diagrams, Activity List Updates, Activity Attributes updates, Request Changes

Activity resource estimating[edit]

1. Inputs: Enterprise Environmental factoring, Organizational process assets, Activity list, Activity attributes, Resources Availability, Project Management Plan
2. Tools: Expert Judgment Collections, Alternative Analysis, Publishing estimating data, Project management software implementation, Bottom up estimating
3. Outputs: Activity resource requirements, Activity attributes, Resource breakdown structure, resource calendars, request change updates.

Activity duration estimating[edit]

1. Inputs: Enterprise environmental factors, organization process assets, Project scope statement, activity list, activity attributes, activity resource requirements, resource calendars, project management plan, risk register, activity cost estimates
2. Tools: Expert judgment collection, analogous estimating, parametric estimating, Bottom up Estimation, Two-Point estimation, Three-point estimation, reserve analysis
3. Outputs: Activity duration estimates, activity attribute updates and estimates

Schedule development[edit]

1. Inputs: Organizational process assets, Project scope Statement, Activity list, Activity attributes, project Schedule Network diagrams, Activity resource requirements, Resource calendars, Activity duration estimates, project management plan, risk register
2. Tools: Schedule Network Analysis, Critical path method, schedule compression, what if scenario analysis, resources leveling, critical chain method, project management software, applying calendars, adjusting leads and lags, schedule model
3. Outputs: Project schedule, Schedule model data, schedule baseline, resource requirements update, activity attributes, project calendar updates, request changes, project management plan updates, schedule management plan updates

Schedule control[edit]

1. Inputs: Schedule management plan, schedule baseline, performance reports, approved change requests
2. Tools: Progressive elaboration reporting, schedule change control system, performance measurement, project management software, variance, analysis, schedule comparison bar charts
3. Outputs: Schedule model data updates, schedule baseline. performance measurement, requested changes, recommended corrective actions, organizational process assets, activity list updates, activity attribute updates, project management plan updates

Due to the complex nature of the 'Time' process group the project management credential PMI Scheduling Professional (PMI-SP) was created.

Cost[edit]

To develop an approximation of a project cost depends on several variables including: resources, work packages such as labor rates and mitigating or controlling influencing factors that create cost variances. Tools used in cost are, risk management, cost contingency, cost escalation, and indirect costs . But beyond this basic accounting approach to fixed and variable costs, the economic cost that must be considered includes worker skill and productivity which is calculated using various project cost estimate tools. This is important when companies hire temporary or contract employees or outsource work.

Cost Process Areas[edit]

• Cost Estimating is an approximation of the cost of all resources needed to complete activities.
• Cost budgeting aggregating the estimated costs of resources, work packages and activities to establish a cost baseline.
• Cost Control – factors that create cost fluctuation and variance can be influenced and controlled using various cost management tools.

Project Management Cost Estimating Tools^[12][edit]

• Analogous Estimating: Using the cost of similar project to determine the cost of the current project
• Determining Resource Cost rates: The cost of goods and labor by unit gathered through estimates or estimation.
• Bottom Up estimating: Using the lowest level of work package detail and summarizing the cost associated with it. Then rolling it up to a higher level aimed and calculating the entire cost of the project.
• Parametric Estimating: Measuring the statistical relationship between historical data and other variable or flow.
• Vendor Bid Analysis: taking the average of several bids given by vendors for the project.
• Reserve Analysis: Aggregate the cost of each activity on the network path then add a contingency or reserve to the end result of the analysis by a factor determined by the project manager.
• Cost of Quality Analysis: Estimating the cost at the highest quality for each activity.

Project management software can be used to calculate the cost variances for a project.

Scope[edit]

Requirements specified to achieve the end result. The overall definition of what the project is supposed to accomplish, and a specific description of what the end result should be or accomplish. A major component of scope is the quality of the final product. The amount of time put into individual tasks determines the overall quality of the project. Some tasks may require a given amount of time to complete adequately, but given more time could be completed exceptionally. Over the course of a large project, quality can have a significant impact on time and cost (or vice versa).

Together, these three constraints have given rise to the phrase 'On Time, On Spec, On Budget.' In this case, the term 'scope' is substituted with 'spec(ification).'

Evolution of the Project Constraint Model[edit]

Traditionally the Project Constraint Model recognised three key constraints; 'Cost', 'Time' and 'Scope'. These constraints construct a triangle with geometric proportions illustrating the strong interdependent relationship between these factors. If there is a requirement to shift any one of these factors then at least one of the other factors must also be manipulated.^[13]

With mainstream acceptance of the Triangle Model, 'Cost' and 'Time' appear to be represented consistently. 'Scope' however is often used interchangeably given the context of the triangle's illustration or the perception of the respective project. Scope / Goal / Product / Deliverable / Quality are all relatively similar and generic variation examples of this, while the above suggestion of 'People Resources' offers a more specialised interpretation.

This widespread use of variations implies a level of ambiguity carried by the nuance of the third constraint term and of course a level of value in the flexibility of the Triangle Model. This ambiguity allows blurred focus between a project's output and project's process, with the example terms above having potentially different impetus in the two contexts. Both 'Cost' and 'Time' / 'Delivery' represent the top level project's inputs.

The ‘Project Diamond’ model ^[14] engenders this blurred focus through the inclusion of 'Scope' and 'Quality' separately as the ‘third’ constraint. While there is merit in the addition of 'Quality' as a key constraining factor, acknowledging the increasing maturity of project management, this model still lacks clarity between output and process. The Diamond Model does not capture the analogy of the strong interrelation between points of the triangles however.

PMBOK 4.0 offered an evolved model based on the triple constraint with 6 factors to be monitored and managed.^[15] This is illustrated as a 6 pointed Star that maintains the strength of the triangle analogy (two overlaid triangles), while at the same time represents the separation and relationship between project inputs/outputs factors on one triangle and the project processes factors on the other. The star variables are:

1. Triangle
   • Scope
   • Cost
   • Time
2. Triangle
   • Risk
   • Quality
   • Resources

When considering the ambiguity of the third constraint and the suggestions of the 'Project Diamond'; it is possible to consider instead the Goal or Product of the project as the third constraint, being made up of the sub factors 'Scope' and 'Quality'. In terms of a project's output both 'Scope' and 'Quality' can be adjusted resulting in an overall manipulation of the Goal/Product. This interpretation includes the four key factors in the original triangle inputs/outputs form. This can even be incorporated into the PMBOK Star illustrating that 'Quality' in particular may be monitored separately in terms of project outputs and process. Further to this suggestion, the use of term 'Goal' may best represent change initiative outputs, while Product may best represent more tangible outputs.^[16]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^Atkinson, Roger (December 1999). 'Project management: cost, time and quality, two best guesses and a phenomenon, its time to accept other success criteria'. International Journal of Project Management. 17 (6): 337–342. doi:10.1016/S0263-7863(98)00069-6.
2. ^Brooks, Frederick (1995). The mythical man-month (Anniversary ed.). Boston, MA, USA: Addison-Wesley Longman Publishing Co., Inc. ISBN0-201-83595-9.
3. ^Erik Bethke (2003). Game Development and Production. p.65.
4. ^Michael W. Newell, Marina N. Grashina (2004). The Project Management Question and Answer Book. p.8
5. ^Pamela McGhee, Peter McAliney (2007). Painless Project Management. p.74.
6. ^Michael Gentile, Ronald D. Collette, Thomas D. August (2005). The CISO Handbook. p.172
7. ^Ralph, Paul; Kelly, Paul (2014). 'The Dimensions of Software Engineering Success'. Proceedings of the 36th International Conference on Software Engineering. ACM: 24–35. doi:10.1145/2568225.2568261.
8. ^Shenhar, A.; Dvir, Dov (1997). 'Mapping the dimensions of project success'. Project Management Journal. 28 (2): 5–13.
9. ^Delone, William H.; McLean, Ephraim R. (1 April 2003). 'The DeLone and McLean Model of Information Systems Success: A Ten-Year Update'. Journal of Management Information Systems. 19 (4): 9–30. doi:10.1080/07421222.2003.11045748. ISSN0742-1222.
10. ^Carl S. Chatfield, Timothy D. Johnson (2003). Microsoft Office Project 2003 Step by Step: Step by Step. P. 476
11. ^Lewis, James P. (2005). Project Planning, Scheduling & Control, 4E. McGraw Hill. ISBN978-0-07-146037-8.
12. ^PMBOK Third Edition 2004 p.165
13. ^(Chatfield, Carl. 'A short course in project management'. Microsoft.)
14. ^(Brown, Craig. 'It used to be the Iron Triangle'. Better Project.)
15. ^Project Management Institute (2009) A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge: PMBOK Guide. Chapter 1
16. ^Brem (2011) T214 Understanding Complex Systems – TMA02. Q4

External links[edit]

• Media related to Project Management Triangle at Wikimedia Commons

Sample Gift Range Chart for a Fundraising Campaign

What Is a Gift Range Chart?

A gift chart is a planning tool to tell you how many gifts and prospects you will need to raise a specific amount of money.

Gift charts came from the observation that giving is a pyramid. In just about any fundraising campaign, most of the money will come from just a few donors, with the rest donated in more modest amounts but by more people.

Consequently, one can construct a chart that shows how many donors you need for each level of your funding goal.

The chart helps you to see if you have enough potential donors at various levels to meet your goal. In the chart above, the most significant figures are how many donors needed at a particular level, and the number of potential donors required to get that many donations.

Gift charts will be different for various types of fundraising campaigns. For instance, in a capital campaign (where you raise funds for a building, endowment, or other capital expenditure) the chart will likely have more major donors at the top of the chart. You might expect to receive 60 percent of your goal with only 6-8 people.

With an annual campaign, there may be more donors at the middle and lower levels. So you could expect to receive 30 percent of your final goal from 6-8 major donors.

In either case, it's typical to secure major donors first and use the fact that those donors have bought into the project or the campaign to motivate donors from the lower ranges.

Campaign Pyramid Software Timeline

In annual campaigns, charities often use a major gift as a match to motivate donors to give smaller amounts.

You can even use a gift chart for a crowdfunding campaign, but most of the donations will be smaller ones. One source suggests that the average individual donation is more than $80 for campaigns like this, but people who mount fundraising pages for your cause raise on average $500 plus.

Your gift chart for a such a campaign could use your estimates of how many people will respond to your appeal and how many evangelists you're likely to have.

Creating a Gift Chart Is Job Number One for Any Fundraising Campaign

Creating a gift chart should be your first step in determining whether a campaign goal is attainable (or perhaps not ambitious enough!).

Gift charts are NOT created using this math: to raise $100,000 we will need to ask 100 people for $1,000. Instead, they are built like a pyramid — we need one top gift, several major gifts, and many smaller gifts.

Here are six guidelines for creating a gift chart:

1. The lead gift should be at least 15% and maybe up to 25% or more of the goal.
2. Build the chart downwards by cutting the gift size in half and doubling or tripling the number of donors at each level.
3. Round the donation levels up or down to avoid weird numbers.
4. Roughly 80% of your goal will come from 20% of your donors.
5. For each gift, you need three or four qualified prospects (not everyone will say yes to the amount you are seeking). “Qualified” means that you have some reason to believe the person would consider a gift at that level.
6. As you go down the list, you need fewer prospects because people who said no at higher levels may give smaller gifts.

Of course, no campaign ever goes exactly according to the chart.

Campaign Pyramid Software Timesheet

If you have an established donor base, your chart may be heavier at the top with more major gifts. If you are just developing donor programs, your chart will be bottom heavy, with many small donations.

Your next step would be to start putting specific prospect names at each level.

Campaign Pyramid Software Timer

Want an easy way to calculate your gift chart? Visit this handy Gift Range Calculator. Just plug in your target amount and see the results.