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INTRODUCTION 109and funding for the project and helps make major de-
cisions.
A project involves uncertainty.Because every project is
unique, it is sometimes difficult to clearly define the
project’s objectives, estimate how long it will take to
complete, or how much it will cost. This uncertainty
is one of the main reasons project management is so
challenging, especially on projects involving new tech-
nologies.Every project is also constrained in different ways by
its scope, time goals, and cost goals. These limitations are
sometimes referred to in project management as the triple
constraint. To create a successful project, scope, time,
and cost must all be taken into consideration, and it is
the project manager’s duty to balance these three often-
competing goals. Project managers must consider the fol-
lowing:Scope:What is the project trying to accomplish? What
unique product or service does the customer or sponsor
expect from the project? What is and is not included in
the project scope? Who will verify the project scope and
each deliverable?
Time:How long should it take to complete the project?
What is the project’s schedule? Which tasks have de-
pendencies on other tasks? What is driving the project
completion date?
Cost:What should it cost to complete the project? How
will costs be tracked? How will cost variances be han-
dled?Project success is often measured by meeting scope,
time, and cost goals. Note that each area—scope, time,
and cost—has a target at the beginning of the project.
For example, an intranet project might initially involve
six departments, an estimate of one hundred Web pages,
and four internal database applications. The project team
might estimate that developing this new intranet will save
the organization $300,000 within 1 year after implemen-
tation. The initial time estimate for this project might be
9 months, and the cost estimate might be $200,000. These
expectations would provide the targets for the scope, time,
and cost dimensions of the project as well as the organi-
zational benefits.
Project teams do want to meet scope, time, and cost
goals, but they must also focus on satisfying project stake-
holders and supporting organizational objectives. Project
management, therefore, involves several other dimen-
sions or knowledge areas.What Is Project Management?
Project management is “the application of knowledge,
skills, tools, and techniques to project activities in order to
meet project requirements” (PMBOK©R Guide, 2000 Edi-
tion, 2000, p. 4). Project managers must not only strive
to meet specific scope, time, and cost goals of projects,
they must also meet quality goals and facilitate the entire
process to meet the needs and expectations of the people
involved in or affected by project activities.Figure 1: Project management framework.Figure 1 provides a framework for beginning to under-
stand project management. Key elements of this frame-
work include the project stakeholders, project manage-
ment knowledge areas, and project management tools and
techniques.
Stakeholders are the people involved in or affected by
project activities and include the project sponsor, project
team, support staff, customers, users, suppliers, and even
opponents to the project. People’s needs and expectations
are important in the beginning and throughout the life of
a project. Successful project managers work on develop-
ing good relationships with project stakeholders to ensure
their needs and expectations are understood and met.
Knowledge areas describe the key competencies that
project managers must develop. The center of Figure 1
shows the nine knowledge areas of project management.
The four core knowledge areas of project management in-
clude project scope, time, cost, and quality management.
These are considered to be core knowledge areas because
they lead to specific project objectives. Brief descriptions
of each follow.1.Project scope managementinvolves defining and man-
aging all the work required to successfully complete the
project.
2.Project time managementincludes estimating how long
it will take to complete the work, developing an accept-
able project schedule and ensuring timely completion
of the project.
3.Project cost managementconsists of preparing and
managing the budget for the project.
4.Project quality managementensures that the project will
satisfy the stated or implied needs for which it was un-
dertaken.The four facilitating knowledge areas of project man-
agement are human resources, communications, risk, and
procurement management. These are called facilitating
areas because they are the means through which the
project objectives are achieved. Brief descriptions of each
follow.1.Project human resource managementis concerned with
making effective use of the people involved with the
project.
2.Project communications managementinvolves generat-
ing, collecting, disseminating, and storing project in-
formation.