A joint survey by KPMG, AIPM, and IPMA reveals some eye-opening statistics:
- 70% of organizations struggle to deliver projects on time.
- 64% of businesses fail to stay within the budget.
- 56% of companies cannot meet their original goals and business objectives.
- 54% of projects do not achieve stakeholder satisfaction.
These numbers underscore the importance of identifying project constraints early and developing a robust plan to manage them effectively. By doing so, firms can ensure the successful delivery of projects and boost profitability.
This blog will give you a comprehensive view of all the project constraints and their interrelations, followed by the best ways to overcome them.
But first, let’s start with the definition.
What are Project Constraints?
Project constraints are limitations or restrictions that can impact the success of a project. These constraints define the boundaries within which a project must be delivered. They are usually interconnected, meaning that a change in one constraint will likely affect others.
As per the PMBOK Guide, a constraint is “A limiting factor that affects the execution of a project, program, portfolio or a process.”
For example, if you’re developing an e-commerce website, the scope might include designing five product pages, adding a contact form, integrating e-commerce features, etc. If the scope is expanded mid-project, such as adding more pages or new features, it could affect the time, cost, and resource constraints.
In 1969, Dr. Martin Barnes described scope, time, and cost as the three primary project constraints. He called them the triple constraints of project management. But, with time, project managers have found other limiting factors. Some people even consider that there are as many as 19 project constraints.
However, the PMBOK Guide defines the following six project constraints that can potentially derail any project:
- Scope: The work as defined in the contract or charter
- Time or schedule: The deadlines imposed by the customer
- Budget or cost: The funding limits set by the sponsor
- Quality: The quality standards of the deliverable
- Resources: Shortage of skilled labor
- Risks: Threats that may impact the project
Now that we understand the project constraint definition, let’s discuss each of these project constraints in detail below.
Constraints of Project Management
Let’s begin by exploring the three foundational constraints of project management, commonly referred to as the triple constraints, followed by other constraints:
Scope
The scope of a project defines the specific boundaries, deliverables, and objectives that must be achieved. It outlines what is included and excluded from the project, serving as a roadmap for the team. Poorly defined or uncontrolled scope can lead to scope creep. Therefore, maintaining a clear and agreed-upon scope plan is essential for staying on track and meeting stakeholder expectations.
Time
Time constraints dictate the project schedule, outlining when tasks should be completed. If deadlines are not managed effectively, projects can fall behind schedule, resulting in rushed work and increased stress among team members. This may lead to missed project milestones, lower quality outcomes, and client dissatisfaction.
Cost
Cost constraints encompass the financial resources allocated to a project, including budgets for labor, materials, and overheads. These constraints determine how much can be spent to achieve project objectives and impact decisions throughout the project lifecycle. Effective management of costs is essential to avoid budget overruns and ensure financial feasibility.
Read More: 5 Ways to Reduce Project Management Costs
Quality
Quality constraints focus on the standards and specifications that project deliverables must meet. These constraints ensure that the final product satisfies customer expectations and regulatory requirements. If quality is compromised, it can lead to rework, increased costs, and loss of customer trust. A comprehensive quality management plan ensures that standards are met consistently throughout the project lifecycle.
Resources
Resource constraints involve the availability and allocation of both human and non-human resources needed for project execution. Limited access to skilled personnel, equipment, or materials can hinder progress and impact project quality. A suitable resource management solution helps allocate the right resources to projects, maximize effective utilization, and ensure successful delivery.
Read More: How Can Resource Managers Deal with Different Resource Constraints?
Risks
Risk constraints pertain to uncertainties and potential threats that may impact project outcomes. Failure to address risks can lead to unforeseen issues, escalating costs, and project delays, jeopardizing overall success. A proactive risk management plan enables teams to anticipate and mitigate risks, ensuring smoother project execution.
Now, let’s understand how businesses can mitigate project constraints and ensure a seamless delivery.
How to Manage Project Constraints Effectively?
If you ask any experienced project manager about the most challenging part of their job, the most common response would probably be “managing project constraints throughout the project lifecycle.”
Constraints are integral to projects, but there are steps to manage them efficiently for successful delivery. Here are six effective ways to manage project constraints:
Plan and Strategize Each Phase of the Project
This involves defining clear objectives, deliverables, and timelines while anticipating potential constraints such as scope, budget, and resource limitations. By breaking the project into manageable phases and establishing milestones, teams can ensure they stay on track to meet overall project goals. Comprehensive planning also allows for better allocation of resources, minimizing delays and enhancing productivity.
Read More: How to Create An Effective Project Plan in 9 Simple Steps?
Understand Each Project Constraint Clearly
Managers must understand the nature and impact of each constraint (scope, time, cost, quality, resources, and risk) on the project. By identifying these constraints early on, project managers can prioritize them and assess how they might influence each other. This understanding enables them to make informed decisions, allocate resources more effectively, and develop strategies to mitigate risks associated with these constraints.
Have a Proper Quality Management Technique
Sticking to the project’s timeline, budget, and scope is not enough. The deliverable’s quality must be up to the mark. For that, managers must establish quality benchmarks and quality assurance processes throughout the project lifecycle. Regular quality assessments and audits can help identify any deviations from standards early on, allowing teams to take corrective actions promptly. This reduces the likelihood of rework and enhances stakeholder satisfaction.
Implement an Effective Risk Management Strategy
A robust risk management framework is vital for anticipating and mitigating potential issues impacting project constraints. This involves identifying potential risks, assessing their likelihood and impact, and developing contingency plans to address them. By regularly reviewing and updating the risk management plan, project teams can stay proactive in addressing emerging risks and ensure the project remains on track.
Ensure Transparent Communication in the Team
Transparent communication is a critical factor in successfully managing project constraints. Regular updates, meetings, and open channels for feedback are essential practices that help identify issues early, facilitate quick decision-making, and maintain alignment with project objectives. By cultivating a culture of transparency, teams can build trust, enhance engagement, and respond to challenges more efficiently, ultimately contributing to project success.
Read More: 11 Ways to Improve Cross-Departmental Collaboration
Adopt Flexibility and Agility in the Project Plan
To manage project constraints effectively, adopting flexibility and agility in the project plan is crucial. This involves being open to adjustments in project scope, timelines, and resource allocation as needed. By embracing iterative processes and encouraging team collaboration, project managers can quickly respond to changes, mitigate risks, and ensure alignment with evolving project goals, ultimately leading to successful outcomes.
Now, let’s read how a project resource management tool can help managers mitigate various project constraints.
Role of Resource Management Software in Overcoming Project Constraints
An advanced project resource management solution can help managers identify and mitigate project constraints in the following ways.
Forecasts Future Project Resource Demand in Advance
A project resource management software’s capacity planning feature helps forecast future resource demand well in advance. It provides a real-time capacity vs. demand report that gives insights into resource availability and upcoming project needs.
This allows businesses to identify resource shortages & excesses early and bridge demand gaps. It also enables organizations to prevent last-minute resource scrambling, ensuring the right personnel are in place before the project begins, which leads to timely project delivery.
Read More: What is Resource Capacity Planning? An Ultimate Guide for Every Project Manager
Monitors and Keep Project Financials on Track
Using the tool’s advanced analytics and dashboards, managers can track critical financial indicators for a project like cost, revenue, profit margins, and overheads. This real-time monitoring enables project leaders to make informed decisions based on up-to-date financial data.
For instance, forecast vs. actual cost reports enable you to compare the actual spending against the estimated budget. That way, you can improve future estimations and align them to reality. This helps increase project profitability and enhance revenue generation.
Helps Optimize Resource Utilization Across the Project
An intuitive resource management solution offers forecast vs. actual utilization reports to evaluate the gap in planned versus the actual time spent on work by resources. In case of variance, managers can analyze the root cause and implement corrective actions.
Additionally, the tool offers real-time utilization reports and color-coded heatmaps, enabling managers to assess whether resources are under or overutilized. With this information, they can apply appropriate optimization techniques, ensuring an equitable distribution of workloads.
Read More: What is Resource Utilization? A Complete Guide to Improve Business Efficiency
Provides Real-time Business Intelligence Report
Configurable dashboards and real-time business intelligence reports generated by project resource management software offer invaluable insights into resource performance and project progress. These reports enable project managers to analyze data related to resource allocation, utilization rates, and project timelines instantly.
By having access to up-to-date information, decision-makers can identify potential bottlenecks, make informed adjustments, and proactively manage resources. This enhances project outcomes and ensures alignment with business goals.
Allows to Create an Effective Resource Plan with What-If Analysis
What-if analysis, a powerful feature of resource management solutions, enables you to get the best possible ROI within existing constraints. It allows you to build and simulate multiple scenarios and analyze the impact of resource allocations on essential KPIs such as availability, utilization, project financials, capacity vs. demand, etc.
Based on this analysis, managers can select the best outcome, implement the same on an actual resource plan, and overcome workforce constraints. It also helps prioritize profitable projects based on criteria like budget and timeline.
Read More: What is Resource Planning, and Why is it Important in Project Management?
Let’s read some tips to address the constraints more effectively.
Additional Tips to Address Project Constraints
- Devise a work breakdown structure and list down all the activities hierarchically.
- Create a RBS and assign resources to the tasks and subtasks diligently, making sure that there is a minimum idle time.
- Perform a capacity vs. demand gap analysis to understand the excess/shortage of resources.
- Clearly define project goals and deliverables to avoid scope creep.
- Set a realistic budget and monitor expenses regularly to prevent overspending.
- Develop a practical schedule to ensure timely project delivery.
- Establish quality standards early and conduct regular reviews to meet expectations.
Conclusion
As resources are the key investments of a firm, tapping into their maximum potential is highly important. That’s why resource managers are an integral part of determining project and organizational success.
The primary objective of an RM is to increase an enterprise’s profitability and sustainability by maximizing the potential of the workforce. Therefore, one can become efficient in this profession by understanding the key responsibility areas and refining the above-discussed resource management skills.
The Glossary
Read More: Glossary of Resource Workforce Planning, Scheduling and Management
The SAVIOM Solution
SAVIOM is the market leader in providing the most powerful and configurable solution for managing your enterprise resources effectively and efficiently. With over 20 years of experience, this Australia-based MNC has helped more than 100 clients across 50+ countries address their specific business challenges. SAVIOM also provides tools for enterprise resource management, professional service automation, and workforce planning software. So, SAVIOM can help your business establish an efficient system geared toward your business challenges.
