1 The three constraints in a project management triangle are time, cost and

scope.

Project Management Triangle

1 - Time

A project's activities can either take shorter or longer amount of time to

complete. Completion of tasks depends on a number of factors such as the
number of people working on the project, experience, skills, etc.

Time is a crucial factor which is uncontrollable. On the other hand, failure to

meet the deadlines in a project can create adverse effects. Most often, the
main reason for organizations to fail in terms of time is due to lack of
resources.COST:

It's imperative for both the project manager and the organization to have an estimated
cost when undertaking a project. Budgets will ensure that project is developed or
implemented below a certain cost.
Sometimes, project managers have to allocate additional resources in order to meet
the deadlines with a penalty of additional project costs.

SCOPE:

Scope looks at the outcome of the project undertaken. This consists of a list of
deliverables, which need to be addressed by the project team.
A successful project manager will know to manage both the scope of the project and
any change in scope which impacts time and cost.

What Is a Cost-Benefit Analysis?

A cost-benefit analysis is a process businesses use to analyze decisions. The business
or analyst sums the benefits of a situation or action and then subtracts the costs
associated with taking that action.
Before building a new plant or taking on a new project, prudent managers conduct a
cost-benefit analysis to evaluate all the potential costs and revenues that a company
might generate from the project. The outcome of the analysis will determine whether
the project is financially feasible or if the company should pursue another project. A
cost-benefit analysis will also factor the opportunity cost into the decision-making
process. Opportunity costs are alternative benefits that could have been realized when
choosing one alternative over another.

A Feasibility Study Report (FSR) is a formally documented output of feasibility study

that summarizes results of the analysis and evaluations conducted to review the
proposed solution and investigate project alternatives for the purpose of identifying if
the project is really feasible, cost-effective and profitable. It describes and supports the
most feasible solution applicable to the project.The process to write the report is called
feasibility study reporting. Often it is a responsibility of the project manager to control
such a process. The importance of writing the report consists in providing legal and
technical evidence of the project’s vitality, sustainability and cost-effectiveness. The
reporting process allows the senior management to get the necessary information
required for making key decisions on budgeting and investment planning. A well-written
feasibility study report template lets develop solutions for:Project Analysis because an
example of FSR helps link project efficiency to budgeted costs. Risk Mitigation
because it helps with contingency planning and risk treatment strategy development.
Staff Training because the report can be used by senior management to identify
staffing needs as well as acquire and train necessary specialists.Conducting a
feasibility study is one of the key activities within the project initiation phase. It aims to
analyze and justify the project in terms of technical feasibility, business viability and
cost-effectiveness. The study serves as a way to prove the project’s reasonability and
justify the need for launch. Once the study is done, a feasibility study report (FSR)
should be developed to summarize the activity and state if the particular project is
realistic and practical.

PROJECT CRASHING refers to a particular variety of project schedule compression

which is performed for the purposes of decreasing total period of time (also known as
the total project schedule duration). The diminishing of the project duration typically take
place after a careful and thorough analysis of all possible project duration minimization
alternatives in which any and all methods to attain the maximum schedule duration for
the least additional cost. Crashing the schedule means to throw additional resources to
the critical path without necessarily getting the highest level of efficiency. In crashing,
the critical path can be reviewed and can see which activities can be completed by
adding extra resources. Once those activities are found, the crashing technique will be
applied. Crashing your project will increase the project cost, all critical path tasks that
have the potential to compress the project schedule can be identified.
Before any activity begins related to the work of a project, every project requires an
advanced, accurate time estimate. Without an accurate estimate, no project can be
completed within the budget and the target completion date.Developing an estimate is
a complex task. If the project is large and has many stakeholders, things can be more
complex.Therefore, there have been many initiatives to come up with different
techniques for estimation phase of the project in order to make the estimation more
accurate.PERT (Program Evaluation and Review Technique) is one of the successful
and proven methods among the many other techniques, such as, CPM, Function Point
Counting, Top-Down Estimating, WAVE, etc.
There are three estimation times involved in PERT; Optimistic Time Estimate (TOPT),
Most Likely Time Estimate (TLIKELY), and Pessimistic Time Estimate (TPESS).
In PERT, these three estimate times are derived for each activity. This way, a range of
time is given for each activity with the most probable value, TLIKELY.
Following are further details on each estimate:

1. TOPT

This is the fastest time an activity can be completed. For this, the assumption is made
that all the necessary resources are available and all predecessor activities are
completed as planned.

2. TLIKELY

Most of the times, project managers are asked only to submit one estimate. In that
case, this is the estimate that goes to the upper management.

3. TPESS

This is the maximum time required to complete an activity. In this case, it is assumed
that many things go wrong related to the activity. A lot of rework and resource
unavailability are assumed when this estimation is derived.
Project management can be understood as a systematic way of planning, scheduling,
executing, monitoring, controlling the different aspects of the project, so as to attain the
goal made at the time of project formulation. PERT and CPM are the two network-based
project management techniques, which exhibit the flow and sequence of the activities
and events. Program (Project) Management and Review Technique (PERT) is
appropriate for the projects where the time needed to complete different activities are
not known.

On the other hand, the Critical Path Method or CPM is apt for the projects which are
recurring in nature.The two scheduling methods use a common approach for designing
the network and for ascertaining its critical path. They are used in the successful
completion of a project and hence used in conjunction with each other. There are three
times estimates in PERT, i.e. optimistic time (to), most likely time(tm), pessimistic time
(tp). On the other hand, there is only one estimate in CPM.PERT technique is best
suited for a high precision time estimate, whereas CPM is appropriate for a reasonable
time estimate. Crashing is a compression technique applied to CPM, to shorten the
project duration, along with the least additional cost. The crashing concept is not
applicable to PERT.

AOA – Activity on Arrow: networks show each activity as an arrow, and the nodes represent the starting
and ending points

1.It is composed of arrows and nodes. The arrows represent the activities and nodes
represent the events.

2.Each activity carries a brief description usually printed on the logical diagram, the
activity name or symbol and the time duration.

3.At present, this method seems to be the most popular method and it was the first
method to be introduced, developed and computerized

AON – Activity on Node: networks show each activity as a node and arrows show the immediate
predecessor activities

1.In A-O-N networks, the nodes represent the activities and the arrows, their
interdependencies or precedence relationships.

2.Nodes are usually represented by squares or rectangles, but circles and other
convenient geometrical shapes may also be used.

3.Activity number and description are written within the boxes representing the nodes.
4.Length and direction of the arrows have no significance as they indicate only the
dependency of one activity on another.

The different kinds of costs that make up the whole cost of a project are:

● Direct cost
● Indirect cost
● Fixed cost
● Variable cost
● Sunk cost

Direct cost
Direct costs are those directly linked to doing the work of the project. For example, this could
include hiring specialised contractors, buying software licences or commissioning your new
building.

Indirect cost
These costs are not specifically linked to your project but are the cost of doing business overall.
Examples are heating, lighting, office space rental (unless your project gets its own offices hired
specially), stocking the communal coffee machine and so on.

Fixed cost
Fixed costs are everything that is a one-off charge. These fees are not linked to how long your
project goes on for. So if you need to pay for one-time advertising to secure a specialist software
engineer, or you are paying for a day of Agile consultancy to help you start the project up the best
way, those are fixed costs.

Variable cost
These are the opposite of fixed costs - charges that change with the length of your project. It's
more expensive to pay staff salaries over a 12 month project than a 6 month one. Machine hire over
8 weeks is more than for 3 weeks.

Sunk cost
These are costs that have already been incurred. They could be made up of any of the types of cost
above but the point is that they have happened. The money has gone.
"Sunk cost is a loss which should not play any part in determining the future of the project."
Unfortunately, project sponsors and other senior executives (and even project managers) often
value completion over usefulness and it does take courage to suggest to your sponsor that you
stop a project that has already seen significant investment.

Types of Construction Project Costs – Direct

and Indirect Costs
Any construction project consists of direct and indirect costs which forms the total costs and expenses
resulting from the use of principal components for implementing construction projects.

1. Fixed Cost
This is defined as the cost spent once for a particular point of time. The purchase
of equipment, machinery etc comes under fixed cost assets.

2. Time-Related Cost
Time-related cost is the cost spend for a particular activity for a given duration.
The cost spent on wages, equipment and building rents etc comes under this
category.

3. Quantity -Proportional Cost

This type of cost will vary based on the quantities. Materials costs are examples of
quantity-proportional costs.

Major classification of construction projects costs are:

1. Project direct costs

2. Project Indirect Costs
Total Project Cost =  Project Direct Costs + Project Indirect Costs

Direct Costs of Construction Project

The costs and expenses that are accountable directly on a facility, function or
product are called as direct costs. In construction projects, the direct costs are the
cost incurred on labor, material, equipment etc.

These costs for a construction project are developed as estimates by means of

detailed analysis of the contract activities, construction method, the site
conditions, and resources.
Different direct costs in construction projects are material costs, labor costs,
subcontractor costs, and equipment costs.

Indirect Costs of Construction Project

The costs, unlike direct costs, is not directly accountable for a particular facility,
product or function. Indirect costs can be either variable or fixed.

The main sections coming under indirect costs are personnel costs, security costs,
and administration costs. These costs do not have a direct connection with the
construction project.

The indirect cost can be classified as:

1. Project Overhead Costs
In a construction project, the cost of some of the items cannot be directly
allocated for a specific activity. Most of the site related costs come under this
section and are categorized as project overhead costs.

Project overhead costs can either be fixed or time-related costs. Different costs
coming under overhead costs are the costs of stores, safety facilities, workshops,
offices, staffs and parking facilities. All those plants that are required to support
the working crews will come under this cost.

The overhead cost is estimated by a detailed analysis of the site-related activities

and their cost. Hence an accurate cost estimate is obtained. Most of the
companies make use of forms and checklist developed by them to estimate these
costs. The site overhead costs account for 5 to 15% of the total project costs.

2. General Overhead Costs

The general overhead costs cannot be directly charged for a specific project.
These form the costs that are used to support the overall activities of the
company. The general overhead costs will include the cost of the design
engineers, expenses of head-office, cost of directors and managers, schedulers etc.

The general overhead expense and cost are found reasonable through continuous
monitoring of the company expenses. The general overhead costs account for 2 to
5 % of the contract direct costs.
The amount of the general overhead that should be allocated to a specific project
equals:

ROLES OF CONSTRUCTION MANAGER:

1.Figurehead role- CM is the legal and social head of the project who takes decision about the projects
progress .

2. leadership role - The CM leads the team of skilled and experienced people who collectively strive to
execute

3.liaisoning role - Deals with activities that involve correspondence with government officials,
contractors, vendors, professionals, consultants etc.

4.monitoring role - Plans the approach for performing tasks, implements time, cost and quality planning
and monitors the system to ensure results

5.disseminator’s role -Transmits relevant information from external sources and internal systems to the
concerned people at site

6.spokesperson's role =The sole representative through whom communication to the client or other
external parties happen

7.entrepreneur’s role -Seeks and identifies opportunities to promote improvements and changes in the
worksite

8.Handle disturbances - Maintians harmony by resolving work related disputes, disturbances

9.Resource allocation - Timely allocation of resources to ensure smooth functioning of site