Project Management Parameters are certain characteristics and features that can define a project or its aspects. These parameters (project characteristics) can be expressed in different ways, including qualitative and quantitative terms – strict figures, technical wording, graphs, status etc.
The set of project management parameters includes the following ones:
- Project scope – actual working content that a project embraces;
- Project time – duration of a project, and life-span of its results;
- Project integration – a variety and type of participation and collaboration that a project demands from different concerned groups;
- Project quality – specifications on project efficiency, capabilities and effectiveness of its results;Quality factors apply to inputs (the raw materials for the project), to outputs (what the project produces), to outcomes (the results of the project), and to processes (the means used to achieve the outputs). So in the example of the employment training project, there will be quality factors in the training materials (the inputs), in the delivery of the training (the process), in the number of young people successfully ‘passing’ the training (the outputs), and in the kind of work the young people achieve at the end of the project (the outcomes).
- Quantity – Some projects have no quantity parameters at all; others are very focused on quantity. For example, if the project aim is to design a leaflet informing people about services, then the quantity of leaflets produced is not the most important parameter.However, in the example of employment training for young people, quantity is a key factor. Funders and other stakeholders will have set clear standards for the number of young people receiving the training and the numbers successfully placed in work.
- Project risks – severity and probability of destructive influence that existing negative factors can put on a project execution;
- Project costs – determination of money that a project will most likely consume to be completed;
Every project can be exhaustively defined with a help of these parameters and all of them can be determined before the beginning of any project, as if even one of these parameters stays undefined to the time when you decide to start a project, then you severely risk failing this project.In large organisations, especially in the public sector, it is common for Project Managers to be very vague about the budget for their project. “Finance deals with all of that” is a phrase we often hear at the Centre. However, it is unlikely that financial considerations will not affect your project at all and it is wise, as well as good practice, to get as clear a picture as you can of all the income and expenditure constraints involved with your project.
