In: Operations Management
1-Explain project management and the role the triple constraints play when managing a project.
2- Describe the two primary diagrams most frequently used in project planning.
3- Explain the three different types of outsourcing along with their benefits and challenges.
Answer1: A project is a temporary set of activities which are undertaken to have a unique service or a product. Thus, to achieve this, the right set of knowledge, tools, skills and techniques are applied to project activities in order to meet project based requirements. Hence, termed as “project management”. The triple constraint plays an important role in managing any project, by assessing the project success based on time, scope and cost of the project. It helps a project manager to comprehend on the resource assignment on the broader aspect.
Answer2: The two primary diagrams which are most frequently used in project planning are a PERT chart and Gantt chart. A PERT chart depicts the tasks and association with in a project including dependency and a critical path. Whereas Gannt chart helps in depicting when each of the project task is expected to be finished, by placing the tasks names on the vertical side and duration on the horizontal side.
Answer3: The three different types of outsourcing are onshore, nearshore and offshore outsourcing. Onshore engages another nation with in the same nation for services. Nearshore performs contract in terms of outsourcing arrangement with a nation to a closest nation. Whereas, offshore utilizes companies from developing nation to develop code and systems. Some of the benefits are, such as greater quality and efficient business processes (e.g.Onshore), reduction in operational cost (e,g,offshore), access to outsourcing service provider expertise (e.g.onshore), lesser time to market and greater flexibility to respond to dynamic market changes (e.g.nearshore). Some of the challenges are , such as difficult to maintain confidentiality, issues in getting to know future requirements (e.g.onshore), difficulty in braking the contract (e.g.offshore), threat to competitive advantage (e.g.near shore).