Identify Project Constraints

Here's a breakdown of the common types of constraints that impact software projects with limited resources, specifically focusing on the development, selection, and implementation phases:

1. Budgetary Constraints:
   • Development Costs: Insufficient funds can limit the scope of custom development, the ability to hire highly skilled developers, or necessary investments in testing and quality assurance.
   • Licensing Costs: Pre-built software solutions may have substantial licensing fees, restricting the options you can afford.
   • Hardware Costs: Budget limitations may force the use of outdated or less potent hardware, impacting performance and scalability.
   • Training Costs: With limited resources, it may be difficult to allocate proper funds for user training and knowledge transfer, hindering successful adoption of the software.
2. Time Constraints:
   • Tight Deadlines: Accelerated timelines can force compromises in development quality, feature sets, or thorough testing.
   • Limited Availability of Personnel: Small teams may create bottlenecks in specific skillsets, delaying critical tasks or overextending team members.
   • External Dependencies: Delays from third-party vendors or reliance on other systems being ready can disrupt your project's timeline.
3. Human Resource Constraints:
   • Limited Skillsets: Your in-house team might lack expertise in specific technologies or domains required for the ideal solution.
   • Small Team Size: Limited personnel may make it difficult to manage all aspects of development, testing, implementation, and support simultaneously.
   • Availability of Stakeholders: Lack of dedicated time from business stakeholders for feedback, decision-making, and requirements gathering can stall progress
4. Technological Constraints
   • Compatibility with Existing Systems: Budget or time constraints may prevent upgrades to legacy systems, forcing the new software to work within outdated technological limitations.
   • Scalability Concerns: Solutions chosen primarily due to budget may struggle to handle growth in users or data volume.
   • Security Restrictions: Tight security requirements may necessitate specialized solutions or development practices, increasing cost and complexity.
5. Scope Constraints:
   • Prioritization of Features: Limited resources force difficult choices about which features are "must-haves" vs. "nice-to-haves".
   • Reduced User Acceptance Testing (UAT): Smaller-scale testing may let potential usability issues or problems slip through to launch.
   • Compromises in Customization: Off-the-shelf solutions might require adapting business processes rather than tailoring the software perfectly to the existing worklow.

Important Note: These constraints often interact with each other. For example, a limited budget might lead to time constraints, as you may need to choose a faster but less-than-ideal solution.

Identify the constraints affecting the development, selection, and implementation of a software solution knowing that a project has the limited resources. For example, delivery schedules and budgets constrain the time and money allotted for a project. But constraints may come in other forms as well.
Each type of constraint can affect the development process in a different way. For example, poor user involvement can hinder the quality and speed of the project. Technology, the skills and experience of the participants, the tools and programming resources, as well as legal, political, and organizational constraints all influence the progress of a project in unique ways. In short, a constraint restricts your options in one or more phases of the project. This in turn causes other elements of your models to have to compensate for this limitation.

To address a constraint:

1. Identify the phase(s) of the project where a constraint restricts your options.
2. Identify the work products/models affected by the constraint.
3. Adjust the model(s) to compensate for the constraint.

For example:

Constraint	Phase affected	Affected Models
Response time < 3 seconds	Architectural analysis	Performance criteria
Law requires a printed certificate	Project initiation | Problem Analysis	Use Cases | Object Model
Mandated class libraries	Construction	Object Model
Team inexperience with OO	Project initiation	Team Training
Must use 100% pure Java	Architectural analysis Object Design	Language Constraint Object Model

Constraints will appear throughout the project, particularly at project initiation. It is valuable to catalog the constraints as they come up. As the project progresses, keep reviewing your constraint list to be sure that you have addressed each limitation in your models.

Click the Exercise link below to identify whether selected user statements help you identify project context, scope, or constraints.
Project Constraints - Exercise