There are many factors that determine the outcome of a project but the six main parameters that can sufficiently define a construction project are size, complexity, quality, productivity, completion time and cost.

·    Size denotes the number of tasks to be executed in a project and each task is measured in terms of quantities of work involved.
·   Complexity is a measure of variety in the nature of tasks to be executed i.s. complexity increases as the number of dissimilar task increase and it decreases if the tasks are repetitive or similar in nature.
·    Quality to be achieved in accomplishing tasks is stated in terms of standard specifications.
·   Productivity, in its broader sense, measures the ratio of planned effort to produce a unit quantity of work divided by the actual effort employed to achieve this unit of work.
·  Completion time depends upon the speed with which the project is to be      executed.
·    Cost is the expenditure which the client has agreed to commit for creating the desired construction facility.

The above six parameters are interdependent and interactive, that is each parameter is a function of the other. For example, consider the effect of repetition on completion time of a project containing 12 tasks of specified quality and cost, with each taking a unit time to execute. If there is no repetition of task, that is, if all the tasks are dissimilar, sequential and are taken one at a time, the earliest completion time for the project would be 12 units. But if four tasks can be repeated, each three times, as shown in Fig. then the earliest completion time would be six units.


With an increase in the repetition of similar tasks, there is an improvement in resource productivity due to the experience gained, which consequently results in reduced overall costs.
The evaluation of interrelationship among the six project parameters is a complicated process. However, in a given project, the scope of work in terms of size, repetition and quality gets specified and these parameters thus can be treated as constants. Productivity standards for each item of resources needed to execute a work in a given time is estimated, and this forms the basis for determining the time and cost of the project. The achievement of the two parameters, that of time and cost, depends upon the effectiveness and efficiency with which the project resources are managed.
The planning and controlling of the project objectives of time and cost and setting up of the resources productivity standards to achieve these objectives, are the most important functions of the project management. The planning and controlling methodology employed for this purpose is loosely called the ‘project management techniques’ .