Every project is characterised by its objectives. The scope of a project is defined by the work to be done, i.e. in our case the specification of the translation or localisation product.
The time objective establishes the start and end dates of the project. In the case of a translation or localisation project, this objective is always determined by the scheduled delivery date.
The cost objective covers the financial considerations associated with the project. There are two types of costs that need considering, namely fixed and variable. The fixed costs do not vary depending on production or sales levels and includes things like rent, property tax, training courses, staff salary, insurance, software licenses or marketing material. Variable costs are those costs specific to each translation project and they vary according to the resources used and the volume - human resources and extra software licences fall under this category. Read more about costs and how they are calculated in a PM software.
Collateral objectives are requirements and conditions that are not project-specific, but nevertheless influence the project considerably: for example non-standard demands from the customer or a temporary shortage of resources (hardware, software, translators, etc.).
The objectives strongly influence each other. Reducing the time variable might result in a rise in the cost variable – less time for the translation might mean more money to be spent for additional translators and/or the use of more efficient tools.