Project Perspectives: Relationships between Buyers and Sellers

Different perspectives on a project can be determined depending on where you stand. A project is a complex undertaking that has a beginning and an ending. At the end of a project’s life cycle, the project produces a unique product or service. The project team executes the project. There are both internal and external stakeholders involved.
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PMP training courses provide a detailed description of the project as well as Process Groups. This article will explore different perspectives on projects. The perspectives of project stakeholders can be different depending on whether they are buyers or sellers, customers or suppliers.
Project Perspectives
We will be defining two different perspectives for projects and the documents that go with them. We will also give examples to illustrate these project perspectives. You can take a PMP certification training class to learn more about project perspectives.
Statement of Work for Project (SOW).
The Project Statement of Work is a key document to understand the project’s perspectives. It is also known as SOW. This document is written by the customer or sponsor. It describes their needs, product scope and how the project fits in their strategic plan.
SOW is widely used within the industry. The project statement of work documents the details of the product and service that a company is looking to purchase. Based on the details of the requested service or product, many vendors or suppliers bid or offer to get the project.

Let’s say, for example, that a contractor will outsource bathroom decorations to a vendor. The company specifies what materials will be used, the quality and the timeline requirements. Based on these requirements, many bathroom decorating vendors can offer bids and the company can choose one of them for its project.
This is an example showing how project perspectives can differ between customers and vendors.
Charters with Work Under Contract
Project charters can be thought of as the ID cards for a project. Therefore, all projects should have charters. These charters provide details about the project at a high level. However, depending on the project perspective, there may be different charters for sellers and buyers in a project.
Let’s take a bank project as an example. The seller views the project from the perspective of the customer. They are executing it to make a profit and gain revenue from the bank.

If you look at the project from the perspective of the buyer, which is the bank itself, it could be that they are trying to gain a strategic advantage. For instance, a technological advancement will make their services more competitive. The bank might be trying to become the market leader in the banking industry.
This is why project perspectives can vary from one buyer to another.
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