Project Budgeting & Cost Management

Introduction

Managers and customers expect to get value for money. A significant number of projects have been cancelled or are seen as a failure because they ran too far over budget. This Project Budgeting & Cost Management training course will present the participants with straightforward approaches to developing a cost baseline and setting up a cost tracking system so that the budget is well managed during the project’s life cycle.

This GLOMACS training course will cover:

• The PMI PMBoK global standard for managing projects
• Estimating cost techniques, including the Work Breakdown Structure, Work Packages and risk management considerations
• The S-curves for risk and cost estimates
• Control accounts and change control
• Earned Value Management, performance variances and management recovery options

Objectives

This Project Budgeting & Cost Management training course will provide participants with a proven set of methods, processes, tools and techniques to develop a systematic and dynamic project plan to ensure progressive monitoring control and reporting of project cost.

This training course will enable participants to:

• Understand the benefits of good project cost control for successful project outcomes
• Use best practice to minimise costs and negative impacts
• Describe a typical project cost management life cycle
• Explain the action required at each phase of the project cost management life cycle and understand the significance of each phase
• List the key attributes of cost necessary to understand and manage cost effectively
• Explain the key steps required to improve project estimates, budget and cost baselining, perfomance measurement and analysis, cost monitoring and control during project execution and interpreting and reporting project performance throughout a technical project life cycle
• Specify key quantitative measures for determining the project performance using Earned Value Management (EVM)
• Provide meaningful project progress reports using EVM together with forecasts of likely outcomes and management options to correct where necessary
• Apply this cost management process to a simple case study

Training Methodology

Participants will develop advanced project management performance and control skills and knowledge through formal and interactive learning methods. This Project Budgeting & Cost Management training course includes case studies, group discussion and critical analysis of case material based on a fictional housing construction project.

Although this training course does not assume prior knowledge of the topics covered in the training course, some knowledge of or exposure to project management training will be an advantage. New concepts and tools are introduced gradually to enable delegates to progress from the fundamental to the more advanced concepts of project cost planning, monitoring and control.

Organisational Impact

This training course helps organisations to benefit from:

• Increased organizational maturity due to the application of consistent cost governance procedures with regard to projects
• Increased visibility into sources of cost
• Improved employee skills around the cost implications of determining and scheduling project activities
• Improved control over project outflows through professional budget management techniques
• Improved customer relationships by using project costs to effectively control project implementation

Personal Impact

Participants will benefit from:

• Applying generally accepted practices that apply to diverse projects in multiple industries
• Gaining insights into the power of a project framework to approve and control expenditure
• Project management experience can open up the doors to rapid promotion