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 Energy Training Centre 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
This 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 Project Budgeting & Cost Management 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
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.
This Project Budgeting & Cost Management 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
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
- Programme Managers and other Senior Personnel responsible for the governance of projects
- Finance Personnel that are interested in expanding their understanding of how project cost data is used to manage the entire life-cycle of projects.
- Project Managers and Project Team Leaders who wish to build upon and consolidate their project management skills
- Project Planning Engineers and Heads who need to develop their project management skills
- Senior Project Control and Business Services Professionals who have the responsibility for planning, monitoring and controlling, and reporting on project budget and cost performance
- Project Management Professionals
Day One: An Overview of Project Management
In this module the participants will learn the PMI PMBoK® globally accepted standard approach to managing projects. This will provide the context for developing and managing the project budget. This module will cover:
- Basic Project Management Definitions
- The PMI PMBoK® Project Management Processes
- Project Phases and Life Cycles
- Typical Project Terminology
- Setting-up for Success
- The Project Cost Management Processes – estimate costs, determine budget and control costs
Day Two: Developing the Project Schedule – Estimating Cost
The basis for good cost control is the development of an accurate Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) on which the work packages depend for accurate estimation. In this module, we will create the overall project schedule and learn how the project cost is tied to each individual project activity. This module will cover:
- Understanding Project Management Inputs to Estimating Cost
- Creating the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
- Work Packages as Building Blocks
- Estimation Techniques
- Optimising the Schedule
- Estimating the Overall Project Cost
Day Three: Developing the Project Budget – Determining Budget
Whether working on a simple or complex project all project managers need to develop an accurate budget based on the total resources required for their project. Here the participants will learn how to create the detailed budget and the cost baseline necessary for project control. This module will cover:
- Understanding Project Management Inputs to Determining Budget
- Estimating Personnel, Materials and Equipment Costing including Overheads Cost Aggregation
- Considering the Risk Management Process, Risk Response Planning and Risk Reserves
- Estimating Risk Response Costs, and Reserve or Contingency Cost
- The S-Curve for Risk and for Cost
Day Four: Utilising Control Accounts and Effectively Controlling Project Costs
In this module, the participants will learn about setting up Control Accounts, the Project Cost Performance Baseline and the necessary steps to monitoring and controlling the project budget. This module will cover:
- Control Accounts and the Control Account Plan (CAP)
- Understanding What Measures are Required
- Change Control Processes and Re-baselining the Cost Performance Baseline
- Understanding Project Management Inputs to Controlling Costs
- Identifying and Managing Hours Worked
- Tracking Costs
Day Five: Project Performance Measurement, Interpreting and Reporting EVM Results
Whether or not the project manager is familiar with Earned Value Management, it is rapidly becoming the favoured means of tracking project performance. In this module, the participants will learn that for large, complex projects the most accurate way to track progress and performance is through Earned Value Management. Participants will learn about measuring and interpreting EVM results and how to report project status to senior management and customers. This module covers:
- What is Earned Value Management (EVM)?
- What are the main measures used for EVM?
- Analysing Results – variances, performance indices and forecasting
- Interpreting Results and Considering Options to Redress Unacceptable Variances
- Forecasting and Developing Response Plans
- Reporting EVM to Senior Management and Customers