Project Time and Cost Management Training

Project Time & Cost Management Course Outline

• Introduction

  • Identifying key issues in successful scheduling
  • Preparing realistic budgets
  • Building a baseline you can live with

• Identifying the Work

  Creating manageable activities

  • Deriving information from a statement of scope and project constraints
  • Seven rules for determining manageability

  Building a deliverable-oriented Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

  • Defining deliverables
  • Contrasting deliverable orientation with other WBS types

  Translating a WBS into earned value controls

  • Determining required granularity
  • Setting up control account points

• Establishing the Project Sequence

  Defining precedence relationships

  • PMI dependency types
  • Mapping dependencies to relationship types

  Establishing dependencies

  • Leveraging SME experience
  • Putting tasks in order
  • Determining lead and lag times

• Developing Robust Schedule Estimates

  Choosing the right estimating approach

  • Moving from top down to bottom up
  • Employing analogous and parametric techniques

  Working with estimation tools

  • Utilising simple in-house tools and templates
  • Taking advantage of commercially available software

  Dealing with uncertainty

  • Determining a three point estimate
  • Building confidence into your numbers

  Computing the critical path

  • Performing forwards and backwards passes
  • Identifying float/slack time

• Estimating Project Costs

  Activity-Based Costing (ABC)

  • Working with the Cost Breakdown Structure (CBS)
  • Rebuilding the WBS and a CBS using company cost codes

  Categorising costs

  • Determining activity-level direct, indirect and other costs
  • Aggregating tasks up to total individual costs
  • Ratifying the granularity of estimates

  Forming the interim cost baseline

  • Determining the total project costs
  • Managing the team's estimation process
  • Conforming to accuracy requirements

• Validating the Plan

  Creating Gantt charts

  • Establishing the project duration and end date
  • Representing relative durations of activities graphically using a Gantt chart

  Realistic resourcing and resource requirements

  • Building a Resource Breakdown Structure (RBS)
  • Addressing resource constraints

• Recognising Risk

  Quantitatively analysing risk

  • Assessing probability
  • Establishing the monetary value of the impact
  • Prioritising risk using a Pareto analysis

  Allocating contingency budgets and schedules

  • Locating and controlling contingency
  • Developing a mitigation plan

• Baselining Your Plan

  Plans that make sense

  • Declaring and revalidating project value
  • Defending your project plan

  Preparing for Earned Value Management (EVM)

  • Demonstrating variance between planned and actual values
  • Forecasting project outcomes