Project managers are primarily responsible for developing and producing project budget estimates as well as allocating resources (Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, Sutton, & Kramer, 2008). A critical part of the project budget is cost estimates, which detail the costs of the resources needed to complete the project tasks (Greer, 2010). After identifying the project tasks, each task in the network diagram should be reviewed according to the resources (people, equipment, and materials needed to complete the task), effort (labor units required, such as staff hours), and duration (the period of time over which the task occurs). Sometimes new project managers can confuse duration and effort. There can also be issues with calculating cost, such as overestimation. These links are intended to help PMs and IDs avoid these issues, as well as enhance their knowledge and understanding of how to complete the aforementioned tasks for projects.
URL: http://www.pmsite.com/Forum/tabid/159/aft/2003/Default.aspx
This link is a message board topic about how the total project cost of the project can be properly distributed to all activities (Tibi, 2012). One of the answerers stated that it is best to build the total cost from the bottom-up. Additionally, there is discussion pertaining to when a top-down method is chosen, involving "lumpsum" resources or an expense item assigned to some of the activities.
URL: http://vandylb6.wordpress.com/2012/11/30/project-schedule-budget-plan-2/
This is a blog that highlights some websites that can help a project manager develop a budget plan (Vandylb, 2012). There is a website developed by the University of Wisconsin provides a template for project management, listing five major steps: conceive, initiate, plan, execute & control, and close. Planning is also divided into a four-stage progression: project kick-off meeting, develop work plan, develop project control plan, and finalize final project plan and gain approvals. Also included is an entry on blog site written by Don Clark pertaining to budgeting for instructional design projects. There is also information about an interesting case study detailing Verizon’s transition to e-learning.
URL: http://www.ukdissertations.com/dissertations/management/cost-management.php
On this blog, cost is described as one of the three pillars supporting project success or failure, along with time and performance (UKDissertations, n.d.). Cost management is described as the process of planning, estimating, coordination, control and reporting of cost-related aspects of the project. There are paragraphs on resource planning, estimating costs, and types of estimating, such as bottom-up estimating, analogous estimating, parametric estimating, design-to-cost estimating. Further information includes tools for analyzing/evaluating cost management, various charts and diagrams that can be used, as well as applying histograms. This site can enable project managers and instructional designers to really understand and help plan a project’s schedule, create a budget, or break down the project’s tasks.
References:
Greer, M. (2010). The project management minimalist: Just enough PM to rock your projects! (Laureate custom ed.). Retrieved February 7, 2013 from https://class.waldenu.edu/bbcswebdav/institution/USW1/201340_02/MS_INDT/EDUC_6145/Syllabus/Syllabus/embedded/pm-minimalist-ver-3-laureate.pdf
Portny, S. E., Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S. M., Sutton, M. M., & Kramer, B. E. (2008). Project management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Tibi (2012). Total Project Cost. Retrieved February 7, 2013 from http://www.pmsite.com/Forum/tabid/159/aft/2003/Default.aspx
UKDissertations (n.d.). Cost Management. Retrieved February 7, 2013 from http://www.ukdissertations.com/dissertations/management/cost-management.php
Vandylb (2012). Project Schedule & Budget Plan. Retrieved February 7, 2013 from http://vandylb6.wordpress.com/2012/11/30/project-schedule-budget-plan-2/
Hey David,
ReplyDeleteThe second link that you posted is a tough read for novices, but cleared itself up by the end. It seems like a forum that has an active community and could be beneficial to someone with amateur level project management experience. There is a lot of information readily available that is more specific, as evidenced by the Project Management Minimalist as well as our text readings this week.
Hello David,
ReplyDeleteThe overestimation of a projects cost can be very disruptive, as you mentioned. That is something I did not consider when writing my own blog entry. In considering it now I can see how over estimating the cost of one project activity can take financing from another area that may be in need. This can lead to big issue with the quality of the content and much more. Good point David.