The goal of the finance professionals’ Estimating, Budgeting, and Cost Control training course is to give participants the fundamental knowledge and abilities they need to create realistic budgets, estimate costs accurately, and manage and control financial resources throughout a project or business lifecycle.
The basics of cost estimation are taught to participants, along with several cost estimates, cost components (direct, indirect, fixed, and variable), and methods like parametric, analogous, and bottom-up estimating. In order to create reliable and validated cost estimates, the Budgeting course focuses on using work breakdown structures (WBS), historical data, and adjustment factors like inflation and risk contingencies.
The management of project expenses and cash flow is examined in this course.
From financial viability to controlling project cost expectations at the beginning of the project to comprehensive cash flow planning, delegates get an understanding of project cost management. Furthermore, this course describes how cost variations can be found during project execution, forecasted, and used to recommend remedial measures. A project manager may focus on project costs, create a project budget, and utilize it to report and monitor project performance with the help of the widely recognized standard project management techniques presented in the Oxford Training Center.
Objectives and target audience
Objectives
Through structured and interactive learning techniques, participants will gain advanced project management performance and control skills and knowledge. A fictitious house building project serves as the basis for case studies, group discussions, and critical analysis of case material in this budgeting course. While prior understanding of the topics covered in the training course is not required for this course, it will be beneficial to have some familiarity with or exposure to project management training.
- Recognize the advantages of effective project cost control for favorable project results.
- At every stage of the project cost management lifecycle, take the necessary action.
- Create a cost baseline that accounts for all project-related expenses, including unforeseen expenses that are frequently related to project uncertainty.
- Using Earned Value Management (EVM), identify the most important quantitative metrics for assessing the project’s performance.
- Using EVM, provide insightful project progress reports that include management alternatives for correction as needed, as well as predictions of anticipated outcomes.
Target audience
- Senior staff members in charge of project governance, including program managers
- Finance staff members who want to learn more about how project cost data is utilized to manage projects throughout their lifecycle. Participants will learn how cost data affects cash flow planning, detailed budgeting, project selection, financial feasibility, change management, and other processes that use costs to regulate project execution.
- Leaders of project teams and project managers who want to strengthen and expand their project management abilities
- Engineers and project managers who need to improve their project management abilities
- Senior business services and project control specialists are in charge of organizing, overseeing, managing, and reporting on the budget and cost performance of projects.
How will attendees benefit?
Through the use of the skills acquired in this Estimating, Budgeting, and Cost Control training course for finance professionals, you will:
- By using standardized cost governance techniques in project management, you can increase organizational maturity.
- Increase the transparency of expense source identification and management.
- Enhance staff members’ comprehension of the financial effects of project scheduling and activities.
- Use expert budget management strategies to get greater control over project expenses.
- Enhance client interactions by using project cost management to guarantee efficient and well-managed project execution.
- Use well-known project management techniques that are industry-neutral.
- Learn how crucial a well-organized project framework is to efficient approval and control of spending.
- Use your knowledge of project management to increase your chances of getting promoted and advancing in your profession.
Course content
Module 1
A synopsis of project management
Participants will master the globally recognized standard approach to project management in this module. This lesson will go over:
- Definitions of basic project management
- The project management processes of the PMI PMBoK®
- Phases and life cycles of projects
- Common terms used in projects
- Getting ready for success
- The processes of project cost management include cost estimation, budgeting, and cost control.
Module 2
Creating the project schedule and calculating the cost
The creation of a precise Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), on which the work packages rely for precise estimating, is the cornerstone of effective cost control. In this session, we will develop the overall project schedule and discover how each project activity affects the project cost. This lesson will go over:
- Recognizing that project management contributes to cost estimation
- Developing work packages as building blocks for the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
- Estimating methods
- Making the schedule better
- Calculating the project’s total cost
Module 3
Creating the project budget: Calculating the budget
All project managers must create an accurate budget based on the overall resources needed for their project, regardless of how simple or complex it is. Here, participants will learn how to establish the cost baseline and the comprehensive budget required for project control. This lesson will go over:
- Comprehending project management factors in budget determination
- Calculating the cost of employees, supplies, and equipment, including overheads: Aggregation of costs
- Taking into account risk response planning, risk reserves, and the risk management process
- Calculating reserve or contingency costs and risk response costs
- Both the risk and cost S-curves
Module 4
Effectively managing project costs through the use of control accounts
Setting up Control Accounts, the Project Cost Performance Baseline, and the essential procedures for tracking and managing the project budget are all covered in this session. This lesson will go over:
- The Control Account Plan (CAP) and Control Accounts
- Recognizing the Actions Needed to Modify Control Procedures and Re-Establish the Cost Performance Baseline
- Recognizing the Contributions of Project Management to Cost Control
- Determining and Organizing Hours worked on cost tracking