Essentials of Cost, Time and Schedule
From Project Concept to Close

Workshop Description :

You have been given the mandate to keep a project on schedule and within budget while managing customer expectations. This three day seminar covers the knowledge and hands-on exercises you need for project selection; developing and optimizing project schedule and cost; techniques for measuring project performance and dealing with cost and schedule overruns; as well as applying lessons learned to future projects.

Prerequisite:

Have a basic understanding of project management concepts; project requirements, stakeholder analysis, work breakdown structure, and responsibility matrix.

You will learn to:

  • Recognize the methods and tools for project selection

  • Choose and use the appropriate tools for estimating time or cost

  • Develop and validate a project schedule

  • Analyze and interpret a project schedule using the Crititical Path Method

  • Choose and use the appropriate tools to monitor and control project progress

  • Detect problem areas in a schedule and determine corrective alternatives

  • Determine a process to manage and document project change

  • Choose the appropriate performance data to communicate to different project stakeholders

Target Audience:

This seminar is for Project Managers, Team Leaders, Team Members, and Program Managers of project teams from a variety of industries who are interested in improving cost and schedule performance and project progress reporting.

Course Outline

Module One-Project Selection

  • Characteristics of an acceptable project selection model (Criteria for project selection models)

  • Limitation, strengths and weakness of project selection models

  • Nonnumeric models (Sacred cow, operating necessity, competitive necessity, comparative benefit analysis)

  • Numeric models (Payback period, average rate of return, net present value, internal rate of return, cost-benefit ratio, and weighted and non weighted scoring)

  • Selecting projects when high levels of uncertainty about outcomes, costs, schedules, or technology are present (analysis under high uncertainty)

Module Two-Time and Cost Estimate

  • Essential background (review of project requirements and WBS)

  • Inputs and criteria for estimating (resource pool, constraints, and capabilities; identify controllable costs)

  • Estimate types and precision (top down vs. bottom up, order of magnitude, budget, definitive)

  • Five estimating methodologies (PERT, Delphi, parametric, analogous, and historical)

  • Contingency and reserve budgets

Module Three-Schedule Type and Methods

  • Types and logic of task relationships

  • Types of networks (AOA, AON)

  • Validate the schedule (redundant relationships, faulty logic, human errors and dangling tasks)

  • Critical Path Method (identify critical path, critical and non critical tasks, slack time)

  • Resource allocation (identify over allocation, loading and leveling)

  • Reduce unnecessary slack time

  • Optimize the schedule (fast tracking, crashing, and choosing from alternatives)

Module Four-Tracking Methods and Levels

  • Essential background (review stakeholder analysis, responsibility matrix, and project communication plan)

  • Establish time and cost baselines

  • Choose tracking method (0% or 100%, complete, 0%-100% complete, linear, and earned value)

  • Process for collecting and distributing actual project data

Module Five-Monitor and Control Project Progress

  • Project reporting (status, progress and forecasting)

  • Project time and cost variance analysis

  • Project trend analysis

  • Project earned value analysis

  • List corrective alternatives and recommend corrective action

  • Detect early warning signals for problem areas and determine causes

  • Analysis project reports to write concise executive summary reports

Module Six-Integrate Change in Plans and Schedules

  • Essential background (Project change process)

  • Review change requests

  • Identify task impacts with impact on time and cost performance

  • Evaluate the benefits and costs of requested changes

  • Identify alternative changes

  • Accept or reject changes

  • Process for executing and controlling changes

  • Documenting and communicating project change

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