Introduction
This Project Scheduling & Cost Planning Skills training course focuses on how to deliver comprehensive reliable plans with time and cost estimates that gives the owner or sponsor of projects, high levels of confidence for project delivery. The COVID 19 pandemic has brought many a project to its knees with schedule and cost overruns – but with lessons learned we should, as project professionals, understand that our plans need to be realistic with a full view of any risks faced during and after the project lifecycle.
The decision to proceed with a project is based on early, high level conceptual estimates. However, these can be wide ranging and therefore more detailed estimates need to provide the basis for the cash flow projections and schedule forecasts. Much more attention now is required on how the project work will be achieved, for example at home or on site; and if together, whether teams can work safely with distancing rules.
Course Objectives
- Confidently estimate project timescales and costs with appropriate resource management plans
- Identify, assess and manage schedule, cost, scope and resource risks
- Understand project performance and control
- Measure, forecast and control project performance by employing earned value techniques
- Develop a project recovery plan for budget and schedule overruns
Target Audience
- Those who have a project role such as project managers, cost estimators, project schedulers, project designers, project planner, contract professionals, project procurement and purchasing staff, and project control and business services professionals who have the responsibility for preparing cost/schedule estimates and project proposals in client and contracting companies
- Senior managers who want to understand best practice in project management
- Those who are interested in knowing more about estimation and control in a project environment
Course Outline
Day 1: Project Estimating Basics
- Basic project management definitions
- Triple constraints – Time, Cost, Scope
- Project selection methods
- Defining project scope
- Cost & schedule estimation, cost budgeting & control
- Project schedule management using the critical path method
Day 2: Developing Project Budget & Schedule Control
- Resource requirements
- Direct & indirect project costs
- Planning and scheduling limited resources
- Options for accelerating the schedule
- Crashing the schedule - How?ت
Day 3: Managing the Risk
- Risk identification, analysis & management
- Contingency reserve
- PERT, probability and standard deviation formulae
- Network activity risk profiles
- Application: Estimating project duration
- Project risk strategies
Day 4: Measuring Project Performance
- Critical chain analysis and use of buffers
- Comparison of unbalanced with balanced schedules
- Measuring planned progress on schedule
- Risk distribution in contracting
- Actual progress and work conditions
- Managing variable conditions
Day 5: Managing and Recovering Project Estimates
- Schedule variances & cost variances
- Progress control charts -trend analysis
- Schedule and cost variance forecasting
- Schedule and cost recovery analysis
- Schedule and cost recovery plan
- Project recovery baselines and controls
