Process > Estimating

Construction projects are notoriously complicated. Estimating construction costs is even more complicated. Before you turn to the deck of tarot cards or start reading tea leaves to put together your next cost estimate, check out this cost estimating procedure form to base your estimates solidly in reality.

Use actual accounting data on the performance of your last project to compare how accurate your estimates were versus the real thing. The Actual ROI tool is a quick way to show you how your project performed against the plan and identify areas for improving your estimating skills.

This sample template performs a PERT based estimation for a project when you provide quality estimates. The tool performs all the required calculations (including graphical display of the destribution and probability functions).

Improved deliverable! Is it worth it to implement a particular application package? This assessment will help you estimate the complexity of implementing that package in your business and technical environment.

How much will your project cost? Management will want to know before they commit to it. Use this spreadsheet to estimate your costs, broken down by project phase and classified according to the cost categories that will be most meaningful to the decision makers.

Estimating resources on a project, be it people, equipment or materials, can often be a difficult challenge for a project manager. The purpose of this template is to allow the project manager to identify, document and estimate the specific resource needs of the project along with detailing how those resources will be managed.

What does a finished plan for building an intranet look like? Here's a sample Work Breakdown Structure in PPC Project Engineer format.

Your client will want a good ballpark estimate of how much it will cost to construct his project. This form gives you a quick way to get those costs down on paper.

This list was created to help you estimate how much effort is required to implement and test a change request.

Use this worksheet in conjunction with the "Get Your Project Team Funded" article, which shows a powerful way to quickly estimate the cost of your project team.

This is a detailed Project Charter template for projects of any size. It is full of hints and tips to guide you through the chartering process.

An estimate worksheet is useful not just for you in-house, but for your clients, too. This particular example covers design, engineering, make, assembly, materials, software and additional costs. There is also room for adding in prorated cost adjustment factors.

While this deliverable is aimed primarily at project management offices, it is also useful for stand-alone project managers, too. Use it to estimate how much your project might cost, then build a realistic budget with your estimations.

This standard word processor table can be used to build a simple and powerful project database. As the project progresses, the form evolves from a cost estimate to a final equipment list.

Function points are a measure of the size of a software system. To convert function points into levels of effort, the productivity of the enterprise's development teams must be known or estimated. This three-for-one zipped deliverable includes a document explaining function point analysis, instructions on how to apply a function point analysis and a worksheet set up for an Albrecht function point analysis.

Use this Excel spreadsheet to plan and keep track of your project's human resources (i.e., your project and development teams) across the life of a project. Compare resource-level estimates that you make throughout the project to better understand where you were "off" and how to make better predictions going forward.

The project proposal converts an idea or policy into the details of a potential project, including the outcomes, outputs, major risks, costs, stakeholders and an estimate of the resourcing and time required.

This template will allow you to create multiple scenarios with quick budget estimates for the purposes or discussion and high-level decision-making.

Use this task sheet to help you identify, research, collect and analyze all required client information and data pertinent to the project.

What projects do you need to conduct to fully implement the application package you've selected? Might be a big job -- better assess what and when.

Organize all of your Intranet content, user groups, risks, action items and responsible parties with this comprehensive chart.

Small construction projects are just filled with little details that you need to track. This handy form will help you do just that.

When construction is over, you need to put in some ground cover, greenery and plants so the site doesn't look like a war zone. Use this checklist so your budget won't, either.

Download this worksheet when it comes time to determine your project's costs.

Keep track of vital changes and estimates using this form.

Outline your project's business case for high-level viewing by corporate brass.

Use this form to record project schedule information on small or simple projects.

Use this template to create a cumulative cost curve if you have a good idea of how your costs will be broken out over the life of your project.

IT changes affect a lot of things and people. It's best to keep track of what will happen and when.

Before that brilliant idea can become a proposal for a kick-butt project, it has to go down on paper first. Here's how to do it.