The Use of Task Rates in Monitoring and Evaluating Projects

  Cost Management   Earned Value Management   Estimating   Knowledge Shelf  

The practice of using a rate that relates the cost of a task with the level of work or effort required is similar in many ways to the old system of assessing and quantifying the tasks of construction projects. This system, commonly called “unit price” in some countries, is based on these principles:

1. The tasks deliver a product that is easily measurable and quantifiable. It is possible to assign a unit of work to each simple activity [usually expressed in linear meters (m), square meters (m2), or cubic meters (m3), tones (tons), or in simple units (u), etc.] depending on the product to be delivered.
2. Considering productivity, the performance of the required resources, and the wage or rate to be paid for resources, it is possible to estimate a unit price for every unit of work, usually taking a day as the productive unit of time.
3. To calculate the task duration, the total amount of work and the quantity and quality of the available resources must be considered.
4. The total cost of a project or a task is derived by multiplying the number of units of work times the respective unit price.

On the other hand, the most widely accepted technique used to assess the schedule and the budget of any given project is known as accumulative or earned value. Using this technique, the manager can measure the progress of a project in a specific time frame…

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