A blog that looks at all aspects of project and program finances from budgets, estimating and accounting to getting a pay rise and managing contracts.
Written by Elizabeth Harrin from RebelsGuideToPM.com.
In the planning stage of the project you are working out all the project costs and building a resource plan against which you can track later.
Your wbs and the project schedule is really important when it comes to understanding your project budget. You need to know how long tasks will take and how much work needs to be performed before you start seeing a return.
During the planning stage you have to work all this out so that you can monitor against it during execution.
You also have to work out the other costs on a project. for example, the cost of the people doing the work in terms of salary or day rates, and other expenses like materials or equmpment.
There might also be a cost associated with procurement.
I’d also plan for risk in here too: you’ll want to know that your risk profile is covered and that you’ve got plans in place, and a budget to fund them, to address your major risks and current issues.
Finally, you’ll be planning for quality and including the cost of prevention, correction and warranty.
I’ve drawn my advice here from this book Project Management Accounting. I recommend it if you’d like to learn more about project financial management.
