Cost Estimating & Control
How project costs are estimated, baselined and controlled — estimate classes, contingency, earned value and honest forecasting — for anyone responsible for project money in industrial and energy organisations.
53m
Total time
4
Competency levels
12
Lessons
What you'll learn
- Explain why estimate accuracy improves through the project lifecycle and match estimate classes to their typical accuracy ranges
- Select an appropriate estimating approach — analogous, parametric or bottom-up — for the information available
- Distinguish contingency reserve from management reserve and apply each correctly
- Describe how estimates, contingency and reserves combine into a cost baseline and project budget
- Interpret PV, EV and AC, and read CPI and SPI to judge cost and schedule health
- Forecast cost at completion and report cost status honestly, including bad news, early
Curriculum
Progress through each competency level in order.
1
Awareness
- 2mEstimate classes: from order-of-magnitude to definitiveKnowledge
- 3mThree ways to estimate: analogous, parametric, bottom-upKnowledge
- 7mAwareness check: estimate classes and approachesAssessment
2
Knowledge
- 2mContingency and management reserveKnowledge
- 3mFrom estimate to cost baseline and budgetKnowledge
- 8mKnowledge check: reserves, baseline and budgetAssessment
3
Skill
- 3mEarned value basics: PV, EV, AC, CPI and SPIKnowledge
- 3mBuild a cost baseline and earned value snapshotAssignment
- 8mSkill check: reading earned valueAssessment
4
Mastery
- 3mForecasting at completion and honest cost reportingKnowledge
- 3mCost forecast review and reporting briefAssignment
- 8mMastery assessment: forecasting and cost integrityAssessment
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