Cost planning
Contents |
Abstract
Cost planning is essential to the management of projects, programs, and portfolios. It enables businesses to achieve their strategic goals while efficiently allocating resources and minimizing costs. Identifying cost drivers, creating cost estimates, and establishing cost baselines are all parts of the cost planning process [1]. Effective cost planning guarantees that projects, programs, and portfolios are finished on time and within budget, which ultimately improves performance and helps the firm achieve its objectives.
Cost planning in project management establishes the necessary funding and resources to complete the project. Project managers can recognize potential risks and adapt resources by using accurate cost estimates. Resource allocation is improved, cost control is improved, and the success of the project as a whole is ensured by effective cost planning [1].
Cost planning in program management is creating and overseeing budgets for various initiatives within a program. Program managers must strike a balance between the financial requirements of individual projects and the program's overall budget to ensure effective resource allocation to achieve goals. Developing a thorough grasp of project costs and benefits, keeping track of and controlling program expenditures, and revising program budgets are all essential components of effective cost planning [2].
Cost planning in portfolio management evaluates the financial performance of a company's portfolio of projects and programs. It entails weighing the costs and advantages of each project or program, setting priorities based on their financial value, and ensuring that they are in line with strategic goals. Making data-driven decisions for resource allocation and investment optimization, as well as monitoring and controlling costs, are all essential components of effective cost planning (Bourne et al., 2018; PMI, 2017).
Effective cost planning is crucial for project, program, and portfolio management because it enables businesses to maximize resources, cut costs, and accomplish strategic goals.
Introduction
Definition of cost planning
Cost planning is the practice that ensures that a all costs that arise during a project, program or portfolio can be covered by its budget, this is ensured by planning, estimation and control. https://www.projectfacts.com/glossary/cost-planning.html
Importance of cost planning
Cost planning is a critical point in project, program and portfolio management. A practical example of a cost planning project is to take a mid-rise building, the first aspect of a project like this is how much capital can be gathered or is meant to be spent on the project, that is the budget for the project. After a budget is decided it is possible to break it down and show more detailed where the money is to be spent. In this process many important decisions must be decided like if the building will be luxurious or budget, to get a famous designer or have a pre-made design, building material quality and location all must be chosen and fit in the decided budget. If it were not for the budget, it would be hard to make informed decisions about how or what it is to be made, with a well-defined budget it should be easier to see if costs are getting out of hand and some changes may have to be made. This is especially important for large corporations where multiple projects happen at the same time, unexpected costs arise, and assumptions don't follow through. Using cost planning these challenges can be mitigated by allowing project managers to implement practices that set clear expectations for stakeholders. They include limiting scope crepe, keeping track of progress and responding to corrections quickly. With good cost management profit margins are held the same, ROI can be increased and losses due to increased cost are prevented. Good cost planning also provides good data and indication of costs in future projects and price trends. Cost planning is a very important part of project, program and portfolio management due to it ensuring successful project completion on budget while also meeting the projects requirements.
https://www.ecosys.net/knowledge/project-cost-management/
Cost planning in Project, Program and Portfolio management
- what is cost planning in project, program and portfolio management In the context of project, program, and portfolio management, a project is a temporary endeavor with a specific goal or objective, such as building a new product or launching a marketing campaign. A program, on the other hand, is a group of related projects that are managed together to achieve a common goal or objective. A portfolio is a collection of programs and projects that are managed together to achieve strategic objectives. https://graduate.northeastern.edu/resources/project-management-vs-portfolio-management-vs-program-management/#:~:text=A%20program%20is%20a%20group,or%20unrelated%20to%20one%20another The cost of a project, program or a portfolio come in many different forms, for a project the cost appears as material, labor, machinery, equipment, technology, cash, loans and knowledge and more. (A cost based approach P 3) While for the program the costs over multiple projects are summed up to make the cost plan. This then happens again where a portfolio is a collection of programs and the portfolio cost plan consists of the combination of the program costs. From this it is easy to see that the quality of the program cost plan depend on the quality of each of the project cost plans and this applies the same way from portfolio to programs.
Cost planning in Program management
- what is cost planning in project management
- what are the main elements of cost planning
- what are the tools and techniques used
- what are the benefits and qualities of good cost planning
Cost planning in Portfolio management
- what is cost planning in project management
- what are the main elements of cost planning
- what are the tools and techniques used
- what are the benefits and qualities of good cost planning
Attributes of good cost planning
- main tips and tricks for effective cost planning
- common mistakes to avoid
- good strategies
- some examples of good cost planning
- some examples of bad cost planning
Conclusion
References
