Project Management: Resources for Determining Cost

One of the hardest parts of project management is constructing the budget.  Determining the cost of a project is not only extremely important to a project’s success, but an accurate cost estimate may be vital to getting the project off the ground initially.  There are numerous resources that can help an instructional designer effectively construct an accurate budget for a project.  Below, I have highlighted two resources that I personally find extremely informative.  Check out the links and let me know how you would use them to plan your next project!

Project Management for Instructional Designers

Amado, M., Ashton, K., Ashton, S., Bostwick, J., Clements, G., Drysdale, J., Francis, J., Harrison, B., Nan, V., Nisse, A., Randall, D., Rino, J., Robinson, J., Snyder, A., Wiley, D., & Anonymous. (DATE). Project Management for Instructional Designers. Retrieved from http://pm4id.org/. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike (BY-NC-SA) license. 
http://pm4id.org/9/1/

This is a free online text book on project management that is specifically directed towards the needs of the instructional designer. The text covers project management from the time you begin profiling a project to the projects closure.  It provides helpful tips and charts for that will help to manage time, communication, and risk.  Although I have found the whole book to be extremely helpful and filled with clear, relatable examples, I found Chapter 9 dealing with costs and procurements to be very insightful.  The chapter goes into detail of how to define estimated costs for a project during the conceptual phase and then move toward a more detailed budget once the project has been approved.  If I were to use this text as a resource to plan a project, I would try to mimic how they break down costs in their cost estimate chart and then roll up, or group costs by type, to give an overall cost analysis.  I feel that the roll-up would be very useful throughout the project to see where the majority of the budget is being spent and to make decisions about how to reallocate spending if necessary.  This is a site that I will be bookmarking for future use as I move on to managing projects in my future endeavors.  

4 Tools for Estimating Costs in the Project Management

Usmani, F. (2014). PM Study Circle. Retrieved from 4 Tools to Estimate Costs in the Project Management: http://pmstudycircle.com/2012/06/4-tools-to-estimate-costs-in-the-project-management/

http://pmstudycircle.com/2012/06/4-tools-to-estimate-costs-in-the-project-management/

This blog post describes four ways of estimating costs when planning a project.  I felt the explanations were clear and easy to understand.  It describes how each type of estimate is computed and compares the types based on accuracy and speed.  I felt that most beneficial part of the blog post was the explanation of a Three-Point Estimate, specifically the Program Evaluation and Review Technique.  I can see how this technique could lead to a more accurate estimate if time was taken to calculate it correctly.  Although it would require more time and money, I feel that the benefit of having a more accurate cost analysis would be worth the extra initial effort.