Project Management Planning

Budgeting
Initial Release
1.0
Date:
January 1997

Overview of Project
Budgeting

Paralleling the development of the schedule is the development of a budget. At

the initial stages of project planning, budgeting is the determination of costs
associated with the defined activities. The steps associated with budgeting are
highly dependent upon both the estimated length of tasks and the resources
assigned to the project.
Initial budgetary estimates are often based on availability of funds. This
parameter may or may not coincide with the actual funds needed to perform the
project. For this reason, budget estimates are refined in the planning process
until they are baselined at project start-up. Budgeting serves as a control
mechanism where actual costs can be compared with and measured to the
budget. The budget is often a fairly set parameter in the execution of the
project. When a schedule begins to slip, cost is proportionally affected. When
project costs begin to escalate, revisit the project plan to determine whether
scope, budget, or schedule needs adjusting.

Identify Cost Factors

To develop the budget, the applicable cost factors associated with the project
tasks are identified. The development of costs for each task should be simple
and direct and consist of labor, material, and other direct costs. Cost of
performing a task is directly related to the personnel assigned to the task, the
duration of the task, and the cost of any non-labor items required by the task.
Budget estimates are obtained from the people responsible for managing the
work efforts. This provides the expertise required to make the estimate and
provides buy-in and accountability during the actual performance of the task.
These team members identify people or labor categories required to perform the
work and multiply the cost of the labor by the number of hours required to
complete the task, as discussed in scheduling. Determining how long the task
performance takes is the single most difficult part of deriving a cost estimate.
The Labor costs should factor in vacation time, sick leave, breaks, meetings ,
and other day-to-day activities. Not including these factors jeopardizes both
scheduling and cost estimates.
In calculating the cost of labor, be certain to burden the costs appropriately for
your organization. Burdened cost typically refers to the overhead and general
expenses associated with an employee. These costs are beyond strict salary
expenses (e.g., office space, benefits, etc.).
Non-labor charges include such items as material costs, reproduction, travel,
cost of capital (if leasing equipment), computer center charges, and equipment
costs.

Project Management Methodology

PM Planning

Budgeting
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Project Management Planning

Budgeting
Initial Release
1.0
Date:
January 1997

Labor and non-labor cost information is entered into a cost estimation system or
spreadsheet, depending upon the complexity of the project. Spreadsheets work
well for projects of small to medium scope. A sample of a budget using a
spreadsheet is shown below.

Create Cost Model

Sample Estimated at Completion Summary

WBS

Activity Description

2.0

DESIGN

2.1

Prepare Preliminary Design

Analysis in Hours

Analysis in Dollars

Res Budget Actual Est to

Est @ Variance
# hours hours Complete Complete (+=More)

Budget Actual
Est to
Est @
Variance
hours hours Complete Complete (+=More)

900

1,150

1,150

250

90,000 115,000

115,000

2.1.1

Develop Enterprise Architecture

400

500

500

100

40,000

50,000

50,000

10,000

2.1.2

Prepare Data Flow Diagrams

300

250

250

(50)

30,000

25,000

25,000

(5,000)

2.1.3

Prepare Logical Data Module

40,000

2.2

Prepare Detailed Design

200

400

400

200

20,000

1,000

640

408

1,048

48

100,000 64,000

25,000

40,000

20,000

40,8000

104,800

4,800

2.2.1

Prepare Physical Data Model

600

600

608

60,000

60,000

800

60,800

800

2.2.2

Prepare Data Dictionary

400

40

400

440

40

40,000

4,000

40,000

44,000

4,000

430

430

430

43,000

43,000

43,000

430

430

43,000

43,000

43,000

1676

5,256

646

167,600

525,600

59,600

2.3
2.3.1
2.4

Document Design

430

Develop Design Specification

Design Review
Total for the Project

10

160
4,820

3,620

466,000 358,000

For large systems, a project management tool is typically preferred for cost
estimation. A Project Estimate Summary worksheet, included at the end of this
section, is another appropriate model for costing and can be useful if completed
prior to entering information into a tool. Tasks included in this sample should
be tailored to specific project cases.
Costs are assigned to the lowest level WBS work package task. These costs are
then combined to determine a sub-task cost. In turn, these are combined to
determine the overall task cost, which can be summed to find the total project
cost.

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PM Planning

Budgeting
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Project Management Planning

Budgeting
Initial Release
1.0
Date:
January 1997

Perform Risk Analysis

Document
Assumptions

Identifying and quantifying project risks is inherently involved with budgeting

any project. Good budgeting practices make allowances for dealing with risks in
one or more of the following ways:

Where significant budgetary risks are identified, add another

WBS task for risk management/risk reduction, where financial
reserves can be set aside to deal with potential budget problems.

Budget for those tasks where risks are inherent. There is no rule
of thumb for this multiplier; it depends on the degree of risk and
the overall importance of the task to the project.

Add a percentage multiplier to the budget where there are risks,

especially if new technology is being used or if the person
providing the estimate is extremely optimistic. Also, technical
staff frequently underestimate the effort required to do any
particular task. This could result in serious budget problems
during implementation.

As with developing a project schedule, documenting assumptions made while

developing the project budget is critical to the success of the project. Without
clear documentation of these assumptions, tracking to the budget is very
difficult and risky.
If, for example, a budget assumed that the material would be acquired at one
price rate and only substantially higher cost material was available to perform
the task, there would be a budget problem. If the assumption is not documented,
the project manager may inadvertently increase project cost unknowingly and
may unwittingly jeopardize chances for the projects success.

Review the Cost

Estimates

Development of project budgets typically require more than one person. Rarely
does a single individual have the knowledge and understanding of all the factors
affecting every aspect of a project. A good process is to have the same people
that reviewed the activity list and schedule, review the budget.
Upon completion of a draft budget, interview the team and determine if the
work descriptions, schedule and associated budgets are complete and accurate.
Determine if there is a common understanding of what it costs to do the tasks.
Get independent estimates. Where there are significant differences, determine
the reasons and either redefine the work packages, schedule, and budgets or
review and reiterate the estimates.

Project Management Methodology

PM Planning

Budgeting
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Project Management Planning

Budgeting
Initial Release
1.0
Date:
January 1997

A large component of the budget is labor costs. Carefully determine that the
reviewer is providing an estimate of the calendar time required to perform the
task based on the actual labor hours needed. The total labor days per phase can
also be checked against the rule of thumb that suggests the following
distribution of development project effort and cost:

40% for planning and design

20% for development

40% for component and system testing

It is extremely important to get buy-in on the budget from the people who will
actually perform the work. Participation results in having a stake in the project's
success and fosters accountability. Imposing budgets on staff without a buy-in
may result in sabotage.

Form:

Project Management Methodology

The project budget is included in the project management plan template as the
Estimate to Complete. The initial project budget is shown in the budgeted
columns and the actual expenditures are compared on a regular basis to the
plan.

PM Planning

Budgeting
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Project Management Planning

Budgeting
Initial Release
1.0
Date:
January 1997

Form: PM 04
Project Estimate Summary Worksheet - Sample
Customer: ________________________________

Prepared by: __________________________________

Project: __________________________________

Date: _________________

Time Units: ________________________

Project Task
1.

Labor
Hour

Labor
Cost

Material
Cost

Travel
Cost

Other
Cost

Total per
Task

Project Design

1.1

Develop Functional
Specifications

1.2

Develop System Architecture

1.3

Develop Preliminary Design

Specification

1.4

Develop Detailed Design

Specifications

1.5

Develop Acceptance Test

Plan

2.

Project Development

2.1

Develop Components

2.2

Procure Hardware

2.3

Development Acceptance
test Package

2.4

Perform Unit/Integration
Test

3.

Install System

4.

Train Users

5.

Perform Acceptance Test

6.

Perform Post Project Review

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PM Planning

Budgeting
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Project Management Planning

Budgeting
Initial Release
1.0
Date:
January 1997

Project Task
7.

Provide Warranty Support

8.

Archive Materials

9.

Project Management

9.1

Customer Progress
Meetings/Reports

9.2

Internal Status
Meetings/Reports

9.3

Third-Party Vendor Interface

9.4

Interface to Other Internal

Organizations

9.5

Configuration Management

9.6

Quality Assurance

Labor
Hour

Labor
Cost

Material
Cost

Travel
Cost

Other
Cost

Total per
Task

Other:

TOTAL (scheduled)
Comments: (List assumptions for costs as appropriate.)

Project Management Methodology

PM Planning

Budgeting
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