Re: project costs

In article <2B90347A-7E07-48F8-A234-152E46801824@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Jackie <Jackie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Hello
I have been asked to cost a project (only people, not materials) - all I
have is a high level plan and the daily rates for the resources. What is the
fastest way to do this? I have looked in the help and I got
confused...unfortunately I havent got much time to read about this...any help
would be much appreciated.
Many thanks

Jackie,
Unfortunately it sounds like you want a quick simple solution to a not
so simple concept. If you have an existing plan with resources, the cost
information is automatically available in the Cost field.

However if all you have is a high level concept plan with no detail,
then all you really have is a top level budget for the plan. The pros
and cons of top down versus bottom up planning has been discussed many
times in this newsgroup. The top down approach may be what management
wants but without the buy-in from the performers at the detail level,
the cost figures in the top down plan are backwards at best and bogus at
worst.

In order to properly cost a top level plan there is no shortcut. The
eventual task performers must help you develop the details necessary to
make the plan viable both from a schedule (time) standpoint and from a
budget (available funds) standpoint. Once the actual performance tasks
are laid in and resources assigned, the plan must be reviewed to see if
it in fact meets the desired end date. If it doesn't or if the resulting
cost is beyond the available budget, then more resources need to be
added (bring in the end date) or the overall scope must be scaled back
because the desired original plan can't realistically be accomplished
with the available funding.

Don't misunderstand me on the need for detail. If you are just trying to
scope out a project for a proposal for example, you may not have the
time to develop all the working details. But, you MUST consult with the
performers who will be doing the eventual work and get honest agreed to
inputs for the plan. And one of the best sources of data for planning
purposes is historical data from a previous project of similar nature.

Hope this helps.
John
Project MVP
.

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