Project Planning, Scheduling & Cost Control
Core Business Skills for managers, executives and professionals
Duration
5 Days
Format
Classroom &Online
Fee From
$2,950
Scheduled Dates
No sessions of this type are scheduled.
Introduction
- Project planning principles and the work breakdown structure
- Critical path scheduling, float and schedule compression
- Resource planning, loading and levelling
- Cost estimating, budgeting and baselines
- Earned value management, forecasting and project recovery
Objectives
- Develop a work breakdown structure and integrated project plan
- Build critical path schedules and analyse float
- Estimate durations, resources and costs using recognised techniques
- Plan, load and level resources across the schedule
- Establish and maintain schedule and cost baselines
- Measure performance and forecast outcomes using earned value
- Identify schedule and cost risks and recover projects that are off track
Training Methodology
Organisational Impact
- More realistic project plans, schedules and budgets
- Earlier warning of delays and cost overruns
- Consistent planning and cost control standards across projects
- Better use of resources across the project portfolio
- More reliable forecasts for management and clients
- Fewer disputes and claims caused by schedule and cost problems
Personal Impact
- Build and maintain professional project schedules
- Prepare credible estimates and budgets
- Use earned value to measure performance objectively
- Forecast completion dates and final costs with confidence
- Report schedule and cost status clearly to stakeholders
- Strengthen your profile for planning, controls and project management roles
Who Should Attend?
- Project managers and project engineers
- Planners, schedulers and project controls professionals
- Cost engineers, cost controllers and quantity surveyors
- Project management office (PMO) staff
- Engineering, construction and maintenance managers
- Finance professionals supporting project budgets
- Contract and commercial managers
- Professionals moving into project planning and controls roles
Course Outline
- The role of planning and project controls
- Project objectives, scope and constraints
- Building the work breakdown structure
- Organizational breakdown structure and the responsibility matrix
- Planning levels and the integrated project plan
- Practical exercise: developing a work breakdown structure
- Activity definition and sequencing
- Estimating activity durations
- Critical path method, float and logic relationships
- Gantt charts, milestones and schedule presentation
- Schedule compression: crashing and fast-tracking
- Practical exercise: building a critical path schedule
- Resource planning, loading and histograms
- Resource levelling and smoothing
- Cost estimating methods: analogous, parametric and bottom-up
- Contingency, management reserve and estimate accuracy
- Building the project budget and cost baseline
- Practical exercise: resource-loaded cost estimate
- Establishing the performance measurement baseline
- Progress measurement and status updates
- Earned value management: PV, EV and AC
- Variance analysis and performance indices
- Forecasting: estimate at completion and to-complete performance
- Practical exercise: earned value analysis
- Schedule and cost risk analysis
- Change control and baseline management
- Delay analysis fundamentals
- Recovery planning for late and over-budget projects
- Project controls reporting and dashboards
- Capstone exercise: planning and cost control action plan
Certificates
CLASSROOM
Delegates who complete the classroom course receive the Thinkcloudly Certificate of Completion, with one Continuing Professional Education (CPE) credit for every 50 minutes of attendance.
ONLINE
Delegates who complete the live online course receive the Thinkcloudly Certificate of Completion, with one Guided Learning Hour awarded for every 60 minutes of attendance.
Providers and Associations
Original price was: $6,499.00.$5,950.00Current price is: $5,950.00.
Our Learners Work At
Frequently Asked Questions
What will I learn on this course?
How to plan and schedule projects, estimate and budget costs, measure performance with earned value, and control schedules and costs through to completion.
Do I need prior planning experience?
No. A basic understanding of how projects work is helpful, and the course builds from planning fundamentals to earned value and forecasting.
Which scheduling software is used?
The techniques are software-independent and taught using worked examples and Excel. They apply directly to common scheduling tools such as Primavera P6 and Microsoft Project.
Do I need to bring a laptop?
Yes, Several exercises are completed in Excel, so please bring a laptop with a recent version of Microsoft Excel installed.
What will I take back to my organization?
Templates for a work breakdown structure, cost estimate, budget baseline, earned value tracker and progress report, plus a personal action plan.
What is included in the fee?
The fee of $5,950 covers the full five-day programme, course materials and certificate. Classroom fees also include lunch and refreshments.
Will I receive a certificate?
Yes. All delegates who complete the course receive the Thinkcloudly Certificate of Completion, with CPE credits for classroom attendance or Guided Learning Hours for online attendance.
Can this course be delivered in-house?
Yes. We can tailor the content and case studies to your industry and deliver it at your premises, a venue of your choice or online. Contact [email protected] to discuss your requirements.
