Having control over the budget of a project is not always as easy as it sounds
One of the greatest strengths of ITM Platform is the economic control, both for its power and for its ease of use. This article will briefly describe both the items and features it offers.
"One of the greatest strengths of ITM Platform is the economic control"
The cost elements that are administered are the hours and purchases or acquisitions. Consider that a project uses "n" hours at a cost "x" and also uses external resources such as materials, for a total value of "z". Thus consumption of the project is n hours * x + z dollars cost of materials.
Understand the elements of cost, on to the three main blocks in budget and monitoring are handled in ITM Platform:
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Budget: the amount of money allocated to the project. It is also what we call top-down, (when money is available to the project).
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Estimated cost or bottom-up: is the assessment of costs made by the system based on the estimates of hours and purchases made the project manager in planning. For example, we say that the project will consume "n1" hours on this task and "n2" in that one, it will use "z1" manufacturing materials "z2" commercial materials. The sum of all estimated to be forming as the planning and renovation project progresses cost.
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Real: this is easier to understand, these are the hours reported by each member of the team that calculated in real time through standard costs and rates, feed consumption and actual cost at the time. In parallel, the invoices are entered and assigned to the project are added to the corresponding heading.
The cost calculation of hours requires more detail:
ITM Platform offers a complete system of standard costs which lets you set the values for each professional profile, either internal staff or external. Furthermore, to make this short article, we will say that there are fees for each provider of contracted profiles.
"ITM Platform offers a complete standard cost system that allows you to set the values for each professional profile"
Imagine now that your project requires internal staff, a project manager, two engineers, and a controller. External staff will also have ten technicians and four operators.
If you define in ITM Platform the cost of each of these profiles, you will get the maximum detail in both cost estimation (bottom-up) and actual costs through the timesheet for each individual: they just state the hours worked, and the system will calculate how much is cost for the project.
If you are not interested in such a precise way, simply specify the overall cost per hour.
In this scheme is easy to set up (I assure you it takes a few minutes if you have clear costs). You will get consolidated information without requiring as much effort.
If you want to go further in assessing the economic progress of the project or how likely it will end, I recommend reading the article related to Earned Value.
The above is related to the budget and monitoring of each project.
ITM Platform provides accurate information on the investments you make and what value the business offers.
As a final detail, note that ITM Platform is multicurrency and that all economic values can be expressed in the currency required, significantly facilitating the work in multinational and distributed projects.
I hope I have provided an overview of the possibilities and simplicity of ITM Platform related to the budget and monitoring. Questions and comments welcome at daniel.piret@itmplatform.com