.2 Schedule Baseline Updates
Schedule revisions are a special category of project schedule updates. Revisions are changes to the schedule’s start and finish dates in the approved schedule baseline.
These changes are generally incorporated in response to approved change requests Section 4.4.1.4 related to project scope changes or changes to estimates.
Development of a revised schedule baseline can only occur as a result of approved changes. The original schedule baseline and schedule model are saved before
creating the new schedule baseline to prevent loss of historical data for the project schedule.
.3 Performance Measurements
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The calculated schedule variance SV and schedule performance index SPI values for WBS components, in particular the work packages and control accounts,
are documented and communicated Section 10.3.3.1 to stakeholders.
.4 Requested
Changes
Schedule variance analysis, along with review of progress reports, results of performance measures, and modifications to the project schedule model can result
in requested changes Section 4.4.3.2 to the project schedule baseline. Project schedule changes might or might not require adjustments to other components of
the project management plan. Requested changes are processed for review and disposition through the Integrated Change Control process Section 4.6.
.5 Recommended Corrective Actions
A corrective action is anything done to bring expected future project schedule performance in line with the approved project schedule baseline. Corrective action
in the area of time management often involves expediting, which includes special actions taken to ensure completion of a schedule activity on time or with the least
possible delay. Corrective action frequently requires root cause analysis to identify the cause of the variation. The analysis may address schedule activities other than
the schedule activity actually causing the deviation; therefore, schedule recovery from the variance can be planned and executed using schedule activities delineated
later in the project schedule.
.6 Organizational Process Assets Updates
Lessons learned documentation of the causes of variance, the reasoning behind the corrective actions chosen, and other types of lessons learned from schedule control
are documented in the organizational process assets Section 4.1.1.4, so that they become part of the historical database for both the project and other projects of the
performing organization.
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.7 Activity List Updates
Described in Section 6.1.3.1.
.8 Activity Attributes Updates
Described in Section 6.1.3.2.
.9 Project Management Plan Updates
The schedule management plan Chapter 6 introductory material component of the project management plan Section 4.3 is updated to reflect any approved changes
resulting from the Schedule Control process, and how the project schedule will be managed.
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Project Cost Management
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Project Cost Management includes the processes involved in planning, estimating, budgeting, and controlling costs so that the project can be completed within the
approved budget. Figure 7-1 provides an overview of the following three processes, while Figure 7-2 provides a process flow view of these processes and their inputs,
outputs, and other related Knowledge Area processes:
7.1 Cost Estimating – developing an approximation of the costs of the resources
needed to complete project activities.
7.2 Cost Budgeting – aggregating the estimated costs of individual activities or
work packages to establish a cost baseline.
7.3 Cost Control – influencing the factors that create cost variances and
controlling changes to the project budget. These processes interact with each other and with processes in the other
Knowledge Areas as well. Each process can involve effort from one or more persons or groups of persons based upon the needs of the project. Each process
occurs at least once in every project and occurs in one or more project phases, if the project is divided into phases. Although the processes are presented here as discrete
elements with well-defined interfaces, in practice they may overlap and interact in ways not detailed here. Process interactions are discussed in detail in Chapter 3.
Project Cost Management is primarily concerned with the cost of the resources needed to complete schedule activities. However, Project Cost
Management should also consider the effect of project decisions on the cost of using, maintaining, and supporting the product, service, or result of the project. For
example, limiting the number of design reviews can reduce the cost of the project at the expense of an increase in the customer’s operating costs. This broader view of
Project Cost Management is often called life-cycle costing. Life-cycle costing, together with value engineering techniques, can improve decision-making and is
used to reduce cost and execution time and to improve the quality and performance of the project deliverable.
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In many application areas, predicting and analyzing the prospective financial performance of the project’s product is done outside the project. In others, such as a
capital facilities project, Project Cost Management can include this work. When such predictions and analyses are included, Project Cost Management will address
additional processes and numerous general management techniques such as return on investment, discounted cash flow, and investment payback analysis.
Project Cost Management considers the information requirements of the project stakeholders. Different stakeholders will measure project costs in different
ways and at different times. For example, the cost of an acquired item can be measured when the acquisition decision is made or committed, the order is placed,
the item is delivered, and the actual cost is incurred or recorded for project accounting purposes.
On some projects, especially ones of smaller scope, cost estimating and cost budgeting are so tightly linked that they are viewed as a single process that can be
performed by a single person over a relatively short period of time. These processes are presented here as distinct processes because the tools and techniques for each
are different. The ability to influence cost is greatest at the early stages of the project, and this is why early scope definition is critical Section 5.2.
Although not shown here as a discrete process, the work involved in performing the three processes of Project Cost Management is preceded by a
planning effort by the project management team. This planning effort is part of the Develop Project Management Plan process Section 4.3, which produces a cost
management plan that sets out the format and establishes the criteria for planning, structuring, estimating, budgeting, and controlling project costs. The cost
management processes and their associated tools and techniques vary by application area, are usually selected during the project life cycle Section 2.1
definition, and are documented in the cost management plan.
For example, the cost management plan can establish:
• Precision level. Schedule activity cost estimates will adhere to a rounding of
the data to a prescribed precision e.g., 100, 1,000, based on the scope of the activities and magnitude of the project, and may include an amount for
contingencies.
• Units of measure. Each unit used in measurements is defined, such as staff
hours, staff days, week, lump sum, etc., for each of the resources.
• Organizational procedures links. The WBS component used for the project
cost accounting is called a control account CA. Each control account is assigned a code or account number that is linked directly to the performing
organization’s accounting system. If cost estimates for planning packages are included in the control account, then the method for budgeting planning
packages is included.
• Control thresholds. Variance thresholds for costs or other indicators e.g.,
person-days, volume of product at designated time points over the duration of the project can be defined to indicate the agreed amount of variation
allowed.
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