908 Town & Country, Suite 550 Houston, TX 77024 Phone: (713) 278-7622 info@pmccinc.com
Project teams are constantly challenged to develop cost estimates, then cost budgets, and then forecasts for what it is going to take to complete the budgeted scopes of work. They are also asked to utilize corporate accounting systems that are often focused on labor, material, equipment, and overhead instead of project deliverables (e.g. engineering, requirements definition, fabrication, manufacturing, testing). This dichotomy between the needs of accounting department and the project team has caused many projects to founder! Since its inception in 1991, PMCC has helped corporations and project teams deal with the issues related to project cost management and the attendant subject of earned value.
Key concepts and processes that PMCC can help your company incorporate include:
Establishing Earned Value Processes that work! In the early 1990’s, PMCC assisted a major shipyard to achieve the tri-service validation of their Cost/Schedule control systems to meet the United States Government Department of Defense criteria. In the years since we have trained and consulted with both large and small companies on how to implement the earned value methodology so that the performance of their projects can properly be assessed and reported.
Facilitating Project Organization Meetings with Accounting/IT Departments to establish integrated project cost systems. In many companies, the accounting/ERP systems are chosen without any input from the project teams. When the project teams want reports from accounting/ERP systems, they are often given canned reports or directed to a “project module” that is often more helpful to accountants than project staff. PMCC has extensive experience in working with the major accounting and ERP systems (e.g. JDEdwards, SAP, Peoplesoft) and we can help your project organization to communicate with the accounting department in terms that both of you can understand!
Developing Budgets at the Discrete task level Project Managers and team members are often asked to develop budgets for scopes of work yet to be done. Most do not have the skill or competency to correctly develop the budget because they have never received any formal training in how to develop an estimate that becomes a budget! PMCC provides training and mentoring to project managers and project teams to help them establish realistic budgets that will withstand the scrutiny of others and the “ravages of reality” as the project moves forward.
Setting up Spreadsheets to track cost for small projects. Starting with the Lotus software in the mid 1980’s and progressing to the use of Microsoft Excel now, Ben Voivedich, the founder of PMCC, has helped hundreds of project teams working on small projects to setup cost management spreadsheets. PMCC can mentor and train teams in the basics of procurement, materials management, and accounting so that they can set up a cost spreadsheet that is supported by appropriate documents within the organization (e.g. purchase requests, purchase orders, receiving tickets, invoices). Because most companies have unique cost processes, a “cookie cutter” spreadsheet for project cost management is not practical. PMCC can help your project team create a cost spreadsheet that incorporates best practices for earned value metrics and forecasting and melds with existing corporate process and procedure.
For more information or to schedule a conference call to discuss how PMCC might help your company or project team with project cost management and the earned value methodology, please call us at 713-278-PMCC (7622).
Sampling of PMCC training courses related to project cost management and the earned value methodology that can customized for your organization:
