When working and leading a project as a Project manager, you
need to take the time to create and utilize resources that can benefit the
overall project. When searching for
resources on creating a budget, I came across many resources that would seem
very helpful and beneficial to a PM. One
of the resources was an article and one was a software program that seemed very
easy when communicating with other team members.
The article that I thought was very helpful was called 5
Steps to Prepare Your Project Budget.
In this article there are many different formulas and points to consider
when completing a project budget. The
article provides templates for charts and definitions of terms that are used
when creating a budget. I have never
worked on a project where I have needed to create a budget, so this article did
teach me a few things about budgeting and keeping all of the different costs and
tasks on mind when creating a budget.
A software program that seemed very user friendly and I can
see it being a great resource was SmartDraw. Through this software you can create many
different forms of charts, diagrams, budgets and schedules. The software allows you to easily notify and
communicate with you team members on any changes or progress that happened with
the project. There was an article
written by an IT Director
that took you step by step through the parts of the software he utilized and
how it helped his team complete a project.
It was nice to see the testimonial of a person who had used this
software first hand and seen benefits while utilizing it.
There are many resources and a lot of information on the web
regarding creating budgets. Being new to
this side of a project, I learned many ideas and concepts that a PM should keep
in mind while working and leading a project.
I like the 5 steps to prepare project budget through MS Project article. I found it helpful as I use MS project and had to teach myself how to use it for various projects. The link provides clear steps in building costs associated with tasks. I usually use MS Projects for schedules and the article will help in incorporating the cost for resources into the same working sheet. Greer (2010) explained that capturing information about duration, resources and effort will help in building the schedule, labor assignments and cost estimates. This resource helps in capturing all these elements in one place. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI just explored SmartDraw as Michelle also listed as one of the resources. Dalia
Reference:
Greer, M. (2010). The project management minimalist: Just enough PM to rock your projects! (Laureate custom ed.). Baltimore: Laureate Education, Inc.
Candace,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing great resources. I especially enjoyed visiting SmartDraw. It allows you to be very creative with different tools to make your charts and graphs appealing without having to use more complex software. Reading some of the resources on estimating, I did not realize the level of detail required to estimate accurate costs. It's as if you need an accounting degree as well. However, I did find it useful that before starting a budget it is important to locate all of the resources needed for a project so that scarcity in resources can be identified at the beginning. It is recommended to use a matrix or other kind of chart to determine an over load or under load. Sometimes when there are special events or projects in our personal lives we overlook some of resources needed and find ourselves searching everyone to make up for the scarcity. I think using the tools in SmartDraw are great for personal or business purposes.
Portny, E., Mantel,J., Meredith, R., Shafer, M., Sutton M., & Kramer, E. (2008). Project management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc