Cost Scheduling Basic

Posted: October 17th, 2013

Cost Scheduling Basic

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Cost Scheduling Basic

            All organizations especially companies have to deal with cost control irrespective of size. Additionally, companies need to engage in several projects to sustain their competitive advantage in the current global trends. Thus, cost and scheduling of projects is one of the most crucial things that managers have to deal with in an organization. From the units and main topics of this course, there are many things to learn which could not be summarized in a short essay. However, the most crucial things to learn about cost control upon which projects success are dependent include estimation of costs, cost accounting, cash flow of the project and company as well, labor costing, and overhead rate costing. Additionally, I learnt that the cost control also involves providing information that shows progress of work, relation between cost and schedule, identification of potential problems, and provision of information to project managers for decision-making. Above all, lessons learnt using cost control for decision-making was the main purpose of cost control in a project. Information provided within the organization is supposed to help managers in making decision (Kerzner, 2009).

However, not everything may have made sense. When it came to estimating of costs, especially with overheads, the costs were tied with direct labor costs in several instances. The connection between the direct costs such as labor and overhead was not quite clear. I did understand about overheads being estimated at a certain percentage of labor. However, reasons of connecting the two were not clear. Although I understand that estimations do not have to be clear, this was not quite clear to me.

From this unit, there is a lot of knowledge to be applied in my career. As a manager, one is supposed to use all information possible to make informed decisions in a timely and accurate manner. To do this, it requires having enough knowledge of the information required, being in a position to analyze and interpret the information. Different information will mean different decisions. Thus, when it comes to project management or as an overall manager in a company, such knowledge is crucial since it ensures project decisions do not ruin the company. One project could cause problems to almost the whole organization. Additionally, such knowledge can be used to ensure costs do not go beyond the budget. This ensures that projects can be accounted for, and monitored to ensure that everything goes according to the plan, as well as the budget. This can be used in every project that any organization undertakes, since it will require expenses. Thus, cost control is quite useful in my career, as well as other sectors in life, since it helps in ensuring costs are maintained at a desirable level (Kerzner, 2009).

In my personal life, these topics are quite applicable. Cost control does not only occur at corporate levels or within businesses, but also in my everyday life. Knowing how to contain and account for costs is quite useful even at a personal level. Projects do not only exist within businesses, but also at personal and household level. With such knowledge, I shall be in a position to run my budget with ease, maintain costs of life at a manageable level, as well as carry on with personal project without problems. In addition, I can find out the performance of my projects at home such as expenses to reconsider in order to fulfill most important, as well as those that should come first while others wait. Additionally, with such knowledge, there is a better chance of advancing my personal attribute and securing better jobs to advance my career.

Cost control is one of the most crucial areas of project management. As projects progress, costs tend to get out of control and some end up being dropped or suspended. However, some could be at a critical stage that terminating would result in massive losses. Therefore, cost control has to be at the heart of every project whether small or huge to ensure maximum benefit. I find the unit to be quite useful in all areas of project management.

Reference:

Kerzner, H. (2009). Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling. Ney York, N.Y: John Wiley & Sons.