Estimating Costs and Allocating Resources

For a project manager, I find the most challenging thing when creating a project budget is estimating work and determining cost estimates. The challenge is starting from the beginning without putting things into practice and making logical estimates for the project. According to Portny, et. al 2008,  a project budget is typically developed in stages, from an initial rough estimate to a detailed budget estimate through to a completed, approved project budget. On occasion, project managers might even revise an approved budget while the project is in progress to reflect changes in planned work and results (125).

I found an article on http://www.wikihow.com/Allocate-Resources-in-Microsoft-Project that lists four steps on how to allocate resources in Microsoft Project from start to finish. This is resourceful because it also gives a 7 minute video on how to assign resources using Microsoft Project. In this article Garet (n.d.) stated that one of the most important but often overlooked parts of the project management process is allocating resources properly. He further insists that learning how to allocate resources will help keep the PM in control of the project from start to finish.

Garret, C. (n.d.) How to Allocate Resources in Microsoft Project. wikiHow to do anything. Retrieved from http://www.wikihow.com/Allocate-Resources-in-Microsoft-Project

As I was continuing my search for resources that would be useful for estimating costs associated with ID projects I ran across this site for Dummies…just like the popular book. The article How to Estimate Project Costs http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-estimate-project-costs.html  describes a project’s budget which includes both direct and indirect costs. It gives a descriptive example and the direct and indirect costs that might be included with it. This website is also has a dummies recommends section that include articles about creating a budget estimate using the bottom-up and/or the top-down approach. There were other articles such as: How to Set Up a Master Budget, and How to Refine the Budget as a Project Progresses that would also be useful when managing an ID project.

John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (2013) How to Estimate Project Costs. For Dummies.  Retrieved from http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-estimate-project-costs.html 

Portny, S. E., Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S. M., Sutton, M. M., & Kramer, B. E. (2008). Project management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.