Chapter Summary

Technology is not an expense, but an investment. One of your roles as a project manager is to safeguard the investment dollars and ensure that the project is implemented successfully and within budget. This includes the planning, testing, integration, and, ultimately, the implementation phases. In some instances you will be forced to alter the plan, which will most likely alter the budget.

An effective project manager can work with bottom-up cost estimates to accurately predict each phase of a project and what expenses will be associated with each phase. Typically, zero-based budgeting will determine estimates for IT projects, and this will require you and your project team to research the true costs of each component of the project to ascertain an accurate price for the product implementation. In some instances, a best- and worst-case scenario should be used so you can predict an average amount of time, cost, and dollars needed to implement the technology.

Finally, you will need a good flow of communication among vendors , team members , and consultants to keep an accurate record of time invested, dollars committed, and incidental expenses incurred in a project. By tracking budgetary expenses, you can see weekly, or even daily, expenses incurred throughout a project. This will also allow you to see a running total of a project s phase and predict any overrun or the possibility of a budget surplus .