Offered By: Alpha3 Consulting LLC
Professional Development Hours: 7
Course Number: AEP7013-A101

This one-day course presents best practices in construction cost control. It is designed for contractors and contract managers responsible for cost tracking. Topics covered include development of a WBS and complete cost tracking system, implementation, reporting, and organizational process improvement. The focus is on tracking real-world costs in a timely and efficient manner to enable identification and itemization of overruns, preparation of well-documented CORs, management of progress v budget, recovery of disputed monies, and proper assessment of profits.

Course Outline

INTRODUCTION
ii.	Background
iii.	Learning Objectives
iiii.	Agenda
1.	BUDGETING & ESTIMATING: THE COST TRACKING BASELINE
	1.1.	Establishing the Baseline
	1.2.	Connecting the Estimator and the PM
		1.2.1.	Notes to the Field
		1.2.2.	Project Dry Run
	1.3.	Risk/Contingency Planning
	1.4.	Budget Responsibilities
2.	WBS/CBS: IMPLEMENTING A TRACKING SYSTEM ON DAY ONE
	2.1.	Top-Down WBS Development
	2.2.	Bottom-Up CBS Development
	2.3.	Planning for Consistent Tracking
	2.4.	Day One / Week One / Month One
3.	THE REAL WORLD: CHANGES, IMPACTS, AND OVERRUNS
	3.1.	Owner-Initiated Change
		3.1.1.	Budget revisions and preserving the baseline
		3.1.2.	Cost tracking for changes
		3.1.3.	Change is bad -> Change is good
	3.2	Condition-Initiated Change
		3.2.1.	Type I /  Type II
		3.2.2.	Cause, effect and cost
		3.2.3	Isolating costs
	3.3	Impacts: Delays and Lost Productivity
		3.3.1.	Tracking delay costs
		3.3.2.	Tracking lost productivity costs
		3.3.3.	Charging screws as screws
	3.4	Overruns
		3.4.1.	Forecasting
			3.4.1.1. Cost-payment analysis
			3.4.1.2. EVM
		3.4.2.	Maintaining consistent tracking (under pressure)
		3.4.3.	Budget adjustments
4.	FEEDBACK INTO ESTIMATING
	4.1	Maximizing the Value of Data
	4.2	Cost Performance Index: Achieving Unity
	4.3	Identifying Estimating Strengths/Weaknesses
	4.4	Refining Contingency
5.	INTEGRATION WITH MANAGEMENT AND ACCOUNTING
	5.1	What They Don't Know Will Hurt Them
	5.2	Cost Engineering vs. Accounting
	5.3	Roll-ups, Reporting and Allocations
	5.4	MARR and Corporate Profitability
6.	BENCHMARKING YOUR ORGANIZATION'S COST TRACKING PROCESSES
	6.1	Evaluating Your Current Cost Tracking Processes
	6.2	The PDCA Cycle
	6.3	Total Cost Management
	6.4	Calculating ROI

Topic Areas and Industries

• Architecture
• Banking/Finance
• Business & Program Planning
• Chemical Process
• Claims & Dispute Resolution
• Construction
• Contract Management
• Cost Engineering
• Cost Estimating
• Cost/Schedule Control
• Decision & Risk Management
• Defense
• Economic & Financial Analysis
• Engineering
• Environmental
• Facilities Management
• Finance/Economic Analysis
• Government & Public Works
• Health Care
• Information Technology
• International Projects
• Oil/Gas/Chemicals
• Pharmaceuticals
• Procurement
• Productivity
• Program & Project Management
• Project Control
• Transportation
• Utilities & Energy