Project Cost Control is the systematic oversight and management of a project’s expenses. Controlling project costs involves the initiation, planning, and execution phases of the project lifecycle.
Cost Control in Project Initiation
It is critically important to setup the project for success from the beginning. That means selecting and approving projects based on a legitimate business case. During the initiation and planning phases, costs and risks should be thoroughly identified.
Cost Control in Project Planning
During the planning phase, the project’s budget and proper cost breakdown structure are established. This will also include project constraints that affect the timeline and budget. Project cost control KPIs are identified and milestones agreed upon.
During project execution it is crucial that costs are tracked and monitored consistently and as quickly as possible. As expenses accumulate, a system of project insight should be able to monitor and flag any abnormal values. Ideally, project management KPIs should be tracked in real-time.
Who Does Project Cost Control?
Depending on the organization, Project Cost Control activities may be undertaken by a project manager, controller, project management director, or even the CFO. With a system like Project Automation, cost controls are embedded in the system and relevant stakeholders are automatically notified of exceptions.
Learn how Project Automation enables the digital transformation of your project organization.
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Henrik Lerkenfeld
Henrik is a driving force behind the product success of the PlanAutomate solution, bringing a systematic approach to process design and a deep understanding of project-based industries. His work focuses on natively unifying critical project data and processes, including financials, operations, and supply chain, into a single source of truth for project-driven organizations inside Dynamics 365 Finance. His experience spans decades of working with Microsoft ERP systems for project-centric companies. He also leads the services team at Adeaca that implements the Dynamics 365 Finance, Supply Chain Management, and PlanAutomate.