Running head: COST ESTIMATION OF A PROJECT

Cost Estimation of a Project

Name of the Student

Name of the University

Author’s Note
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Discussion about First post

The project manager faces many problems while estimating cost in a project. The author

agrees with the post as cost estimation is one of the vital aspects of project management. If

the scope of the project is not well-defined then it will create problems for the project

managers. The challenges include:

 Coordination neglect

 Unrealistic Costs (Jones, 2016).

 Experience based estimation

 Disregarding the capacity of the team

The post suggests that the cost estimation needs to be revised regularly whenever a

change is made in the project. It is very much necessary that the project manager uses

different types of tools in order to control the cost of the project throughout its lifecycle. The

post discusses about the accuracy of cost estimation which is created with the help of work

breakdown structure. It helps in providing inputs to the process which are provided to the

project manager so that they can have access on the comprehensive information (Abell et al.,

2014).There are some other tools and techniques which can be used in order to get accurate

estimation of cost. The tools and techniques include:

 Parametric estimation

 Analogous estimation

 Cost of quality (Jones, 2016).

 Reserve analysis

The utilization of above tools and techniques are helpful in project budgeting while

planning a project effectively.

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References

Abell, C. E., Dekkers, J. C., Rothschild, M. F., Mabry, J. W., & Stalder, K. J. (2014). Total

cost estimation for implementing genome-enabled selection in a multi-level swine

production system. Genetics Selection Evolution, 46(1), 1.

Jones, K. (2016). Gregory K. Mislick and Daniel A. Nussbaum: Cost Estimation—Methods

and Tools. Chromatographia, 79(1-2), 113-114.

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2. Discussion about Second post

The cost of a project is estimated in order to establish a cost constraint for proper and

effective operation of the project. The author agrees with the post as the post discusses

several challenges which the project managers have to face while estimating cost (Ishii,

Takano & Muraki, 2014). The challenges are mainly due to presence of irrelevant data,

available resources, pressure of time and unstable environment. There are many other reasons

behind improper cost estimation which include:

 Estimating paradox

 Accuracy range (Mendes et al., 2014).

 Estimating software

 New technology

The assignment provides three main key processes for managing the cost of the project

properly. It is illustrated that the project managers used number of tools for analysing the cost

properly. The tools that are used by the project managers helps in earning value management

and monitoring as well as controlling the cost of the project properly (Mendes et al., 2014).

The tools which are discussed for accurate cost estimation include expert judgement, bottom

estimation and many more. The author provides additional tools and techniques which are

very much helpful in estimating the cost of a project properly. The tools and techniques

include:

 Cost of quality

 Project management estimating soft and many more.

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References

Ishii, N., Takano, Y., & Muraki, M. (2014). An order acceptance strategy under limited

engineering man-hours for cost estimation in Engineering–Procurement–Construction

projects. International Journal of Project Management, 32(3), 519-528.

Mendes, E., Kalinowski, M., Martins, D., Ferrucci, F., & Sarro, F. (2014, May). Cross-vs.

within-company cost estimation studies revisited: an extended systematic review.

In Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in

Software Engineering (p. 12). ACM.