What's your secret for mastering project cost and budget management?

One thing I find to be really valuable when defining the scope and baseline of an SAP S/4HANA Implementation is to make use of the Pinnacle Plan, and also bring in SAP Activate methodology following the project start. To leverage the Pinnacle Plan in project planning, it is important to understand the strategic vision and what the ultimate outcome of the project needs to be. When you are able to envision the closing report prior to putting together an estimate for the project, it is easier to realize where you need to add cushion in the budget and timeline to accommodate the goals and the vision that the client has set, and what will determine a successful outcome for the project.

When I estimate an SAP S/4HANA Implementation, I provide 3 estimates: the first is the best case scenario, meaning, everything runs exactly according to plan. The second estimate is the most likely case scenario, where there will be a mix of things that go the wrong way and the right way, and the third, which is the worst case scenario. If you prepare these 3 different estimates during your cost and resource planning, its more than likely that your project will fall somewhere within target, and of course, the best case outcome would be that you have budget remaining at the end of the project to perform additional activities that can enhance the overall project.

There are two important aspects to provide a realistic budget: the level of accuracy and negotiation for a fair and beneficial agreement to all parties involved. The accuracy you should look for is 100% - it may not be possible but it is possible to strive and aim for it. This will reduce gold plating of unnecessary reserves, but this doesn’t mean you should not have tolerances. They should be diligently explored and addressed in the budget. Negotiation with a provider depends on cost structure, Key Performance Indicators is a great way of measurement in particular for cost reimbursed contracts that can result to awards, and penalties if required. Buy-in of all parties and data are must haves for such KPIs to work effectively.

Now that you have planned your best-case, most likely case and worst-case scenarios, it's time to drill on the insights to plan a realistic budget. You can achieve this by calculating the probability of the scenario, based on that insight, you can come up with a statistical weighted average. Using these numbers, you can better understand how costs or resources in your overall S/4HANA implementation vision will vary and target potential risks and contingency plans that may be needed throughout your implementation. To assess a balanced or realistic cost for the project, it is advised to choose a value that falls within the range of the estimate and aligns with risk tolerance and the overall strategic outcomes for the project.

Here's the secret to managing the budget: Check on the budget on a weekly basis, use tools such as a burndown chart that has both the trend line and the actual line so that it's easy to visualize where the budget run increased or decreased. You have to consider whether or not the budget is on track vs. the project plan. If there is a point in the project where you are finding that delivery is overdue and the budget is running high, based on your initial Pinnacle Plan and 3-Point Plan (Best, Likely, Worst-Case Scenarios) it should be easier to identify what changes need to be implemented to get the project back on track.

EVA and EVM applications include the essential task of cost tracking, which includes a baseline cost projection that is compared each month with actual work-in-place. In this way the team has a handle on the forward-pass, and expectations of compression when progress is behind.

Based on the strategy plan that was determined during the Prepare phase of the project (using the Activate Methodology), there should already be a solid and regular form of communication where the budget is communicated on a weekly/bi-weekly basis - either via Steering Committee meetings or Weekly Status Update meetings. If the client does not want the budget information to be public, something I have found very useful is to prepare a pre-plan budget tracker - which helps them get both a visual of where the budget is and prepares an estimation of next month's invoice.

The best way to go about this is to create a comparison chart, similar to a pros/cons list - on the left side of the chart, add the things that went well, on the right side of the chart, add the lessons learned. Review as a collective team and plan for the areas where feedback could be applied, also keep in mind what did go well so the next SAP S/4HANA Implementation is set up for success. Share your strategic insights, wisdom and expert guidance with your teams to set them up for tangible outcomes and continued learning.

Lessons learned is a critical yet frequently underestimated facet of project management. While it is true that each project possesses its unique characteristics and no two projects are never the same, the knowledge gained from both successful and deficient aspects of previous projects can serve as a pivotal determinant for the success of current and future projects. Moreover, lessons learned offer a valuable prospect to pinpoint areas needing improvement within project management techniques and the overall organization.

In my way, mastering project cost and budget management is an ongoing process that requires attention to detail, adaptability, and effective communication throughout the project lifecycle.

When we look at the project triangle, time, scope and cost are very much inter related. If you control scope and time , a major cost control is achieved. Further cost baseline development and respecting the spends with respect to the baseline gives an effective way to handle costs in the project. Nevertheless, handling scope changes and timely completion are the key .

Certain areas that can be looked at : 1. Change management and forecasting for that increase in cost ? 2. Revision in planned can be looked at, in case actuals are not in synch due to uncertain reasons - monitoring and replanning. 3. Leverage experience to identify and forecast hidden efforts and cost. 4. How do we factor the cost of monitoring and cost of Preventive actions to manage within the budgets? 5. Mechanism to capture near to real / actual data needs to be in place.