Training Course in Project Scheduling and Cost Control
1Summary
Most projects do not fail because of a bad idea — they fail because the schedule was unrealistic from day one, or the budget never accounted for what actually happens once work starts. This course from the Arab British Fellowship Training Academy builds the practical skills to avoid both: designing schedules that hold up under real conditions, and budgets that survive contact with the project.
Participants work hands-on with core techniques — Work Breakdown Structure, Critical Path Method, and Earned Value Management — and with the tools professionals actually use, including Microsoft Project and Primavera, to build, track, and adjust schedules and costs as risks emerge.
2Objectives and target group
Who Should Attend?
- Project managers and coordinators.
- Project planners and schedulers.
- Cost estimators and budget managers.
- Anyone managing or executing projects with a focus on time and cost.
Knowledge and Benefits
By the end of the course, participants will be able to:
- Understand why scheduling and cost planning determine project success.
- Build accurate schedules using industry-standard techniques such as WBS and CPM.
- Create detailed cost estimates and project budgets.
- Monitor and control schedules and costs throughout the project lifecycle.
- Use tools like Microsoft Project and Primavera, and apply risk techniques to protect the schedule and budget.
3Course Content
Module 1: Why Projects Really Go Over Time and Budget
- The relationship between scope, schedule, and cost
- Key terms: milestones, dependencies, critical path, and float
- The project manager's role in scheduling and cost planning
Module 2: Building the Schedule: WBS and Critical Path Method
- Breaking the project into a Work Breakdown Structure
- Applying the Critical Path Method to find float and bottlenecks
- Gantt charts, milestones, and types of task dependencies
Module 3: Estimating and Building the Budget
- Estimating techniques: analogous, parametric, and bottom-up
- Direct versus indirect and fixed versus variable costs
- Contingency and management reserves
Module 4: Scheduling and Budgeting with Microsoft Project and Primavera
- Hands-on session: building a schedule in a project management tool
- Allocating and levelling resources
- Updating schedules and budgets as the project progresses
Module 5: Tracking Performance with Earned Value Management
- Tracking costs against the baseline
- Using EVM to measure schedule and cost performance
- Analysing variances and deciding on corrective action
Module 6: Managing Schedule and Cost Risk
- Identifying and analysing scheduling and cost risks
- Building risk response plans
- Reporting schedule and cost status to stakeholders