New: Cost Management Plan Templates

This week at Klariti we’re releasing a new set of Cost Management Plan templates.

Each section in the MS Word template contains explanatory writing guidelines and sample text to help you get started. In addition to this, we have a new Explainer Guide which explains how to setup and configure the MS Excel spreadsheets. I hope you find this helpful as it walks you through all of the formula settings in details. I’ll publish some articles later in the week on how to setup the cost estimating models in Excel.

Download: Cost Management Plan templates (MS Word + Excel)

FAQs

If you’re new to this area, here are a set of FAQs to explains its purpose, in particular, if you’re costing a new IT or software product.

Question: What’s the purpose of a Cost Management Plan?

Answer: To establish a framework for estimating, budgeting, and controlling the costs of the project. It ensures that project costs remain within the approved budget and provides guidelines for monitoring financial performance throughout the project lifecycle.

Question: Who writes the Cost Management Plan? 

Answer: The project manager, often in collaboration with financial experts or stakeholders, is responsible for writing the Cost Management Plan.

Question: What is the Cost Management Plan? 

Answer: This document defines how project costs will be estimated, budgeted, managed, monitored, and controlled.

Question: When is the Cost Management Plan written in the SDLC lifecycle? 

Answer: It is written during the planning phase of the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), before project execution begins.

Question: Where is the Cost Management Plan used? 

Answer: This document is used throughout the project to ensure that costs are controlled and that the project stays within budget.

Question: Why is the Cost Management Plan written? 

Answer: It is written to provide a framework for managing costs, ensuring that the project remains financially viable, and to establish procedures for cost monitoring and control.

Question: How does the Cost Management Plan help in project decision-making? 

Answer: It helps in project decision-making by providing guidelines for budget allocation, cost forecasting, and variance management, ensuring informed financial decisions can be made throughout the project.

Question: What key components are included in a Cost Management Plan? 

Answer: The key components typically include cost estimation, budget determination, funding requirements, cost control measures, and reporting formats, ensuring a comprehensive approach to managing project costs.

Explainer Guide

This step-by-step guide explains how to setup the cost calculation formulas in Excel to support your Cost Management Plan.

Each chapter includes sections on:

• Define Historical Projects
• Define Current Project Characteristics
• Excel Calculation
• Sample Data to Import into Excel
• Explanation of Sample Data
• Formula Breakdown in Excel
• How to Use the Table in Excel
• Downloadable Excel Setup
• Sample Interpretation

Download

Use these Cost Management Plan templates to establish a framework for estimating, budgeting, and controlling the costs of your IT project. Includes Explainer Guide to configure the Excel formulas.

MS Word

• Cost Management Plan: 41 pages
• Explainer Guide: 15 pages

MS Excel spreadsheets

• Analogous Estimating
• Bottom-Up Estimating
• Parametric Estimating
• Three-Point Estimating

Download: Cost Management Plan templates (MS Word + Excel)