Comprehensive Guide to Project Management Schedule and Cost Control, A: Methods and Models for Managing the Project Lifecycle

This is the most complete guide to all the principles and techniques you need to successfully schedule projects and control their costs. Not a broad project management guide, it offers focused coverage of every essential aspect of scheduling and cost control — including key issues ignored by typical PM guides.   Expert project manager and long-time instructor Randal Wilson makes scheduling and cost control intuitive through the extensive use of graphs, charts, and case studies, and provides all the formulas and worked examples you need to succeed. Writing for both newcomers and working project managers, Wilson covers all this, and more:  Project structures, including differences between projects and programs, and how those differences affect costing and scheduling Initiation: how projects start, how to develop project charters and stakeholder registers, and how to manage stakeholders Planning, in depth: what costs must be addressed, and what schedule constraints must be considered Project schedule analysis: activity definition, WBS, and work packages;  activity sequencing and diagramming; proven methodologies for estimating resources and activity durations; and schedule development Project cost analysis: gathering and estimating all project costs, including labor, materials, vendor bids, subcontractors, contracts, equipment, facilities, and direct/indirect costs. Budgeting via top-down, bottom-up, and activity-based methods Project monitoring and control: earned value, tracking Gantt, S-Curves, performance reviews, milestone analysis, change control systems, estimate at completion, forecasting, and much more.

Table of Contents:
Introduction    Part 1  Project Development    Chapter 1  Basic Project Structure    Chapter 2  Initiating Process   Chapter 3  Planning Process    Part 2  Project Schedule Analysis    Chapter 4  Activity Definition    Chapter 5  Activity Sequencing    Chapter 6  Resource Estimating    Chapter 7  Activity Duration Estimating    Chapter 8  Schedule Development    Part 3  Project Cost Analysis    Chapter 9  Cost Estimating    Chapter 10  Budget Development    Part 4  Project Monitoring and Control    Chapter 11  Schedule and Cost Monitoring    Chapter 12  Schedule and Cost Control   Bibliography    Index    

About the Author :
Randal Wilson, MBA, PMP, serves as Visiting Professor of Project Management, Keller Graduate School of Management, at the Elk Grove, California, DeVry University campus. His teaching style is one of addressing project management concepts using academic course guidelines and text and includes in-depth discussions in lectures using practical application from industry experience.   Mr. Wilson is currently Operations and Project Manager at Parker Hose and Fittings. He is responsible for five locations across northern California and Nevada, as well as project management of redesigns and renovation of existing facilities and construction of new facilities.   Mr. Wilson was formally in the telecommunications industry as Senior New Product Introduction Engineer at REMEC, Inc., Senior New Product Introduction Engineer with Spectrian Corp., and Associate Design Engineer with American Microwave Technology. He also served as Senior Manufacturing Engineer at Hewlett-Packard.   He is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) of the Project Management Institute. He acquired an MBA with a concentration in General Operations Management from Keller Graduate School of Management of DeVry University in Fremont, California, and a bachelor of science in Technical Management with a concentration in Project Management from DeVry University in Fremont, California.