determining duration before cost ?

Submitted by ddwrt on Fri, 04/19/2013 - 07:52

Dear all,


I am currently reading the excellent file "00_PMP_Notes_Chowdary_Anil.xlsx" available on this website.
I stumbled upon something:


" Estimate Costs [...] is performed after Define Scope, Create WBS, Define Activities, Estimate Activity Resources, and Estimate Activity Durations."


In the PMBok, it seems being described as a sequencial process. But "Estimate Activity Resources" essencially depend on the amount of ressources the PM is willing to spend on the activity to make it quick or slow.


I think that in real life, in most cases, Estimate Activity Resources, Estimate Activity Durations, and Estimate Cost, are performed at the same time as very same intellectual process on which you determine the balance between the cost and the duration of a task.

What do you think about it?
As I am preparing the CAPM, what logic shoudl I adopt? Sequential process VS global Process

Thanks

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Hemant Tandon

Sun, 04/21/2013 - 04:32

I think, you should consider them as sequential processes.

One more point which you should remember is, the whole planning process is iterative in nature. In every iteration, Project Manager tries to refine the plan further.
 
From PMP/CAPM perspective, output of one process becomes an input to another process, so, these processes are sequential e.g.
 
  • 'Define Scope' process: 'Project Scope Statement' is an output.
  • 'Create WBS' process: 'Project Scope Statement' is an input.
  • 'Create WBS' process: 'Scope Baseline' is an output.
  • 'Estimate Activity Resources' process: 'Activity Resource Requirements' is an output
  • 'Estimate Activity Duration' process: 'Activity Resource Requirements' is an input
  • 'Estimate Activity Duration' process: 'Activity Duration Estimates' is an output
  • 'Develop Schedule' process: 'Activity Resource Requirements' and 'Activity Duration Estimates' are inputs
  • 'Develop Schedule' process: 'Project Schedule' is an output
  • 'Estimate Cost' process: 'Project Schedule' and 'Scope Baseline' is an input

Regards,

Hemant, PMP