Microsoft® Office Project 2007 Inside Out

Reducing Project Costs

A budget-constrained project is one in which costs are the most important factor in the project plan. Although you still need to balance schedule requirements and satisfy the project scope, in such a project the costs are at the forefront of your decision-making processes as you plan and execute the project.

If your project plan calculates that your total costs are above the allowed budget, you need cost-cutting strategies. Your best approach will involve cutting resources because resources and costs are virtually synonymous in projects. As described in the previous section, when you want to bring in the finish date, you focus on tasks in the critical path. In the same way, when you want to cut costs, you focus on resources ...