Project Budgeting is important because it provides stakeholders with an educated estimate of exactly what a project is going to cost and outlines the points at which funding will be needed along the way. There are six pieces of information needed in order to prepare an accurate project budget.

• Activity Cost Estimates: estimates on each activity in the project, including labor, materials, equipment, services, facilities, and information technology.
• Basis of Estimates: Supporting details, including assumptions made in preparation of the estimates and the level confidence the preparer has in each estimate.
• Scope Baseline: funding constraints put in place by the organization, existing contracts, or government agencies.
• Project Schedule: this determines the cost over time, such as points along the way when payments are due.
• Resource Calendars: determines which resources are assigned to the project and when they are available.
• Contracts: shows exact costs of products or services related to the project.

Project Budgeting is an important element in obtaining approval for a project, as well as controlling costs of a project.

A specific tool used in Project Budgeting is a spreadsheet to itemize cost estimates of labor and supplies and creates a sum total to form the budget of the overall project. Get started with our Project Budgeting template. 

How to use it: 

1. Insert your project’s basic information. 
2. Divided by phases, list your project’s tasks. 
3. Insert the labor, materials, and fixed costs. 
4. Review budget numbers and create an action plan accordingly. 

Praxie’s online Project Budgeting collaboration tool allows any team or organization to instantly begin working with our web templates and input forms to create their project’s budget. Our digital platform goes far beyond other software tools by including progress dashboards, data integration from existing documents or other SaaS software, elegant intuitive designs, and full access on any desktop or mobile device.