Posted by Touchpoints between the SCEA Cost Estimating Body of Knowledge (CEBoK®) and the Program Management Institute (PMI) Body of Knowledge (PMBoK)
Informational Sessions
IS03_Presentation_TouchpointsBetweenCEBoKandPMBok_Halstead
Abstract:
The General Accounting Office (GAO), in its publication of the “GAO Cost Estimating and Assessment Guide” in May of 2009, focuses extensively on the importance of Cost Estimation and its contribution to overall project success. While this publication offers specific technical examples of cost estimation and analysis capability, e.g. pre-Program approval cost estimates/baselines, Affordability Analysis, et al, there is less focus on how these technical examples “fit” into the larger Project Management context.
The Project Management Institute(C) (PMI) PM Framework is constructed around five Process Groups that intersect with nine Knowledge Areas. There are specific intersections on this matrix within which Cost Estimation and Analysis play significant roles; this paper will detail these roles, while positing opportunities for skilled Cost Estimator/Analysts to utilize their CEBoK-based technical expertise in support of a more robust PMBoK-based Program Management focus.
Cost Estimator/Analysts that have an understanding of these roles will allow for the opportunity to maximize added value to Programs and Projects. Given the increase of uncertainty in the Federal Budget and the implied challenge to “do more with less,” a greater understanding of Program Management can be potentially leveraged by Cost Estimator/Analysts as a discriminator to provide additional career-broadening opportunities.
Author:
Leon Halstead
Booz Allen Hamilton
Leon Halstead is an Associate on Booz Allen Hamilton’s Analytics Team. He has 21 years of professional and technical experience gained through a variety of consulting engagements and corporate financial management. He has held a certified Cost Estimator/Analyst (CCEA) designation since 2001 and holds both MBA (Finance) and MS (Information & Telecommunication Systems) degrees. He achieved his Project Management Institute (PMI) Program Management Professional (PMP) certification in 2011.
During his career, his technical and analytical experience has been utilized for upwards of twenty-five Federal Government organizations across the civil, military and national security sectors.
His work includes a particular focus on the intersections of cost and technical performance and includes multiple IT Infrastructure Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) studies, IT-based Analysis of Alternatives (AOA) projects, Agency- and enterprise-level budget decision support/optimization, and a number of strategy-based efforts.
His current work is in support of an IT Infrastructure Management Program Office, where his team has implemented baseline performance measures that are now informing data-driven operational and funding decisions based on historical performance.
At previous employers, his work included Program Control and Earned Value Management where he prepared program Estimates to Complete (ETC) and Estimates at Completion (EAC), Operations Analysis where his focus was on resource optimization in a supply chain/logistics environment and Corporate Financial Management functions.