Blog Posts & Insights

Blog Posts & Insights

Project Controls Wisdom Hub

Explore our collection of practical blog posts & articles, expert insights, and thought leadership designed to help you master project controls, elevate your skills, and stay ahead in a rapidly evolving industry. Dive in and discover proven strategies, fresh ideas, and real-world lessons you can apply to your projects today.

If you have ever wanted to learn Primavera P6 scheduling tool or wanted to get into the planning/scheduling field, one of the barriers that you would face is getting access to the Primavera Software. It might seem a big investment especially if you are a beginner who wants to learn

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Summary: Have you ever wondered why most Project Managers are interested in seeing S-curves in project reports? Do you know what the common uses of S-curves are in projects? S-curves are great graphical project management tools for planning, monitoring, controlling, analyzing, and forecasting project’s status, progress, & performance. They show

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Summary: Have you ever wondered what an s-curve is in projects? Do you know why Project Managers are interested in seeing s-curves in project reports? Well, an s-curve is a project management graphical tool that displays cumulative data ( e.g. project’s costs, hours, progress, or quantities) against time. The term

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How to succeed in cost estimating?

Have you ever wondered how “Project Controls” was performed back in the “Dinosaur’s Age,” when the computers didn’t exist? The “Age of Computer” began at some point in the mid-1990’s. Do you remember the big computers back then? I still remember the super large computers that I used to work

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How to succeed as a Document Controller? This is a question that is best answered by a senior Document Control Director & Manager. I had the honor of interviewing one of the most inspiring and supportive leaders in the area of Document & Information Management, Ken Clevenger. Ken shared his

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I had the honor of interviewing one of the most inspiring, successful, and dedicated Project Control Directors & Managers, Roberto Orlandi. Roberto shared his 20-year global experience in Project Controls and provided guidance on the following topics: The global position of the Project Controls career The current and future market demand of a Project

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Summary: Do you know what certifications in project risk management are available? Are you interested to know how you can become a certified risk management professional? There are two internationally recognized certifications in project risk management that I highly recommend you to consider if you are a project risk management

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How Cost Contingency Is Calculated

Imagine that you are asked to estimate the total cost of a project. You have measured the quantities, and estimated the cost and price of each resource required for executing the scope of the project. After all the hard work that you have put into developing the cost estimate, you

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What Is Contingency Reserve In A Cost Estimate

Summary: Have you ever reviewed a Cost Estimate of a project? Have you ever wondered what “Contingency” is in a Cost Estimate? Do you know why a contingency reserve/ fund is allocated to a cost estimate? Cost contingency is a reserved fund that is added to a base cost estimate

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Essential Tools To Master in Project Controls

Summary: There are plenty of tools available today for Project Controllers to help them better manage and control projects. As technology evolves, more tools become available for use. This can become overwhelming as to what tool to choose from for controlling projects. Sometimes, finding and selecting the right tool is

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Certifications In Cost Estimating

Summary: Are you interested to know what internationally recognized certifications are available in Cost Estimating? There are several Cost Estimating associations that provide a variety of Cost Estimating certifications: ICEAA’s Professional Cost Estimator/ Analyst (PCEA®) AACE’s Certified Estimating Professional (CEP) ASPE’s Certified Professional Estimator (CPE) ICEAA’s Certified Cost Estimator/ Analyst

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How to succeed in Cost Estimating?! This is a question that can be best answered by a senior cost estimator. I conducted an interview with Ramani Sundaram, a senior cost estimator with 25+ years experience, to share his experience as a cost estimator and provide his insights on Cost Estimating.

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How Cost Escalation Is Measured In A Cost Estimate

According to Wikipedia.org, “Changes in the cost or price of specific goods or services in a given economy over a period of time is defined as “Cost Escalation” [1]. Very often, the common question from an owner to an estimator is “Is your estimate in current dollars or escalated dollars?”

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Top 5 Skills Of A Cost Controller

Summary: Have you ever been in a project that finished over budget, and nobody could explain exactly why? Have you ever seen a cost report in a project that only showed the budget versus the expenditures? Have you ever published, or seen a cost report, and had no clue what

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Summary: I get this question a lot, “What is the Difference Between Project Controls and Project Management?”. I believe there are 3 key differences between Project Management and Project Controls: 1- Project Control is a subset of Project Management with the primary focus of managing the project’s cost and schedule.

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How To Become A Certified Cost Controller

Summary: Are you interested to know how you can become a Certified Cost Controller? Do you know what internationally recognized certifications are available in Cost Management? AACE International provides a variety of certifications in Cost Management including: Certified Cost Technician (CCT) Certified Cost Professional (CCP) Earned Value Professional (EVP) Watch

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How Does a Project Controller Control a Project?

Summary: Have you ever wondered how a Project Controller controls a project? Do you know what the role of a Project Controller is in a project; from its initiation to completion? An effective Project Controls starts early in the project when the project is initiated and continues throughout the project

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What Is Negative Float And How To Deal With It In Primavera P6?

We all have learned a lot about calculating Total Float and Critical Path in a network diagram and have seen zero total floats for critical activities or positive floats for non-critical ones. In real projects, we will encounter with negative floats in a schedule network diagram. Have you ever wondered

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The Critical Skill Each Cost Estimator Should Master

Throughout my 30+ years in the construction industry, many of those in the cost estimating field, I met great estimators as well as estimators who lack the confidence to say: Yes, I calculated this cost, this is how I did it, and this is the benchmark data to prove it.

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Project Planning Puts You in Control

Every objective, intention, idea, project, task or whatever is expected in a future time (minutes, hours, days, months or years later) to be realized, starts with proper project planning, implementation, referencing-the-plan and taking corrective actions to realize the intended objective. Project Planning and Execution Project planning involves clarifying an objective

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