Project Financial Management: Keep your Project in Good Financial Health with Cost and Procurement Management, and EVM.

Some people will tell you there’s nothing more important than scope… or people… or stakeholders… or risk.
You get the picture.
But ask the man or woman who signs off your bills and funds your project, and what will they say?
It’s probably your CFO. And they have only one thing at the forefront of their mind: the money.
So, for good, accountable project management, you need to:
• Start with a strong business case
• Build it on robust estimates
• Manage your costs effectively throughout the lifecycle
• Get your procurement right
• And track your progress in a way that makes the value you are delivering evident
And there you have it: a prescription for the five chapters of this handy, ‘read-it-in-an-hour’ eBook. Here, you’ll find:

Project Business Case
A Project Business Case sets out why you should start your project. It gives an
‘analysis of the benefits and costs of making a change to the way things are done’.
Your Project Business Case is therefore a tool for senior people to make an informed decision. It is a vital part of your project governance.

Project Estimation
There are two reasons why Project Estimation is a big deal for project managers. First, it’s extremely hard to do well. And second, poor estimates are often a primary reason for a project cost or schedule over-run.
So, in this chapter, we’ll take a careful look at project estimation, to help you learn how to master the art and craft of doing it well.

Project Cost Management
Project Cost Management often puts people off. It feels complicated and has the mystical air of mathematical magic and wizardry. But there’s little your project sponsor, your client, or their Finance Director care about more than your budget and how closely you can stick to it.
Project cost over-runs are common. But this is not a cause for a defeatist attitude. No. Instead, you must act with determination to understand project cost management and implement all the tools at your disposal to control costs and bring in your expenditure on budget.

Project Procurement Management
Project procurement becomes necessary when your project is so large that you don’t have skills or capacity within your team to do things yourselves in a cost-effective way. At this point, you need someone else to provide the goods or services that will supplement your team’s capabilities and resources.
But how do you ensure your supplier delivers what you need, and you get good value? The answer is Project Procurement Management.

Earned Value Primer: The Basics of EVM
What’s the best way to monitor and report on the performance of your projects? And how can you predict their future performance? The answer is Earned Value Analysis (EVA), and the process of working with Earned Value as your performance management tool is called Earned Value Management (EVM).

Summary
This eBook will guide you through the challenge of managing your project’s financial affairs. It may not be the fun part of project management that you signed-up for. But it is crucial to the success of your project.
In this eBook, I’ve aimed to make a dry topic as clear and interesting as possible. I think this is really going to help you.