{"id":12864,"date":"2024-08-13T12:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-13T10:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beebole.com\/blog\/?p=12864"},"modified":"2025-03-31T11:34:38","modified_gmt":"2025-03-31T09:34:38","slug":"how-to-avoid-project-cost-overruns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beebole.com\/blog\/how-to-avoid-project-cost-overruns","title":{"rendered":"Making accurate estimates and avoiding project cost overruns: A success story with Rancho BioSciences"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What sets apart a company that is competent in project management and one that does it exceptionally well? Well, there are lots of things, but knowing how to avoid cost overruns in project execution and <a href=\"https:\/\/beebole.com\/blog\/budget-to-actuals-variance-analysis\/\">accurately estimate project costs<\/a> is certainly one path to take.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nobody wants to deal with miscalculated estimates or project cost overruns. For project managers, this is a tell-tale sign that something is broken internally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Still, when managing projects, it\u2019s only normal that you run into your fair share of project complexity errors. But what can you do to ensure that project cost overruns are at a minimum and that your estimates are as accurate as possible? <a class=\"highlighted-link bbl-link-hs bbl-link-hs-v-1\" href=\"https:\/\/beebole.com\/project-time-tracking\/\"><span>A project time tracking tool<svg width=\"17\" height=\"18\" viewBox=\"0 0 17 18\" fill=\"none\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path fill-rule=\"evenodd\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"M11.25 0.875H15.625C15.7908 0.875 15.9497 0.940848 16.0669 1.05806C16.1842 1.17527 16.25 1.33424 16.25 1.5V5.875C16.25 6.04076 16.1842 6.19973 16.0669 6.31694C15.9497 6.43415 15.7908 6.5 15.625 6.5C15.4592 6.5 15.3003 6.43415 15.1831 6.31694C15.0658 6.19973 15 6.04076 15 5.875V3.00833L4.81667 13.1917C4.69819 13.3021 4.54148 13.3622 4.37956 13.3593C4.21765 13.3565 4.06316 13.2909 3.94865 13.1764C3.83414 13.0618 3.76854 12.9074 3.76569 12.7454C3.76283 12.5835 3.82293 12.4268 3.93333 12.3083L14.1167 2.125H11.25C11.0842 2.125 10.9253 2.05915 10.8081 1.94194C10.6908 1.82473 10.625 1.66576 10.625 1.5C10.625 1.33424 10.6908 1.17527 10.8081 1.05806C10.9253 0.940848 11.0842 0.875 11.25 0.875ZM2.5 4.625C2.16848 4.625 1.85054 4.7567 1.61612 4.99112C1.3817 5.22554 1.25 5.54348 1.25 5.875V14.625C1.25 14.9565 1.3817 15.2745 1.61612 15.5089C1.85054 15.7433 2.16848 15.875 2.5 15.875H11.25C11.5815 15.875 11.8995 15.7433 12.1339 15.5089C12.3683 15.2745 12.5 14.9565 12.5 14.625V7.75C12.5 7.58424 12.5658 7.42527 12.6831 7.30806C12.8003 7.19085 12.9592 7.125 13.125 7.125C13.2908 7.125 13.4497 7.19085 13.5669 7.30806C13.6842 7.42527 13.75 7.58424 13.75 7.75V14.625C13.75 15.288 13.4866 15.9239 13.0178 16.3928C12.5489 16.8616 11.913 17.125 11.25 17.125H2.5C1.83696 17.125 1.20107 16.8616 0.732233 16.3928C0.263392 15.9239 0 15.288 0 14.625V5.875C0 5.21196 0.263392 4.57607 0.732233 4.10723C1.20107 3.63839 1.83696 3.375 2.5 3.375H9.375C9.54076 3.375 9.69973 3.44085 9.81694 3.55806C9.93415 3.67527 10 3.83424 10 4C10 4.16576 9.93415 4.32473 9.81694 4.44194C9.69973 4.55915 9.54076 4.625 9.375 4.625H2.5Z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/a> has the power to help you navigate complex project budgeting situations, keeping you in the loop with real-time project status and letting you know if things are starting to go off track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What makes project estimation and budgeting so difficult?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>To effectively estimate the budget and resources needed for a project, you need to wrangle with various moving pieces. Apart from the set amount of money or time you have to complete a project, you also need to consider available resources, potential delays and scope creep, and conflicting priorities happening simultaneously. You also need to assess potential threats and undergo risk mitigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Understanding the ins and outs of your projects is the key to success and avoiding estimation errors. One of the best ways to approach this is to implement a project time tracking tool. With Beebole, get real-time insight into hours worked, budget consumed, and detailed project nuance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Common causes of cost overrun<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Cost overruns in project execution don\u2019t necessarily mean failure, but they do speak to your ability to <a href=\"https:\/\/beebole.com\/blog\/power-bi-for-planning-budgeting-and-forecasting\/\">estimate, budget, and plan effectively<\/a>. Budget overruns can happen for various reasons, and to some degree, you can expect them. That said, you should have a plan in place if they occur. That could look like adjusting the increasing budgets to add more hours, fine-tuning risk analysis prior to a project start, speaking with clients, or finding key takeaways for future budgets. There are several scenarios that seem to be the main culprits for project cost overruns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Inaccurate estimations: <a href=\"https:\/\/beebole.com\/blog\/financial-forecast-reliability\/\">Inaccurate or overly optimistic initial estimates<\/a> can lead to budget shortfalls. This might be caused by lack of planning experience or miscalculated rates and budgets from the beginning. It could also be because you haven\u2019t done thorough risk analysis or risk modeling, which can help forecast issues. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Scope creep: We have a term for this because it\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/beebole.com\/blog\/project-management-triangle-is-dead\/\">a fairly common issue in project management<\/a>. When projects change and new tasks are added to the initial plan, it\u2019s easy for costs and resources to go beyond the original budget.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Non-nuanced reporting &amp; tracking: Using inadequate tools that don\u2019t accurately capture and measure <a href=\"https:\/\/beebole.com\/blog\/how-to-calculate-project-profitability\/\">project time tracking data<\/a> can lead to blind spots and miscalculations. If you haven\u2019t got a close eye on your projects and their budget status, you run the risk of budget overrun. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Poor project management: At the end of the day, a seasoned project manager knows how to expertly balance their budgets, employees and contractors, and resources. It\u2019s up to them to implement clear processes, which can be enhanced with the right project management and time tracking tools.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Customer success story: How Rancho BioSciences uses Beebole instead of spreadsheets to avoid project cost overruns<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ranchobiosciences.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Rancho BioSciences<\/a>, a Beebole customer since 2016, is a data science curation company offering their services to customers in pharma, foundations, government, and biotech. They boast an international team of experienced PhD and PhD\/MD scientists who deliver high-quality, research-based work within biology, diseases, and clinical data. Today they\u2019re sharing their project time tracking journey with us, including how their use of Beebole helps avoid project cost overruns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As Rancho BioSciences\u2019 senior project management team lead, Brad Farrell is responsible for leading the entire project management team, managing a handful of his own projects, as well as communicating project status and nuance to senior leadership. He and his team use Beebole to help manage the 100\u2019s of simultaneous ongoing projects, as well as the 130+ employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As far as Beebole\u2019s data goes, Farrell says it\u2019s a place I can go to see exactly what hours have been worked against the total budget, as well as project status. With so many projects happening at once, Farrell says that Beebole\u2019s bird&#8217;s-eye view of all projects, sub-projects, and statuses, as well as its cost and rate functionality, are all factors in his effective project management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"357\" src=\"https:\/\/beebole.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/birds-eye-view-project-progress-beebole-700x357.png\" alt=\"Beebole offers a birds-eye-view of multiple projects happening at the same time\" class=\"wp-image-12867\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/beebole.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/birds-eye-view-project-progress-beebole-700x357.png 700w, https:\/\/beebole.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/birds-eye-view-project-progress-beebole-768x392.png 768w, https:\/\/beebole.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/birds-eye-view-project-progress-beebole.png 1149w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">An example of the bird&#8217;s-eye-view of multiple projects.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cIt sure beats spreadsheets. I love the snapshot views it gives me. I can log in and easily see the status of 130-140 active projects. I can easily see where they\u2019re all at, and if I wanted to dig deep, you know, all the data is there.\u201d<br>&#8211; Brad Farrell, senior project management team lead<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Tracking project hours and budgets<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>For Rancho BioSciences, Beebole is the administrative base for hours worked against set budgets. Farrell cross references the Beebole time tracking data with other software like Excel, Microsoft Projects, or Jira to track deliverables, and from there the time tracking data can also be sent to finance for invoicing. Rancho\u2019s project budgets are all set in hours, and it\u2019s extremely easy to translate a purchase order into an hour amount with Beebole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cEvery purchase order is translated into a Beebole project where we can track hours used against total budget, and that\u2019s also where our accounting department pulls data from to invoice,\u201d according to Farrell. \u201cIt does a lot of things really nicely.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Generating real-time reports and using the API for deeper insight<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Farrell noted that Beebole is great for project managers looking for answers to quick questions, like how many billable hours have been logged on this project, or what are the total hours worked for the month of September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For deeper insight, Farrell uses <a href=\"https:\/\/beebole.com\/help\/api\/\">Beebole\u2019s open API<\/a> to feed the time tracking data into their own internal program using Python scripts. This internal dashboard uses Beebole data on projects, subprojects, costs, rates, and budgets to create burndown reports. These reports update in real-time to provide insight into the completed and remaining work left within any given project. Farrell says that thanks to Beebole\u2019s wealth of primary data and the open API, their dashboard provides insight into whether projects will finish on time and within budget, if work is being done consistently or sporadically, and it provides insight into which levers they can pull to speed things up if necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n<div  class=\"mb-4 call_to_action-block\">\n    <div class=\"call_to_action-blockcontent py-5 px-4 text-center border-top border-bottom\">\n                    <h4 class=\"call_to_action-header h2 mt-0\">Better Understand your Projects&#039; Status &amp; Performance<\/h4>\n                        <div class=\"call_to_action-btns btns-wrap d-block d-lg-flex justify-content-center mx-auto\">\n                            <a class=\"w-100 w-lg-auto btn btn-outline-primary text-primary link-light me-lg-4 mb-3 mb-lg-0 bbl_cta_block_demo_btn \" href=\"https:\/\/beebole.com\/talk-sales\/\" id=\"cta_post_12864_article_demo_1\">Book a Call<\/a>\n                                <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Using alerts for project tracking<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>When a project or subproject gets too close to running over budget in Beebole, it turns yellow. And if it reaches red, you know that you have exceeded the budget. These at-a-glance indicators are key for Rancho Biosciences and the project managers who oversee these projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Farrell said he\u2019s really happy with their project planning process, including the analysis done beforehand to budget accurately and include redistributing budget best with a project&#8217;s natural flow. Once they start a project, it\u2019s quite easy to see if it\u2019s within budget or not. If a project turns yellow, they know it\u2019s time to have a look at what\u2019s going on and course correct. And if a project turns red, then they know something is very wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These indications set off an alarm for the team to take a deeper look and decide if remedial measures are needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re communicating about these things every week, I\u2019m talking to the PMs, but if something is going wrong, they communicate that and we figure it out then, versus waiting until the end of the project where suddenly we have an overrun. We figured it out now. Beebole allows us to do that at a glance,\u201c Farrell said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keeping an eye on the constant stream of projects and their statuses isn\u2019t a small task, but it\u2019s made easier with Beebole\u2019s bird&#8217;s-eye view of project status. Farrell says they\u2019ve also started implementing the custom field for project status which helps add a new layer of nuance to their project tracking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Using time tracking data to cross reference invoices<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Apart from Rancho BioScience\u2019s robust internal reports, Beebole\u2019s data also is used for invoicing, in conjunction with other financials-focused systems in place in the company. Because Beebole budget data is tracked in hours and their invoicing data is in dollars, Farrell says that cross-referencing invoices with time tracking data helps keep budgets accurate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBeing able to run a monthly report\u2014again, I just run one through the <a href=\"https:\/\/beebole.com\/help\/api\/\">API<\/a>\u2014and roll it all up, and I can easily see: Here\u2019s what accounting has, here\u2019s what Beebole has, and we can reconcile any inconsistencies,\u201d Farrell said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Using time tracking data to communicate with senior management<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>One of Farrell\u2019s greatest challenges as senior project management team lead is communicating project nuance to senior management. With over 100 online projects, finding a way to communicate each project\u2019s unique status can be challenging. However, since putting project custom fields in place, he\u2019s been able to add more nuance to the hard data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve been challenged the past few years to communicate project nuance to senior leadership. The ability to add that nuance [by adding project custom fields] was really powerful and allows more focused discussion when I\u2019m talking to senior leadership about projects,\u201d Farrell said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s easier to pinpoint what\u2019s in their control to advance projects and what\u2019s not, and it leads to strategic discussions on the exact levers they can pull to speed up projects or find ways to maximize output, for example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBeebole allows us an easy way to maximize that value and make sure we\u2019re doing our jobs,\u201d Farrell said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Looking forward with Rancho BioSciences<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Rancho Biosciences is doing great things in the data curation and research world, and they continue to work towards their mission of saving lives through data.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We\u2019re so happy that they\u2019ve chosen Beebole to help them manage their project time tracking and budgets, and even more grateful that they\u2019ve shared their story with us and anyone else who is looking for a project time tracking tool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the help of Beebole, Rancho Biosciences can successfully manage their project budgets, estimates, and potential cost overruns.<\/p>\n<div class=\"bbl-post-disclaimer\">The experts who have written or contributed to this article are independent from Beebole, and their contribution doesn't serve as endorsement for our company\/tool or their past\/present organizations, employers, or associates.<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What sets apart a company that is competent in project management and one that does it exceptionally well? Well, there are lots of things, but knowing how to avoid cost overruns in project execution and accurately estimate project costs is certainly one path to take. Nobody wants to deal with miscalculated estimates or project cost [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":12879,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1361],"tags":[4000,4001,4002,4003],"class_list":["post-12864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-timesheet-case-studies","tag-project-management","tag-project-costs","tag-project-budgeting","tag-cost-overruns"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beebole.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beebole.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beebole.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beebole.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beebole.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12864"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/beebole.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12864\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14032,"href":"https:\/\/beebole.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12864\/revisions\/14032"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beebole.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beebole.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beebole.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beebole.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}