5 Tips For Minimizing Costs

#1. Automate reporting

Time is money, right? So the more things you can automate both for yourself and your team, the
more time you can spend on other tasks. Use your project management software to create reports
that update from other data in the system automatically. This will save you time copying and
pasting information into your report. Dashboards that pull key bits of project data into a single,
graphical display are one easy way to ease the burden of reporting.

#2. Cancel face-to-face meetings

Face-to-face meetings are expensive. They involve travel for most people, and that's the cost of
being out of the office during the journey time and also the cost of the transport to get to the
meeting. Plus maybe the hire of a meeting room. Plus lunch. Plus coffees when people arrive. And
an overnight stay for those coming from far away. Plus... you can see how easily the costs mount
up when you schedule team meetings face-to-face.

Use Skype or instant messaging to meet your colleagues virtually. The collaboration features built
in to ProjectManager.com will make it easy for your team to work together without being in the
same location. If you used to travel a lot, this tip alone will drastically reduce your budget.

#3. Negotiate, negotiate, negotiate

Always challenge supplier quotes—you never know if there is wiggle room unless you ask! The
same goes for when it comes to renewing contracts. Some vendors will automatically increase
prices each year, often by more than the rate of inflation. Don't accept these price rises without
talking to your account manager as you may be able to reduce the uplift. And don't renew
anything that you no longer need!

#4. Monitor expenses

This is probably one of the most important things to do. You will have to spend money on your
project, however much you try to minimize the costs. So when that happens, make sure you have
the processes in place to record the expenditure and monitor the health of your overall project
budget.

Use an expense monitoring tool to track regular outgoings (such as fees for consultants or monthly
licence payments) along with one-off spend, and organize it by category so you can see where the
majority of your funding is going.

#5. Control changes

Changes to the project's scope will cost you money. And the further into your project you are, the
more the change will cost you. It's a lot harder to change the design of a building when the walls
are already up, but if you make that change when it's still a 3D model on the architect's desk then
you can save a lot of cash.

When you do make a project change that affects your budget, make sure that everyone is aware
of the impact. If you need to dip into your contingency fund or business reserve then let your
sponsor know.