Certified Cost Professional Preparation (CCP)

Introduction:

The Cost Professional Preparation program equips individuals with the knowledge and skills to manage project costs effectively across various industries. It covers essential concepts such as cost estimation, budgeting, cost control, and financial analysis to ensure accurate forecasting and resource allocation. This course helps professionals enhance their ability to make informed decisions, optimize project performance, and achieve financial efficiency in complex projects.

Objectives:

By the completion of this training course, participants will:

• Recognize and define the cost elements, including material, labor, and other resources, necessary for executing an activity or producing an asset.
• Formulate actionable targets and objectives for proposed projects.
• Understand the basic elements of the risk management cycle and implement necessary measures to mitigate risks.
• Calculate and compute simple and compound interest, applying these calculations to problems involving single payments, ordinary annuities, and annuities due.
• Utilize earned value management techniques to review past successes and project future performance targets.
• Apply a comprehensive range of engineering economics tools to assess the viability of investments.
• Accurately record and evaluate project progress and performance.
• Understand and apply effective project management concepts, including scheduling, which is critical for successful project completion.
• Grasp the key definitions and concepts essential to the practice of total cost management.

Training Methodology:

• Interactive lectures
• Case studies
• Group work
• Project simulations
• Mock tests and revision quizzes
• Problem-solving sessions
• Peer outreach programs
• Expert-led Q&A sessions
• Self-study modules

Course Outline:

Unit 1: The Cost Engineer and Engineering Economy

• What is cost engineering?
• The cost engineer’s role.
• Total Cost Management - Key areas.

Unit 2: Cost Estimation Approaches and Classification

• Components of cost and their determination.
• Development of cost for each project component.
• Material.
• Labor.
• Cost estimating for materials and labor - fundamental approach.

Unit 3: Statistics, Economics, and Finance

• Cost in Economics.
• Basics of Engineering economics.
• Cost estimating - statistics and probability - operationalization.

Unit 4: Planning, Cost Control Steps, Measurement of Progress

• Project management planning, including cost and schedule forecasting.
• Detailed scheduling approaches and methodologies.
• Updating performance indicators with actual performance using earned value methodology.
• Control of earned value for soft budgets.
• Monitoring cost performance relative to schedule and work.

Unit 5: Basics of Cost Control Throughout the Project Life Cycle

• Performance and productivity management implications.
• Essential elements of project management.
• Appropriate project organizational structures.
• Principles of project planning.
• Fundamentals of project wage cost management.
• Command and management in a project-driven organization.

Unit 6: Cost Control, Quality Assurance Management, and Value Engineering, Contract Management

• Optimal distribution of equipment, parts, and tools.
• Application of activity-based budgeting.
• Coordination of quality management and value engineering in industrial operations.
• Management of quality.
• Value analysis.
• Strategic asset management for meeting long-term targets.

Unit 7: Risk Factors and Basic Skills Practiced by Cost Engineers

• Methods for determining net present worth and equivalent uniform annual cost/benefit.
• Contracting strategies for capital projects.
• Basic data structures for quantitative analysis of descriptive statistics.
• Risk management strategies in project life cycle management.