How to control the budget proactively?

A good preparation is half the battle! Therefore, it is important to start preparing most things before the project begins.

Laying a solid foundation for your IT project begins with thorough planning and clear scope definition. It is crucial to fully understand the project before you get started. Therefore, together with stakeholders and experts, carefully map out what the software should be able to do. A good way to get all noses in the same direction is through the MoSCoW technique. This is an acronym for: Must haves, Should haves, Could haves and Won't haves.

• Must haves: these are the essential requirements and features that you define. These are absolutely necessary for the project to be considered successful.

• Should haves: these are important requirements and features that are strongly recommended to be included in the project, but budget and or time constraints make the need for these functionalities more flexible.

• Could haves: these are nice features and extras when there is enough time and resources left to implement them.

• Won't haves: these are the functionalities that are deliberately excluded from the project.

By proactively clearly defining the MoSCoW arguments, you ensure that all stakeholders and involved parties are well informed about the expectations, goals and functionalities of the software development. A detailed project plan and a well-defined scope will thus ensure that you are armed against unexpected changes that could affect the budget.

A characteristic of agile and scrum methodologies is the sheer volume of tasks you have to complete. To be manageable, you divide the large, overarching work into epics. These are too big tasks to complete in one iteration or sprint. When you divide each epic into smaller, manageable subtasks, the workload remains manageable.

Because of this size, estimating the cost of an IT project is often a delicate balance between ambition and reality. Overly optimistic estimates can lead to budget overruns, while overly conservative estimates can limit growth opportunities. Therefore, also use historical data and experience from previous projects to make realistic estimates. Involve experts in preparing estimates for time, resources and costs.

Every IT project has its own set of risks that can affect the budget. Identify and assess these risks early and develop a plan to deal with them. Addressing potential obstacles before they occur can yield significant cost savings. Also consider external factors, such as changing technologies and market conditions, and integrate them into your risk management strategy.

It is also a solid tool for defining the various roles and responsibilities of all involved. RACI - another acronym - is a useful tool for this purpose. The letters stand for Responsible, Accountable, Consulted and Informed.

• Responsible: the person responsible for performing a task and achieving the desired results.

• Accountable: this person does not execute tasks themselves, but has final responsibility that a task is executed correctly.

• Consulted: these are the persons who give advice or input on certain tasks. They bear no responsibility for the final result, but their expertise is valuable to the development process.

• Informed: these individuals do not take an active role in the project, but must remain informed about the progress or results of tasks.

The RACI framework is often presented as a matrix. The tasks, activities and processes are at the top, while the roles can be found on the side. It creates clarity of who is expected to do what.

Controlling the budget before the start of an IT project is a challenge that requires sound planning, realistic estimates, risk management and agile methodologies. By proactively incorporating these strategies and paying attention to the dynamics of the project, you can significantly reduce the likelihood of budget overruns.

Finding it rather bulky to take all this into account, but have an important IT project on the books? No problem, our experts are happy to help. We have all the tools and expertise to accurately estimate and closely monitor budgets.