MT246 · Unit 7

MT246 Unit 7 cost baseline example

Project Planning and Project Execution Purdue University Global Free custom sample in 24 to 48h

Contingency on the Harlan Street Barbecue food truck is not one round percentage but three rates, set by how firm each number is: five percent on signed quotes and published fees, ten on rates multiplied by hours, twenty-five on allowances nobody has priced yet. All three sit on their own lines in the MT246 Unit 7 cost baseline, which reaches 166,175 dollars before the owner's reserve.

What this page holds

At 166,175 dollars, the MT246 Unit 7 baseline adds 9,619 of contingency, sized by how firm each figure is, to 156,556 of package costs and keeps the owner's reserve apart. Searches like "mt 246 unit 7 assignment example", "mt246 unit 7 sample" and "mt246 unit 7 example" land here.

What a finished MT246 Unit 7 cost baseline looks like

Four pages and a spreadsheet printout. The cost table lists seventeen lines under their WBS codes, each with amount, basis and confidence class: the used step van at an agreed 41,800 dollars, the upfitter's quote at 66,900, generator and electrical at 9,150, fire suppression at 3,850, wrap at 7,200, first-year insurance at 4,760, fees at 1,690, and the catering manager's 180 hours at a loaded 34 dollars. A class summary follows: firm figures 138,130, estimates 12,626, allowances 5,800. Contingency is then computed class by class and totaled at 9,619, giving the cost baseline of 166,175. A management reserve of 6,000 sits below a ruled line, held by the owner. A monthly table phases package costs from March through June, cumulative at 50,604, 92,449, 133,758 and 156,556.

How a MT246 Unit 7 example is structured

Costs are built upward, each line tagged with a package code and a basis a lender or the owner could check. The confidence class is the document's organizing idea. Instead of one percentage laid over everything, each line is labeled by how its number was obtained, and contingency follows from the label: a signed quote carries little doubt, an hours estimate more, and an allowance for opening inventory the most. That produces a reserve of 6.1 percent, smaller than a habitual ten, and explains why. Contingency sits inside the baseline because it covers uncertainty in known work. The management reserve sits outside, because it covers work nobody has identified, and only the owner releases it. The total is checked against the financing ceiling of 175,000 dollars, leaving 2,825 of headroom. Monthly phasing follows the schedule.

Seventeen lines, each with a basis

Agreed price, written quote, published fee, catalog price or hours multiplied by a loaded rate, recorded beside each amount so any figure can be followed back to its source.

Three classes of confidence

Firm figures make up 88 percent of the package total, estimates about 8 and allowances the rest, and the class decides how much contingency each line earns.

Contingency at 5, 10 and 25 percent

Of the 9,619 dollars, 6,906 sits on firm lines, 1,263 on estimates and 1,450 on allowances, printed as its own line inside the baseline where anyone can find it.

The owner's reserve, below the line

Six thousand dollars for work nobody has named yet, outside the 166,175 baseline and released only by the owner, which brings the authorized total to 172,175.

Checked against the loan

The authorized total sits 2,825 dollars under the 175,000 financing ceiling, a margin stated plainly so the owner knows how little room remains for surprises.

Phased by month

March carries the van and early upfit work, April and May the build, June the launch, with a cumulative line that later status reports will measure spending against.

Where marks go in MT246 Unit 7

Budgets with lump figures and no packages beneath them give graders nothing to trace and cost the most in this unit. Reserve buried inside inflated line items, or missing altogether, comes next; a plan with no visible reserve tends to fail on its first surprise, a point this course tends to press. A single round percentage with no reasoning behind it draws comments wherever the course has discussed how reserves are sized. Management reserve counted inside the baseline confuses the manager's accountability with the owner's. Leaving out the catering manager's hours, on the theory that salaries cost nothing extra, shrinks the true figure. Costs never phased against the schedule leave later reports without a curve to compare. A total that never reconciles with the financing ceiling, arithmetic slips between classes, and lines without a basis cost less but still register.

Get a MT246 Unit 7 example written to your instructions

Quotes, rates and fee schedules from the case feed every line of this document, together with the breakdown and schedule already built and the Unit 7 prompt and rubric. Send those, and the first baseline returns free within 24-48h, every line classed by how firm it is and the reserve shown in plain sight.

MT246 Unit 7 questions, answered

Is a flat ten percent contingency acceptable?

Some sections accept it, especially on small projects, but a reasoned figure usually earns more. The example ties contingency to how each number was obtained, which yields 6.1 percent here because most costs are signed quotes. A flat figure with no reasoning can look like habit. Where your course teaches a particular sizing method, the sample uses that method instead.

What is the difference between the cost baseline and the authorized budget?

The cost baseline is the time-phased budget the project is measured against, including contingency for known uncertainty. The authorized budget adds the management reserve, held by the sponsor for work nobody has identified. In the example they are 166,175 and 172,175 dollars. Keeping them apart shows what the project manager answers for and what only the owner can release.

Should the used van count as a project cost?

In most course budgets, yes, because the project exists to put that truck into service and buying it is part of the work. Some organizations would treat it as a capital purchase outside the project; if your scenario says so, the line moves to a memo. The example keeps it in, labeled firm, because the purchase price was agreed in writing.