Apply assurance techniques to provide confidence in estimating, cost control, and scheduling data
Overview
This standard is about applying assurance techniques to provide confidence in estimating, cost control and scheduling data.
You will need to be able to use different assurance techniques to validate the quality, accuracy, integrity, timeliness and reliability of the information and data you are using and generating. It is expected that you can apply assurance techniques and provide assurance for the data relevant to your specific discipline, for example, for estimating, cost control, or scheduling.
Who this standard is for
This standard is for project controls-related roles, including project controls engineers, estimators, planners, schedulers, cost controllers, risk analysts, risk managers and contract managers.
Performance criteria
You must be able to:
- identify, gather and manage the information and data required for assurance
- identify and carry out appropriate assurance techniques to meet requirements and to validate the data, including:
- quality
- accuracy
- integrity
- timeliness
- reliability
- review the output from the assurance and improve the quality of input data if required
- justify that the information and data used for the estimate, budget or schedule, including narratives, meets the project requirements and scope
- justify the selection of assurance technique(s) used and how it meets governance requirements
- use data analysis to provide confidence in adopted risk mitigations
- report or communicate findings, including making recommendations
- facilitate feedback loops to enable continuous improvement based on past performance
Knowledge and Understanding
You need to know and understand:
- the principles of assurance
- the relationship between assurance and governance
- the different data assurance techniques and how they are applied to support estimating, scheduling, risk, change and cost control activities:
- task-based assurance, for example, to assure that estimates and schedules are correct, have used appropriate techniques and use robust benchmarked data
- governance-level assurance, for example, how to determine estimates and schedules have been prepared and received the correct level of authorisation as laid out in the safety/contract compliance
- the interrelationship between the different assurance activities and how to apply an integrated approach
- information and data required for assurance
- governance requirements for assurance
- risk, its associated mitigations and how these support the confidence in your data
- feedback loops and their role in continuous improvement throughout the project
Scope/range
Scope Performance
Scope Knowledge
Values
Behaviours
Skills
Glossary
Additional Information:
Tools and techniques
Assurance techniques used may include:
- benchmarking good practice and applying norms
- risk analysis
- integrity analysis
- quality check
- review of assumptions and contingency plan
- schedule integrity analysis
- auditing
Data assurance techniques
used for appraising accuracy of information may include:
- data cleansing
- data transformation
- data aggregation
- data profiling