PREFACE

This Project Management Institute (PMI®) Practice Standard for Project Estimating adds to PMI's continuing commitment to support the project management profession with a defined body of knowledge and standards.

PMI®'s A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)[1]¹ documents some of the overall project management body of knowledge. The PMBOK® Guide is approved as an American National Standard by the American National Standards Institute², and is the leading international standard for project management. This practice standard is an extension and elaboration of the sections of the PMBOK® Guide that define the processes, techniques, and tools used in project estimating.

This practice standard provides guidance for applying a sound estimating discipline for the life of a project and specifically treats estimating as a living process within projects. Effective project management requires consistent and repeatable processes and methodologies to manage the constraints of scope, time, cost and quality to ensure project success. This standard is a guide and reference for the project manager, project team, and other stakeholders, for understanding the project estimating discipline and applying it appropriately in a project.

The Practice Standard for Project Estimating is organized into the following focus areas:

• Introduction
• Principles and Concepts: outlines the foundational principles and concepts of project estimating.
• Prepare to Estimate: covers the Prepare to Estimate stage of the estimating life cycle and focuses on the creation of a project estimating approach.
• Create Estimates: covers the Create Estimates stage. The objective of Create Estimates is to take the planning documents and other inputs and then use estimating techniques to create the project estimate for activity resources, activity durations, and costs.
• Manage Estimates covers the ongoing maintenance and management of activity duration estimates, activity resource estimates, and cost estimates.
• Improve Estimating Process covers the final stage of the estimating life cycle. The objective of the Improve Estimating Process stage is to take actual data and lessons learned and complete the cycle by incorporating them back into the estimating processes and tools.
• Glossary: provides clarification of key terms in the project management profession that are related to project estimating, including those that have subtle or variable meanings depending on the organization and industry.

A global team of PMI members and volunteers developed this practice standard. Their dedication, diversity, and expertise are evident in the results of this practice standard and are a significant contribution to the project management profession.

¹ The boldface numbers in brackets refer to the list of references at the end of this standard.

² The American National Standards Institute is a non-profit organization that provides accreditation for voluntary standards development in the United States.