Controlling Costs and Realistic Budgeting

Abstract

Costs are always a huge factor when undertaking major application projects. We know from experience that application projects typically are late and over budget. The question is why? The problem often relates to underestimating the complexity of the project and the time it takes to get organizations to properly define what they need. And let’s not forget the role of politics, which inevitably affects the way things get done. It is also very difficult to define what you need and to obtain consensus across departments and organizations. Today, any software application will likely touch multiple parts of the organization and require retrofitting of other “legacy” applications. This section will address ways in which costs can be properly forecasted and how to develop realistic budgets that are attainable during the life of the project. The movement to more dynamic and agile development has posed immense pressure on how to budget and account for the cost/benefit of software application development. Given that product life cycles experience more changes during its life cycle requires more investment on a regular basis. We see that IT budgets continue to grow, especially with the costs to deal with cyber attacks. Indeed, organizations must invest more in protecting their data.