Project Controls & PMO — Sub-Service

Cost and schedule — integrated into one commercial view.

Earned value setup, S-curves, cost-loaded programmes, variance analysis. The integration discipline that turns cost reports and schedules from isolated documents into a single view of commercial position.

Initial Commercial Risk Assessment Discuss this service

What this service is

Cost & Schedule Integration — the discipline behind it.

A cost report and a schedule are two isolated documents until they're integrated. The integration is what converts 'we're behind schedule' into 'we're behind schedule and here's the commercial exposure being generated by that.' Earned value, cost-loaded programmes and variance analysis are the mechanisms that do the integration.

Contractor-side integration has to work at a level of granularity that supports both delivery decisions and commercial substantiation. Earned value at the wrong granularity is decorative — informative at project summary level but useless for identifying which specific work packages are generating loss. Well-designed integration answers questions at the level PMs and commercial managers actually need to make decisions.

Ashforte's service designs the integration framework, embeds it in the contractor's systems, and runs it to standard. Applied consistently across the portfolio, it produces cost-schedule visibility that supports both project delivery and commercial defensibility.

Delivered the Ashforte way

This service is delivered as part of Ashforte's shared senior capability model. Recurring workstreams run to standardized procedures. Senior review sits over every output. Applied consistently across one project or across your full portfolio — at materially lower cost than staffing the equivalent capability separately on each job.

When contractors bring us in

The trigger signals for cost & schedule integration.

Most engagements begin at one of these trigger points. If any of them match your situation, the Initial Commercial Risk Assessment is usually the fastest way to establish scope.

Discuss an engagement

01Cost and schedule are being reported in isolation and can't be reconciled to a single margin position.
02Earned value is being reported at a level that doesn't inform decisions.
03The programme isn't cost-loaded and variance analysis is impressionistic.
04S-curves are being produced but not interpreted commercially.
05A specific project needs cost-schedule integration for claims substantiation.
06A portfolio-wide cost-schedule discipline reset is needed.

Scope of work

What's actually delivered.

The scope below is illustrative — every engagement is shaped around the contractor's specific project, contract form and commercial exposure. Any element can be scoped standalone or bundled with adjacent workstreams.

Framework design

Integration methodology
Granularity design
WBS-to-cost coding mapping
Baseline management
Update cadence

Earned value setup

Cost-loaded programme design
BCWS / BCWP / ACWP structure
CPI and SPI methodology
Reporting integration
Forecasting linkage

Variance analysis

Cost variance analysis
Schedule variance analysis
Root-cause identification
Recovery planning
Commercial impact quantification

Typical outputs

Documented. Defensible. Delivered.

Every engagement produces a defined set of tangible outputs. The client keeps everything — records, templates, dashboards, procedures. Ashforte's role is to build the discipline; the client's role is to run it.

01
Cost-schedule integration framework document.
02
Cost-loaded programme baseline.
03
Standardised earned value reporting template.
04
S-curve library operational per project.
05
Variance analysis report format.
06
Root-cause investigation protocol.
07
Monthly integrated commercial-schedule report.
08
Portfolio consolidation dashboard.

Engagement

Scoped for the situation. Sized for contractor economics.

Cost-schedule integration is usually delivered as part of wider Controls or PMO engagements, or as a fixed-scope project-embedded engagement where a specific project needs integration for delivery or claims purposes. Standalone engagements are common where integration is being introduced for the first time.

Engagement models in detail

FAQ

Common questions.

Do we need earned value on every project?

Not necessarily. Earned value adds value on projects of scale and complexity where cost and schedule interact materially. On smaller or simpler projects, lighter-weight integration methods work better and don't consume disproportionate reporting effort.

What if our cost coding doesn't match our WBS?

Common problem. Fixing it is usually the first step in any cost-schedule integration engagement — because integration is impossible where the underlying data structures don't align. This is unglamorous work but it's what makes everything downstream reliable.

Next step

Discuss cost & schedule integration for your project.

Every engagement starts with a scoping conversation. Reach out with the specifics of your situation — live project, contract form, current pressure — and we'll set up the right first step.

Start the conversation

Related sub-services.

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