The Budget!

The project budget is the base of the project and is defined for the total sum of the cost allocated to the project, activities and resources for a determined period of time. The goal/purpose of the budget is to control the project costs within the approved budget and deliver the expected project goals.

Budget management consists on a series of tasks and steps designed to help manage the costs of the project. It should attend to the definition, executing, controlling, and updating. 

The budget must be considered in the initial stage of the project planning in parallel with the development of the activities and schedule. The steps associated with budgeting are highly dependent on both the estimated lengths of tasks and the resources assigned to the project. . Cost of performing a task is directly related to the resources assigned to the task and his duration. The budget is the mechanism to control the project, if any parameter in the execution of the project begins to slip it will be reflected in the budget, because the costs are proportionally affected. If this happens the manager needs to determine where he needs to make adjustments.