Cost Control

In this post, we are going to see how Rabio can be implemented with Cost Control operations and procedures.

What is Cost Control?

In general, cost control is the procedure to identify and reduce business expenses to increase profits. Cost control starts with the budgeting process. In any business that follows a cost control procedure, it all comes to compare the company’s actual financial results with the budgeted expectations. If actual costs are higher than planned, management has the information it needs to take action.

You can read a definition for Cost Control in Investopedia.

Cost Breakdown Structure

For the development of a project, it is necessary a Cost Breakdown Structure (CBS) which is a cost allocation to the lowest level of the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS).

The CBS is a breakdown of the costs of the various components and elements of the project’s structure including all works or services done by the subcontractors. The CBS is used to continuously check & compare the actual costs with the budget, and integrate to the cost control management system.

Why Cost Control with Rabio?

Rabio’s core structure can follow a cost breakdown structure using cost centers and cost categories.

The basics of a cost breakdown structure which are Budget, Actual Costs, Earned Value Management, can be implemented in Rabio’s database. With the use of the smart reporting system, Rabio can produce a series of reports that can give to management all the necessary information for critical decisions.

Rabio’s Database VS Spreadsheets

In most cases, cost control departments are using tons of spreadsheets files. Using Rabio does not mean that spreadsheets will stop being used, but they will not be the main data recording system. This role can easily go to the Rabio software system. With the powerful database back end will take over the hard work ensuring data integrity, online multi user-access, data integration with external data sources and flexible reporting capabilities.

Rabio Cost Control Demo

Rabio’s online demo comes with cost control data for two construction projects which are a simple and an extended case. The demo user has access to data and full reporting of :

• Construction Simple : in this case only Budget & Actual Costs are recorded.
• Construction Extended : in this case are recorded :
  • Budget
    • Original Budget
    • Agreed Variation Orders
  • Earned Value
  • Actual Costs
  • Forecast
  • Forecast Earned Value

In both cases, cost centers are grouped as :

• Direct Costs
• Indirect Costs

Categories are also grouped.

Try the demo

Rabio’s demo is available online.
To access the demo you can follow the instructions here.