As any project manager knows one of the most vital aspects of any project is costing. You can have the most detailed plan imaginable with meticulous time and task management and the clearest idea of goals and objectives. But if the budget goes out of the window then all your hard work and effort is invariably for nought.

And yet despite this knowledge it is often the budget that goes awry and ends up compromising the overall success of the project. This is not altogether surprising as the figures can be a hard thing to keep on top of especially when working on a complex and multi-faceted project. But the slightest financial slip can mean the difference between profit and loss.

This is where Microsoft Project comes in. The most comprehensive project management software available MS Project enables you to track and analyse budgetary information so that issues surrounding budgets and costs can be easily resolved.

It does this primarily by splitting the work resources into three basic cost types: resource rates, fixed costs and per-use costs. Fixed costs cover the final costing of a task or resource, irrespective of factors such as the amount of man-hours worked or the number of resources utilised. These considerations fall under resource rates. Per-use costs in turn concentrate on the amount of resources assigned per use rather than as part of an overall series of assignments.

MS Project then uses these three types to track and estimate costs, calculating data automatically where resource rates and per-use costs are selected.

MS Project also recognises that different levels of budgetary information are required depending at what stage in the project you are at. With this in mind it incorporates a summary task level that allows you to view rough estimates rather than wading through all the minutiae of the actual costs.

Within each of these three cost types there are features that allow a more sophisticated reading of the data available. For example, if setting pay rates in the resource rates option you can add an overtime tab to track any hours worked in addition to those initially assigned. There is also the option to include a calendar to keep a check on the work schedule and the level of costs in relation to activity completed.

This is only the most basic overview of what Microsoft Project can achieve and yet even at this fundamental level the program is capable of efficiently organising different sets of data within a complex project thus saving you the time and hassle of manually collating and tracking them. Because projects can rapidly escalate as unseen considerations and roadblocks arise it is vital to have software that takes care of the bottom line, leaving you free to respond quickly and creatively to new issues.

For a more comprehensive study of exactly what MS Project can do for your business it is advisable to enrol on a training course. In the high pressure world of project management a thorough understanding of MS Project can really mark you out from the competition.