"If ever there was a black art, this one must be it. I can only feel sympathy for those first film producers when the accountants asked 'how much is it going to cost'. The simple answer is always: 'it depends!'" Higgs, P.L. (1997).

I absolutely love that quote. In fact it sits proudly on my desk and reminds me that we are all human. Because you see, the task of keeping a multi media project within the budget is an extraordinary one. And one that couldn't be accomplished if the following three procedures weren't utilized by project managers.

1. SCOPE

It is important the Project is scoped correctly and in enough depth to ensure the budget can be accurately defined. You have to know what your client wants. You have to pin point it exactly and then detail it minutely so that both of you are on the same wave length. Quoting my old friend again ... Higgs (1997) says "The more work that goes into storyboarding, researching and specifying the project before you quote, the more accurately you can quote".

To devise an accurate Scope, your client and yourself must be in sync about:

• Quality
• Quantity
• Subject Matter
• Interactivity
• Number of screens

and, you need to ask yourself:

• How much media/code can I use from the inhouse library?
• What software/hardware needs to be purchased?
• Does the team have the necessary skills?
• Do I need to outsource any components?

• Ensuring all team members have defined roles and tasks
• Make sure the team is functioning as a team and not a team of individuals
• Constant review with the use of meetings providing positive feedback and constructive criticism is very important
• The use of Gantt charts to accurately specify and predict the flow of the project.
• The constant revision of those Gantt charts for future refinement
• The use of time sheets to gather accurate data so that the Gantt chart can be constantly refined. This will also assist in the development of Metrics for future projects