| Course | BU 345 Project Management |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 5 |
| Paper type | Budget baseline sheet |
| Length | About 770 words, 5 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Herzing University |
| Program | BS in Project Management |
| Updated | September 2026 |
Free sample paper for BU 345 Unit 5
$287,750 of Work and $21,600 Held for Five Named Risks: A Budget Baseline Sheet for a Composite Brewery's Canning Line, Phased by Month
Student Name
Business, Herzing University
BU 345: Project Management
Instructor Name
March 18, 2026
$287,750 of Work and $21,600 Held for Five Named Risks: A Budget Baseline Sheet for a Composite Brewery's Canning Line, Phased by Month
Purpose and Method
This sheet sets the cost baseline for Iron Trestle Brewing's canning line, using the packages from Unit 3 and the schedule from Unit 4. Every row follows the numbering of the work breakdown structure, so a reader can move between the two documents without translating. Each row carries labor, equipment or materials and any other direct cost, the estimating method used and a confidence note. Contingency appears on separate lines, each tied to a named risk, rather than as a flat percentage spread across everything. Standard guidance from the Project Management Institute (2017) distinguishes contingency reserves, held for identified risks and included in the cost baseline, from management reserves, held for unknown events and kept outside it; this sheet includes only contingency.
Three estimating methods appear. Vendor quotes are fixed prices received in writing and carry high confidence. Bottom-up estimates multiply hours by a rate and carry medium confidence. Analogous estimates draw on a comparable past cost, such as the brewery's losses during trial runs with the mobile canner, and carry lower confidence.
The Baseline Sheet
The table costs every package. Figures are rounded to the nearest $50 where they are estimates.
| WBS | Package | Labor | Equipment or materials | Other direct | Total | Method and confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.1-1.2 | Project management | $6,400 | $0 | $0 | $6,400 | Bottom-up: 140 hours at about $45.70; medium |
| 2.1 | Electrical service upgrade | $9,800 | $8,700 | $0 | $18,500 | Contractor quote; high |
| 2.2 | Air and CO2 lines | $2,900 | $3,300 | $0 | $6,200 | Subcontractor quote; high |
| 2.3 | Floor drain and slab | $4,600 | $3,200 | $0 | $7,800 | Contractor quote; high |
| 2.4 | Electrical permit | $0 | $0 | $650 | $650 | City fee schedule; high |
| 3.1 | Filler and seamer | $0 | $198,000 | $6,000 freight | $204,000 | Vendor quote; high |
| 3.2 | Depalletizer, rinser, conveyors | $0 | $21,500 | $0 | $21,500 | Vendor quote; high |
| 3.3 | Seam inspection tools | $0 | $4,300 | $0 | $4,300 | Catalog prices; high |
| 4.1 | Label artwork | $0 | $0 | $3,500 | $3,500 | Designer quote; high |
| 4.2 | Federal label approvals | $400 | $0 | $0 | $400 | Bottom-up: owner's hours; medium |
| 4.3 | Can and lid supply contract | $300 | $0 | $0 | $300 | Bottom-up; medium |
| 5.1-5.3 | Installation and acceptance test | $0 | $0 | $7,500 | $7,500 | Vendor rate: 5 technician days at $1,500; high |
| 5.4 | Trial runs | $0 | $2,800 | $0 | $2,800 | Analogous: past trial losses; low |
| 6.1-6.2 | Training and procedures | $3,900 | $0 | $0 | $3,900 | Bottom-up: paid hours; medium |
| Subtotal, work | $287,750 |
Contingency, Line by Line
Contingency totals $21,600, bringing the baseline to $309,350, the figure authorized in the charter. Each line is sized to a specific risk from the risk analysis rather than taken as a percentage. A flat 10 percent would have produced about $28,800, more than the identified risks justify, and would have hidden which risks the money is for.
Contingency is controlled more tightly than the rest of the budget. Under the charter, only the sponsor can release a contingency line, and only for the risk it names; if a risk passes without occurring, its line is closed and the money is not moved to other work. Unused contingency at closeout is reported as a saving rather than spent. This rule keeps the reserve honest and makes each line a test of whether the risk analysis was right.
| Contingency line | Risk it covers | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| C1 | Utility requires a transformer upgrade to serve the new electrical load | $8,000 |
| C2 | Seam failures in trial runs require extra vendor technician time and scrapped cans | $4,500 |
| C3 | Contractor finds the electrical panel must be relocated | $5,000 |
| C4 | Line delivery slips, requiring two bridge runs by the mobile canner | $2,400 |
| C5 | Label approval is denied and artwork must be revised and resubmitted | $1,700 |
| Total contingency | $21,600 | |
| Cost baseline including contingency | $309,350 |
Phasing Across the Schedule
The work subtotal is spread across the months in which costs will be incurred, based on the schedule in Unit 4 and the vendor's payment terms of 50 percent at order and 50 percent on delivery. March carries $118,700: the equipment deposits of $102,000 and $10,750, the permit fee, the label artwork and a month of project management. April carries $39,300: the electrical, air, CO2 and drain work, the seam tools, the label and supply contract hours and project management. May carries $124,850: the equipment balances, the technician's installation days, the trial runs and project management. June carries $4,900 for training and the last project management hours. Cumulatively, the baseline reaches $118,700 by the end of March, $158,000 by the end of April, $282,850 by the end of May and $287,750 by project close.
These cumulative figures are the planned value curve against which progress will be measured in the status report in Unit 7. Fleming and Koppelman (2010) describe earned value management as comparing the budgeted value of work performed with both the planned value and the actual cost, which requires exactly this kind of time-phased baseline.
The phasing also tells the owner when cash leaves the business. The two equipment payments, in March and May, account for more than three quarters of all spending, so the equipment loan's first draw must be available before the purchase order is signed on March 4 and the second before delivery on May 13. A lender asked to fund the project will want this schedule, and building it now avoids a scramble for cash in the middle of the installation.
Where the Estimates Are Weak
Most of the budget, about 90 percent by value, rests on written quotes and published fees, so the baseline's total is reasonably firm. The weak estimates are small in dollars but worth watching. Trial run losses are analogous and could run higher if the brewery's first seams need several adjustments; contingency line C2 covers that. Project management and training hours are bottom-up estimates that tend to grow when a project runs into problems, since the same people spend more time on meetings and rework. Kerzner (2017) notes that labor estimates on internal staff are the easiest to underestimate because the time is not invoiced and so is rarely tracked. The project manager will therefore log project hours weekly from the start. Iron Trestle Brewing, its quotes and rates are composites created for this course.
References
Fleming, Q. W., & Koppelman, J. M. (2010). Earned value project management (4th ed.). Project Management Institute.
Kerzner, H. (2017). Project management: A systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling (12th ed.). Wiley.
Project Management Institute. (2017). A guide to the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK guide) (6th ed.). Project Management Institute.
BU 345 Unit 5 instructions, in plain terms
The budget unit asks students to build a cost baseline for their project. Most versions want each work package costed, the estimating method stated, contingency added and justified, and the budget spread across the schedule. Many rubrics distinguish contingency reserves for identified risks from management reserves for unknowns. Instructors often check that rows match the work breakdown numbering and that totals add up. Some sections ask for earned value planning figures, while others save earned value for the status report. When the project is composite, rates and quotes may be estimated, but their basis should be stated. Expect a table-centered document of a few pages in APA 7.
Inside the BU 345 Unit 5 example
The sample explains its purpose and three estimating methods, then presents a baseline table with fourteen rows in breakdown order, each split into labor, equipment and other costs with a method and confidence note. A contingency table lists five lines, each tied to a risk, totaling $21,600, and a paragraph explains the rules for releasing contingency. A phasing section spreads costs across March to June using the vendor's payment terms and gives cumulative totals that become the planned value curve, then notes the cash timing for the equipment loan. The final section identifies the weakest estimates, trial losses and internal hours, and explains how they will be tracked.
Reading the BU 345 Unit 5 rubric
Herzing's rubric for the baseline sheet usually covers alignment with the work breakdown, the quality of estimates, the treatment of contingency and the phasing. Alignment earns full points when rows follow the breakdown numbering exactly. Estimates are judged by a stated method and a sense of confidence for each figure. Contingency scores highest when it is tied to identified risks rather than applied as a flat percentage, as the sample's five lines are. Phasing rewards a time-spread budget that produces cumulative planned values usable for earned value later. Instructors also credit discussion of weak estimates and cash timing. Totals that add up and clear tables support the final points. Separating firm quotes from rough estimates also earns credit.
BU 345 Unit 5 help: mistakes that cost points
A budget that drifts from the work breakdown, is the usual Unit 5 failure, since no one can then connect costs to work. Another is contingency added as 10 or 15 percent with no link to specific risks. Students often forget internal labor because it is not invoiced. Figures are sometimes given without a method, so an instructor cannot tell a quote from a guess. Many budgets skip phasing, which leaves nothing to measure progress against later. Finally, check every total twice; arithmetic errors in a budget sheet cost points quickly and undermine confidence in the rest of the plan. Label every figure as a quote or an estimate so the reader knows which numbers are firm.
Get a BU 345 Unit 5 example written to your instructions
Send the Unit 5 instructions and the rubric from your BU 345 classroom, along with the breakdown and schedule the budget has to match. We write a custom example that costs by package, names a method for every figure, ties contingency to risks and phases the total. First custom sample free, returned in 24 to 48 hours.
More BU 345 papers and project management samples
- BU 345 Unit 1: Project selection record
- BU 345 Unit 2: Charter and stakeholder register
- BU 345 Unit 3: Scope and work breakdown document
- BU 345 Unit 4: Schedule and dependency chart
- BU 345 Unit 6: Risk response table
- BU 345 Unit 7: Status report to sponsor
- BU 345 Unit 8: Project closeout file
- BU 434 Unit 5: Requirements document
- BU 436 Unit 5: Sustainability plan with costs
- BU 442 Unit 5: Budget and contingency
- BU 396 Unit 5: Response strategy selection
BU 345 Unit 5 questions, answered
Where do I get rates if the project is composite?
Reason them out and label them. A rate can be built from a published range, from an order of magnitude a reader will recognize as plausible, or simply stated as an assumption for the exercise. What causes a problem is presenting a figure as market truth when it is not, or importing an employer's real cost data, which belongs to the employer.
How much contingency is reasonable?
There is no correct percentage, and reaching for one is how these sheets go wrong. Work from the risks you identified: a supplier with a single source, an estimate resting on one comparable job, a package nobody has attempted before. Attach an amount to each, let the total be whatever those add up to, and say what would release it.
Does the sheet need earned value figures?
Only where the instructions ask, and many sections introduce the idea here without requiring a full calculation. If yours does want it, remember that earned value needs a baseline and some assumed progress, so state the reporting point and the completion you are assuming. Figures presented without those two things cannot be interpreted by anybody.
Where can I find a free BU 345 Unit 5 sample paper?
A free copy of the BU 345 Unit 5 baseline sheet, including contingency lines and phasing, is shown above. For a budget built on your own breakdown, share it with the prompt, and we will cost it for you free, usually in a couple of days.
How much contingency is reasonable in BU 345 Unit 5?
Enough to cover the risks you have identified, sized one by one. The sample holds $21,600, about 7.5 percent of the work cost, spread across five named risks. A flat percentage is easier but hides which risks the money is for.