A complete BU 442 Unit 5 budget and contingency: cost time-phased against the schedule, contingency derived from recorded uncertainty, and management reserve held outside the baseline. Searches like "bu 442 unit 5 assignment example", "bu442 unit 5 sample" and "bu 442 unit 5 example" land here.
What a finished BU 442 Unit 5 budget and contingency looks like
This one is a spreading exercise with a derivation attached. The first table takes each priced element and places its cost against the dates the network gave it, so the budget arrives as a series of periods rather than a single number, and a cumulative column runs alongside. That cumulative column is then drawn as the curve everything later in the term is measured against. A second section derives contingency: the elements whose basis flagged the widest assumptions are listed, each given a range and a likelihood, and the amounts are combined into a single figure with the arithmetic shown. A control account section says which elements are grouped for reporting and who holds each. The closing distinguishes contingency, which sits inside the baseline for known uncertainty, from management reserve, which does not.
How a BU 442 Unit 5 example is structured
Cost is spread against schedule dates rather than divided evenly across the calendar, because an evenly divided budget produces a straight line that no real project follows and every later variance measured against it will be an artifact of the spreading. The cumulative curve appears here rather than in a later unit, since it is the reference the rest of the course compares actuals to and it has to exist before anything can be measured. Contingency is derived from the elements that carry the uncertainty instead of applied as a percentage of the total, which is the single distinction this unit is testing. The derivation is shown line by line so a reader can disagree with one element rather than with the whole figure. Reserve is separated last, because confusing the two lets a project spend money on scope that was never estimated.
Money placed on dates, not averaged
Each element is spread across the periods its schedule dates cover, since an evenly divided budget invents variances that mean nothing later.
The cumulative curve built here
A running total drawn against time becomes the reference every later measurement compares against, so it belongs in this deliverable rather than a later one.
Contingency derived element by element
The amount comes from the elements whose assumptions were flagged as wide, each given a range, rather than from a percentage of the total.
Control accounts named with an owner
Elements are grouped into the units that will actually be reported on, and each group is given somebody accountable for it.
Reserve separated from the baseline
Management reserve is held outside the measured budget, because money for scope nobody estimated should not quietly absorb a performance problem.
Where marks go in BU 442 Unit 5
Budgets lose points the moment contingency becomes a round percentage. Ten percent added at the bottom with no derivation is the failure this unit exists to catch, and no amount of presentation elsewhere recovers it. Costs divided equally across the calendar produce a baseline the schedule does not support, and every variance computed against it later is meaningless. Budgets stated as one total, with no time phasing, leave nothing to measure progress against. Contingency merged into element estimates disappears and can never be shown as released. Reserve counted inside the baseline lets unestimated scope be funded quietly. Control accounts with no owner report to nobody. Figures presented as costs rather than as case material overreach, and a budget file taken from an employer's finance system is that employer's record.
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BU 442 Unit 5 questions, answered
How do I derive contingency without a simulation?
By listing the elements whose basis flagged an assumption, putting a plausible range on each and combining them with the arithmetic visible. A simple weighted calculation across a handful of elements shows the same reasoning a simulation would and is often what the instructions expect at this level. What matters is that the figure traces back to named uncertainty rather than to a habit.
What is the difference between contingency and reserve here?
Contingency covers uncertainty you identified and priced, sits inside the baseline, and is released against the elements it was raised for. Reserve covers what nobody anticipated, sits outside the baseline, and is usually controlled above the project manager. Keeping them apart is what lets you show later that an overrun came from a known risk rather than from scope that was never estimated.
Does the budget need to match the estimate exactly?
It should reconcile, and any difference needs a line explaining it. Rounding, a rate updated since the estimate was written, or an element moved between control accounts are all legitimate and all need saying. A budget whose total silently differs from the estimate submitted earlier is read as carelessness, since a marker holding the two side by side will find it at once.