This is an overview of what cost analysis is all about, the types of cost analyses we implement at the IRC and what kinds of questions they can answer.
Watch the full Cost analysis in Excel playlist.
The videos provided in this series provide an overview of the approach taken at the IRC for completing cost analysis in excel. Each video is 2-3 minutes long. Together we walk through how cost analysis is generally completed, cover basic concepts of cost analysis and data needed to complete the work. Further information about methodology can be found in our methods documents on our costing website.
Chapter 1
This chapter provides an overview of how we identify a cost question and why it’s an important foundation for setting up the cost analysis.
Chapter 2
Once the cost question is finalized, we continue setting up the analysis by identifying discrete activities that can be costed for the duration of the implementation period. This video covers what an activity bucket looks like and how it aligns to the cost question.
Chapter 3
The next step in setting up the cost analysis is to identify which budget lines and resources will be tracked for the duration of implementation, in order to answer the cost question.
Chapter 4
Now that the analysis is set up, its time to collect data. This video covers how we collect data on time and effort, which will be used for the cost analysis.
Chapter 5
Once data collection is complete, we begin to integrate time and effort data with the financial reporting that is used for the cost analysis. This video covers how we integrate spending data into the analysis and begin to analyze it for understanding spend per various cost categories.
Chapter 6
The final step in the cost analysis is to calculate the cost per activity, cost per output, and cost per outcome.