Manage project budgets and timelines

Prepare the project budget and timeline workbook for the runway lighting upgrade and send it to Carlos in procurement and to Anita finance director for e-signature, signers in that order, with a Friday deadline—verify the baseline budget sheet matches the approved PO and the GANTT dates sum to the project duration first.

Before I hand this to procurement, make the budget easy to approve: surface total contingency and net change from last approved budget at the top, make cost line items readable by vendor, and highlight any tasks where schedule slips create multiplier costs. Flag anything over the procurement threshold of $25,000.

I updated the GANTT and noticed the timeline shows a delivery of August 12, but the budget’s cashflow assumes August 5. Carlos in procurement will freeze orders Friday; Anita expects a final schedule tonight. I’m not sure which is the source of truth—the contractor’s schedule or the finance cashflow entry. Should I pause procurement asks and get the contractor to confirm dates, or align cashflow to the contractor and risk changing approvals?

Across several projects we lose time and trust because schedules in the GANTT aren’t reconciled with cashflow assumptions and procurement cutoffs, creating late orders and budget variances. What habit or checkpoint should the project leads adopt so timeline changes are reconciled to budget and procurement before sign-off?