Vecta has developed an estimate accuracy assessment tool based on AACE International Recommended Practice 18R-97, that takes into account the level of engineering developed for a project phase and calculates the level of accuracy.

The estimate assessment uses a “Target” weighting of key deliverables and activities that must be completed for the project. Actual weightings are then calculated based on the actual percent complete for each deliverable or activity. This is then mathematically consolidated to provide an overall estimate accuracy for the project. We provide the customer a basis and an actual level of accuracy for the estimate which also translates to a level of confidence that enough engineering has been completed for the phase.

The estimate assessment works across all phases of a project process and can also be done mid phase by assessing the partial progress of the key deliverables. It can also be used to forecast what level of accuracy can be achieved at a particular stage of the project. For example, if you were working on a 12 month FEED (classified as Class 3 Feasibility Stage Estimate) and wanted to know what level of accuracy you could achieve by month 6 of the FEED, you could use your FEED schedule (detailed project schedule) to determine the percentage complete for the key deliverables and feed this data back into the spreadsheet. The spreadsheet would then determine the overall level of definition achieved by month 6 and calculate a level of accuracy which should be between the Expected Accuracy Range for a Class 3 estimate.