Set the Proposed Budget

A budget is an itemized estimate of the cost of producing the project. The cost of producing a technical communication project includes:

• Fully "burdened" cost of the technical communicator. A "burdened"cost includes both the cost of labor and additional "burden" costs; that is, the fully burdened cost includes the salary for the technical communicator as well as benefits (if any), employment taxes (if any), and related overhead expeses (such as the cost of the office, cost of support services). This cost is usually based on time, charged either by the hour (for people working as contractors and consultants) or the month (for full-time employees). Generally, assume that the technical communicator works 90 percent of the time while preparing drafts and during 50 percent of the time when drafts are being reviewed (technical communicators may work on other projects at that time, or on administrative tasks)
• Fully burdened cost of the project manager, about 15 percent of the total time of the project
• Fully burdened cost of the editor, about 10 percent of the total time of the project
• Fully burdened cost of the production staff, about 15 percent of the total time of the project
• Costs of specialized services, such as the cost of conducting a usability test
• Equipment costs, such as the purchase or lease of a special computer for the project
• Software costs, such as the purchase or lease of an authoring system or graphics software
• Training costs associated with the project, such as the cost of sending the technical communicator to a product training class on OneCare (a course on online communication, however, would not be specific to this project and would not be included in the project cost)
• Copying and distribution costs for review drafts
• Production costs, such as the cost of preparing special printing plates
• Duplicating costs for the final product, which your printer can provide and, if you are preparing a printed Different organizations have different methods for computing these costs. Some, for example, have an hourly rate that they charge for a technical communicator that also includes the costs of the project manager. Others separately charge for these expenses.

For example:

When you have developed your budget, review it with the client and make adjustments. If your client seeks adjustments, first try to adjust the production specifications so that you can lower the cost of duplicating. Often, a slight change in a paper specification or a reduction in the number of inks used can signficantly reduce the total cost of the project. Reducing the salaries for professional services,such as that of the technical communicator, are more difficult.

Once you have your client’s approval, you can use the budget as a basis for spending on this project.

Related Resource: Work sheet for planning a budget

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