10 Step Estimation Process Sample Checklist
View our 10 Step Estimating Process Checklist. This checklist should be tuned to the individual company’s needs and suggestions.
Galorath’s 2025 Industry Report on Cost, Schedule, and Risk highlights widespread breakdowns in planning, estimation, and execution. Based on data from more than 180 professionals across 10 countries and multiple sectors, the report exposes how overreliance on outdated tools and underinvestment in scalable systems are undermining cost control and project success.
Project-based organizations have embraced automation, cloud platforms, and AI tools to streamline almost every major function. But estimation has been left behind.
Despite the modernization of planning, procurement, and delivery, most companies still run cost estimation in spreadsheets. According to Galorath’s 2025 Industry Report on Cost, Schedule, and Risk, 87% of organizations say Excel remains their primary estimation tool. That is not scrappy. That is reckless.
Spreadsheets Are the Weakest Link
A spreadsheet might be familiar, but it was never designed for program-wide coordination. One wrong formula, one broken link, one file saved over, and your forecast is compromised. Version control failures, disconnected inputs, and silent errors do more than hurt accuracy. They drive up costs and erode trust.
These issues are not theoretical. They show up in real budgets, real timelines, and real business consequences. Teams that rely on spreadsheets are more likely to deliver estimates that are outdated the moment they are finalized. Small changes ripple unpredictably. What was a manageable variance turns into a missed milestone.
Nearly half of surveyed organizations cite inaccurate initial estimates as a top challenge. But this is not an isolated miscalculation. It is a predictable result of building mission-critical forecasts in tools that cannot scale, adapt, or provide a single source of truth.
Spreadsheets allow too much room for interpretation and too little room for accountability. They obscure ownership, hide assumptions, and encourage workarounds. The longer teams rely on them, the more fragile and fragmented the process becomes.
The Automation Ceiling Is Staggeringly Low
Only 4% of organizations say they have automated more than three-quarters of their estimation process. That means more than 95% still rely on manual work for at least half of their estimates. The drag on productivity is real. The risk of rework is constant.
This gap is not just about speed. It is about how much your team can handle before quality breaks down. If analysts are wasting time copying values across sheets or chasing version history, they are not forecasting. They are firefighting.
This Is a Leadership Issue
Executives say they want faster delivery, better risk management, and more strategic planning. But few have invested in the one function that connects all three. Estimation informs everything from product planning to staffing to capital allocation. Treating it like a back-office task is a critical misstep.
Structured estimation platforms exist. They offer automation, traceability, and cross-team alignment. The barrier is not technology. It is prioritization. Leaders who still view estimation as a technical exercise rather than a strategic lever are choosing risk, even if they don’t realize it.
The consequences of this mindset are measurable. Teams lose time reconciling errors. Projects launch on outdated assumptions. Finance and engineering struggle to speak the same language because no shared model connects scope, cost, and schedule. Fixing that disconnect requires more than new tools. It requires executive recognition that estimation is not support work. It is strategic infrastructure.
Leaders can fix this, but only by acting on what the data already shows. Teams are under strain. Rework is high. Accuracy is inconsistent. The solution is to resource the estimation function like the core business function it is.
If a Copy/Paste Can Break It, It’s Not a Business Tool
There is no excuse for using tools that buckle under pressure. Modern programs demand real-time visibility, audit-ready documentation, and estimates that can evolve as assumptions change. None of that is possible in a spreadsheets.
A single spreadsheet error should not derail a timeline. A hidden logic gap should not trigger a multimillion-dollar overrun. Yet these scenarios play out because companies refuse to retire the tools that enable them.
Estimation is not a spreadsheet. It is a process that shapes execution, cash flow, and credibility. When it fails, everything that follows becomes harder.
Companies that want to lead need to treat estimation as a priority. That means moving away from legacy tools and toward systems that reinforce accuracy, transparency, and accountability.
That transition is not one-size-fits-all. It might mean standing up a structured estimation platform for high-risk programs, upskilling teams with formal training, or integrating real-time cost models into finance workflows. The point is not perfection. It is progress.
The companies that win will not be the ones with the flashiest dashboards. They will be the ones whose estimates hold up when it counts. If your estimation process can be broken by a formatting error, it is not just outdated. It is dangerous.
Explore the full findings and download the report:
The 2025 Industry Report on Cost, Schedule, and Risk
Schedule a live demo of Galorath’s AI driven SEER platform.
Estimating Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
Find out how you can use Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) model to create an estimate which includes all the costs generated over the useful life of a given application.
Should Cost Analysis
Learn how Should-Cost Analysis can identify savings opportunities and drive cost efficiency in procurement and manufacturing processes.
ROM Estimate: The First Step Towards a Detailed Project Plan
Find out what ROM (rough order of magnitude) estimate is and why is it a crucial element of every project planning cycle.
Software Maintenance Cost
Find out why accurate estimation of software maintenance costs is critical to proper project management, and how it can make up to roughly 75% of the TCO.
