🎙️ Cost Estimating at your Fingertips | Ashok Sinha on Molecules to Market

🎯 Resources

👤 Ashok Sinha's Profile

🔗 Portfolio Planning PLUS (ppPLUS) Platform

🛢️ ppPLUS Refining Module

🏭 ppPLUS Encyclopedia of Technologies

🇮🇳 The DREAM Refinery Project

📩 Suggest a guest or topic: media@portfolio-pplus.com

✨ Episode Overview

In Part 2 of our conversation with Ashok Sinha — cost estimating and project controls veteran with nearly 50 years of global experience — Ashok walks us through his presentation “Cost Estimating at your Fingertips”, introducing the cost estimating software commercialized by his company Archit Business Solutions (ABS Inc).

While most cost estimating software on the market targets detailed AACE Class 1–3 estimates, Ashok’s solution is designed for a very different user: owners, CEOs, decision-makers and higher management sitting in the boardroom, who need a reliable Class 4/5 estimate before committing to a project — not three weeks later.

In this walkthrough, Ashok lays out the problem with today’s boardroom practices (guesswork vs. weeks of estimator work), explains how the software delivers precise project cost estimates in mere seconds, and why consistency, quality, and data-driven decision-making matter more than ever. The live hands-on demonstration is coming in a future session — this episode sets the stage so that demo stays focused and interactive.

📑 Chapters

1. 00:00 — Welcome back & introduction
2. 00:59 — “Cost Estimating at your Fingertips” — designed for decision-makers
3. 03:31 — The problem: budgets, risks & crucial decisions
4. 04:22 — The solution: precise estimates in seconds
5. 05:20 — The three decision-making factors in project selection
6. 06:27 — Today’s process: intuition vs. asking managers
7. 08:28 — The hurdle: time, cost & phase-wise budget distribution
8. 11:28 — Challenge: quality of results & consistency
9. 14:02 — Other considerations: cost of knowledge & fund requirements
10. 17:19 — Demo note: live demonstration coming next
11. 17:35 — Especially designed for management — estimate before your coffee is ready
12. 21:57 — One-of-a-kind: the developer’s background (Engineer + MBA, ~50 years)
13. 22:41 — Industries covered & project value range (up to $9B CAD)
14. 23:31 — Discussion: simplicity, confidentiality & the India refinery project
15. 27:36 — Closing remarks