Catch-All Task to capture remaining work performed

[Richard Quinn]

Hello,

I have a tricky question based around accounting for reality in a
project plan, using MS-Project. Work which is done but not directly
attributable to any of the planned tasks usually falls below my
tracking radar. The team members can never attribute 100% of their
working day to the tasks, and yet I must shoulder 100% of the cost for
a working day.

Let's assume that a project manager is given a team of 6 engineers,
plus himself, making a 7 person project team. Let's assume that all of
these people cost $50 / hr, each and every hour they work, and that
they all work 8 hrs /day on the project. Let's assume that this is a
research project, and it has a fixed duration of 14 weeks.

This gives us a fixed staffing cost of 7 (people) * 8 (hours/day) *5
(weekdays) * 14 (weeks) * $50 = $196,000. As a project manager, we
now know that, irrespective of which tasks people are assigned to, the
staffing costs will be $196.000 - unless of course the team changes or
the project duration changes.

Let's also assume that the project manager schedules tasks and assigns
people to tasks, creates a baseline, adjusts task duration, updates
task completion regularly and all the other work necessary to enable
EVA. But at the same time, he knows that he can't capture every
activity in a task, and that only 40% - 60% of an engineer's workday
will be directly attritutable to a planned task.

How can I plan the project in MS-Project, so that the total cost of
$196.000 is accurately reflected, whilst at the same time being able
to plan and analyse work which is directely attributable to a planned
task?

I was thinking of a "catch-all" task, to which each team member is
assigned as a ressource, but has a lower priority than the other
tasks, thus not interrupting them or their scheduling.

Thanks for any pointers,
-Richard

 

[Rob Schneider]

I've handled such in different ways:

: put in one or more "hammock tasks" (Google to find where this fully
explained better than I can here). to account for the overhead hours.
the hammock starts at the beginning of the project and ends at the end
of the project and for budgeting consumes the overhead and/or the
managers time which is not allocated to individual tasks.

: It's up to the project team to bury their overhead in the billable
hours assigned to tasks. Even if they spend only 6 hours a day directly
on the task and they then say they have 2 hours extra that was consumed
with meetings, misc work, form-filling-out, etc. then tough. That's
their business. They bill 8 hours to the project and that's how the
project is estimated.

I think for you that's the approach I would take since you have to pay
the bill for their day (6+2). Let them manage the work balance between
working directly or indirect to the job.

I think another big of guidance is to not fall into the trap of having
Project be your accounting system. Don't force it to account for
everything. While I think Project could probably do it, the people side
of keeping track of all that often falls down.

 

[Mike Glen]

Further, for details, please see FAQ Item: 19. Hammock Tasks.

FAQs, companion products and other useful Project information can be seen at
this web address: http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm

Hope this helps - please let us know how you get on

Mike Glen
Project MVP
See http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc for my free Project Tutorials

 

[Richard Quinn]

I've handled such in different ways:

: put in one or more "hammock tasks" (Google to find where this fully
explained better than I can here). to account for the overhead hours.
the hammock starts at the beginning of the project and ends at the end
of the project and for budgeting consumes the overhead and/or the
managers time which is not allocated to individual tasks.

Hey thanks, I found a useful resource for that:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/141733

So what I did, and now it is working as planned:
I created a hammock task to start when the first regular tack begins
and end when the first regular task ends. The hammock task is "fixed
units", not effort driven. Every engineer is assigned as a ressource
to the hammock task.

For the levelling:
It has a lower Priority than any other task. Level Assignments: Yes.

Then i run Levelling on the project, and the hammock task works as a
ctach-all, mopping up all of the cost for which I am billed, but for
which the person does not do work attritutable to a regular task.

Thanks again,
Richard

 

[Rob Schneider]

Hey thanks, I found a useful resource for that:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/141733

So what I did, and now it is working as planned:
I created a hammock task to start when the first regular tack begins
and end when the first regular task ends. The hammock task is "fixed
units", not effort driven. Every engineer is assigned as a ressource
to the hammock task.

For the levelling:
It has a lower Priority than any other task. Level Assignments: Yes.

Then i run Levelling on the project, and the hammock task works as a
ctach-all, mopping up all of the cost for which I am billed, but for
which the person does not do work attritutable to a regular task.

Thanks again,
Richard

Cool. (I usually never do levelling other than out of curiousity, so
good to know it works as expected on the hammock task).

 

[Steve House]

I have to urge caution with your approach. Remember that MS Projects prime
function is not accounting, it is work scheduling and cost estimating. It's
really designed for you to use it to determine who should be doing what when
and to what end, then the PM communicates the assignments to the resources
who do the work as directed.. There really should be no work that is not
associated with a task since a proper project plans schedules EVERYTHING
that has to happen in order to drive the project to completion. If there is
unaccounted work that is actually part of the project, the project plan was
not done properly.

 

[Richard Quinn]

Hello Steve,

I have to urge caution with your approach.  Remember that MS Projects prime
function is not accounting, it is work scheduling and cost estimating.  It's
really designed for you to use it to determine who should be doing what when
and to what end, then the PM communicates the assignments to the resources
who do the work as directed..  

Thanks for your advice. It's not my goal to use Project as a
bookkeeping or accounting program, but rather for cost planning.

There really should be no work that is not
associated with a task since a proper project plans schedules EVERYTHING
that has to happen in order to drive the project to completion.  If there is
unaccounted work that is actually part of the project, the project plan was
not done properly.

We have real-world activities such as "ad hoc project meetings",
"visiting the bathroom", "sitting and thinking" for which there is no
corresponding task in ms-project. I appreciate that this means that
the project plan does not account for 100% of real world activities.

Is it your suggestion to add such tasks to the project plan? Would you
consider the plan to be done properly then?

However, I don't know when these activities occur, how long they take,
or indeed who performs the activity. I do however need to plan the
cost of the project, and account for 100% of the staffing costs even
though only 60% of the working day is attributable to planned
activities.

How would you suggest this riddle be solved? I'd love to hear of other
approaches.

 

[Rob Schneider]

Hello Steve,



Thanks for your advice. It's not my goal to use Project as a
bookkeeping or accounting program, but rather for cost planning.


We have real-world activities such as "ad hoc project meetings",
"visiting the bathroom", "sitting and thinking" for which there is no
corresponding task in ms-project. I appreciate that this means that
the project plan does not account for 100% of real world activities.

Is it your suggestion to add such tasks to the project plan? Would you
consider the plan to be done properly then?

However, I don't know when these activities occur, how long they take,
or indeed who performs the activity. I do however need to plan the
cost of the project, and account for 100% of the staffing costs even
though only 60% of the working day is attributable to planned
activities.

How would you suggest this riddle be solved? I'd love to hear of other
approaches.

Richard,

Given that you aren't using Project as an accounting system (good) and
that you pay the full rate regardless of the individual's productivity,
then you should be not planning for these overheads. Let them manage it.
If they charge you 8 hrs for a full day of work (including overheads),
then that's what you plan. Meetings, thinking, etc. are all legitimate
parts of the project--hence they bill you.

Don't try to account for it.

 

[Richard Quinn]

Hi Rob,

Given that you aren't using Project as an accounting system (good) and
that you pay the full rate regardless of the individual's productivity,
then you should be not planning for these overheads. Let them manage it.
  If they charge you 8 hrs for a full day of work (including overheads),
then that's what you plan.  Meetings, thinking, etc. are all legitimate
parts of the project--hence they bill you.

Don't try to account for it.

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

I guess that what you wrote lies at the heart of my problem.

I am not trying to run an accounting office in MS-Project, I am just
trying to plan the costs. Project helps me with cost planning - a
legitimate part of my job. The issue of budget overruns is something
close to every project manager's heart

Is your advice - not to use Project for cost planning - founded on
some limitation of MS-Project? Project offers rich functionality -
even down to differing cost tables per resource for managing costs. I
would like to leverage this functionality to the full - if possible.
The big goal is to use MS-Project for analysing the project's status
using earned value analysis.

Thanks in advance.
- Richard

 

[Rob Schneider]

Hi Rob,



Thanks for taking the time to respond.

I guess that what you wrote lies at the heart of my problem.

I am not trying to run an accounting office in MS-Project, I am just
trying to plan the costs. Project helps me with cost planning - a
legitimate part of my job. The issue of budget overruns is something
close to every project manager's heart

Is your advice - not to use Project for cost planning - founded on
some limitation of MS-Project? Project offers rich functionality -
even down to differing cost tables per resource for managing costs. I
would like to leverage this functionality to the full - if possible.
The big goal is to use MS-Project for analysing the project's status
using earned value analysis.

Thanks in advance.
- Richard

Richard,

I'm saying something different. And I haven't gone back to read the the
entire thread, so give me a little liberty.

You said that you have to pay the fully burdened cost of the people;
regardless of their productivity. For example; if a task is planned for
6 hours and they take 6 direct hours to work on it they are on budget.
You also say you have to include 2 additional hours in the plan to make
it so that when you figure out costs you take (6+2)x[Billing Rate]=Cost
so that when you add up all the costs it corresponds to the full cost of
the person.

I'm saying: let the person handle the details. If they work on a task
for you that day, and they also do "overhead" for which they have no
other place to charge the time and since you have agreed to pay (thank
you very much), then the bill you 8 hours to get the task done. You
budget 8 hours for the task. 8x[Billing Rate] is cost.

They fund their overheads in their billable hours and your budgeting.
Their estimates of work for each tasks have to include their overheads.

Overheads are part of the job and are part of teh cost to get earned
value.

I'm saying that you just do have to be trying to account for it in your
planning. You can of courase acount for it if you want, but your life
will be more complicated and it does not help the project.

It takes what it takes to do the job. Meetings, going to the bathroom,
email, office safety reviews, filling our expense statements ... all
part of the job.

 

[Steve House]

As Rob said.

Gross cost estimating, certainly. But micro-planning costs is going too
far. Do you REALLY need to know that Joe costs $2.50 each time he visits
the washroom which he does 3.7 times a day, $15 a day answering email, etc?
Or isn't it good enough to know that if Joe starts waxing the widgets on
Monday he'll finish on Wednesday and it'll cost you about $200 to get those
widgets waxed? After all, no matter how many decimal places precision you
carry out your estimates to, it's only a guesstimate until the work is done
and the bills come in. (Never confuse precision with accuracy.)

When you estimate costs you look at the amount of work that's going to be
required to achieve the desired results, right? When you look at past
history, where the big software rollout last year took 10 days and cost
$1000, to get an idea of what it will take to do this year's project, you're
looking at gross values. You know it took 10 days but you really don't know
how much of that time was installing software and how much was reading
email, refilling the coffee cup, visiting the washroom, etc. If you use the
10 days as the basis of your estimate for this year, you've already taken
all of those "hidden overheads" into account. Yes, if he didn't do anything
except install, he might have done it in 9 days, but so what? Why does it
matter? It took 10 days and cost $1000 last year, it'll probably take 10
days and cost $1000 this year. How much his pee breaks cost you is
irrelevant.

--
Steve House
MS Project Trainer & Consultant


Hi Rob,

Given that you aren't using Project as an accounting system (good) and
that you pay the full rate regardless of the individual's productivity,
then you should be not planning for these overheads. Let them manage it.
If they charge you 8 hrs for a full day of work (including overheads),
then that's what you plan. Meetings, thinking, etc. are all legitimate
parts of the project--hence they bill you.

Don't try to account for it.

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

I guess that what you wrote lies at the heart of my problem.

I am not trying to run an accounting office in MS-Project, I am just
trying to plan the costs. Project helps me with cost planning - a
legitimate part of my job. The issue of budget overruns is something
close to every project manager's heart

Is your advice - not to use Project for cost planning - founded on
some limitation of MS-Project? Project offers rich functionality -
even down to differing cost tables per resource for managing costs. I
would like to leverage this functionality to the full - if possible.
The big goal is to use MS-Project for analysing the project's status
using earned value analysis.

Thanks in advance.
- Richard