Cost calculations incorrect

[TKD]

I'm noticing that some of my MP cost calculations aren't correct for some
resources. What is going on? I need to get a baseline completed soon! I'm
using MP 2002.

Many thanks.

 

[Catfish Hunter]

You need to supply more details.

 

[Steve House [Project MVP]]

In exactly what wya are they incorrect? What is the exact situation where
you are getting what you feel are incorrect results, what is Project giving
you, and what do you think it ought to be giving you?

 

[TKD]

I've assigned resources hours and when I do a download, I notice that there
are cases where there are hours assigned to a resources, but no associated
costs! For example, I've assigned a person 160 hours for a month and the
program shows the 160 additional hours, but the cost of the resource doesn't
change. So, I don't have an accurate picture of how much I've budgeted.
Thanks. Hope you can help.

 

[TKD]

I'm working on rebaslining my project which is due Tuesday. I thought I was
done, but when I did a timephased download of costs and scanned them, I
noticed that there are cases where I've assigned hours to resources, but see
no associated costs. When I do a sanity check of hours and costs in Excel,
the numbers don't match.

I don't feel like I have an accurate picture of my plan and I'm on a
deadline.

 

[Steve House [Project MVP]]

Hard to know yet what's going on - I don't think in terms of assigning hours
to resources, I think of assigning rates to resources and resources to
tasks. Project multiplies the rate for the resource times the hours he's
committed to the task and there's the cost of the task. Can you give a
concrete example of the issue you're seeing? If you display the task cost
tables in the Gantt chart views do you see correct numbers? How about
adding the cost lines to the resource usage view - are correct numbers
there?
--
Steve House [MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

 

[TKD]

Yes, I see numbers in Gannt, but they aren't correct.

I assigned rates to resources and resources to tasks, but was asked by my
boss to further refine the number of available resource hours for the tasks.
I figured out what the maximum hours a person would work on a task and
manually adjusted their hours to match.

In some 20 cases, the hours adjusted, but the costs didn't adjust
accordingly.

Hope this helps. I'm really need to fix this.

 

[Rod Gill]

Lets get the basics out of the way first (just in case)! If you press F9 do
the costs re-calculate correctly? If so, then select tools, options and set
Calculation to automatic (calculation tab).

--

Rod Gill
Project MVP
Visit www.msproject-systems.com for Project Companion Tools and more

 

[TKD]

I tried F9 and made sure the Calculation was set to automatic, but there was
no change. At one point, I had selected manual calculation, as it seemed to
give me more control when entering actuals, but then I turned it off. Could
it have something to do with the status date I set when updating progress?

Shouldn't I be able to go in and change start/finish dates for resources and
manually control the total number of hours available without any problem?

Thanks.

 

[Steve House [Project MVP]]

When you say you are controlling "the total number of hours available" how
are you determining those numbers and where are you putting them? The cost
of a task is not based on the hours available, the hours the resource COULD
have worked on the task in other words, it's based on the number of those
hours he DID or IS SCHEDULED to work on that task. That could be any
portion of the number of hours he's available, ranging from just a few
minutes a day all the way up to having all of his available time being
consumed by the task. The toital work required to compelte the task is
implicit within the nature of the task itself - I have to build 100 widgets
and the task isn't done until I build all of them. The work required is how
long it would take me if I did nothing but build widgets working at full
capacity. The amount of time it actually takes me is not the work hours, it
is the duration hours, something totally different from work.
--
Steve House [MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

 

[TKD]

I've determined the hours available by looking at individual start and end
dates and calculating their total amount of time available based on what is
defined as a full time equivalent which is less than 8 hours/day. I went into
resource usage view and manually set the hours to equal the number of hours
they are available.

Thanks for your help.

 

[TKD]

Steve,

So I'm guessing I screwed up settings and need to start over. What do you
think?

Thanks.

 

[Steve House [Project MVP]]

LOL - No offense, but I don't know what to think because honestly I can't
figure out what you're really doing or why you're doing it.

The way I go about it is - this task is to build 100 widgets. I know how
Fred usually manages to build 10 a day when he's not otherwise distracted.
So working 100% it will take him 10 days (duration) to build 100. Fred
works 8 hours per day. I assign him 100% to the task. Thus it will require
80 man-hours to build 100 widgets. Fred gets paid $20/hr. Thus my project
budget is $1600 to build the required 100 widgets.

The inputs in Project are: Fred works 8-5 with an hour for lunch, M-F.
Fred's pay rate is $20/hr. Fred doesn't need to be doing anything else at
the same time so I can use him 100%. And working full time I expect the
task to take him 10 days to complete. I put in the duration estimate and
assign Fred to the task. Project calculates it is an 80 man-hour task and
will cost $1600. Project looks at Fred's resource calendars to see what
days and hours Fred going to be there to work on the widgets and uses that
info to compute when the task will start and when the 100 widgets will be
completed. In other words, it requires 80 hours of work and Fred's calendar
says when those 80 hours will take place - like Friday counts for 8 hours of
duration because Fred is working but Saturday doesn't count for duration
because it's Fred's day off.

--
Steve House [MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs