Cost field recalculating when it should not

[Steve Chermak]

I am fairly new to Project but have been asked to look into a problem that
the people who have been working with it for a while have not been able to
figure out, that they are having with some of their MS Project workbooks.

There are separate workbooks to track work done in different geographical
areas of our state.

On a couple of them the cost field recalculates on some tasks when the
Percent Complete field is changed, and they do not want that to happen.

The "Actual Costs are calculated by Project" check box is enabled in the
calculation tab of the Options.

I took one of the workbooks and went through some of the tasks myself, and
found a few where this occurred.

There are two quirks to this problem:

1. Within the same workbook, this problem does not occur on most of the
tasks, only on a few.

2. This happened only the first time I changed the percent complete (on a
task where the problem occurred). After that it did not happen, even if I
saved the workbook and re-opened it again.

I double clicked on some of these tasks to see what resources made up the
task, and I could not find anything that stood out as a glaring difference or
consistent difference between tasks where the problem occurred and ones where
the problem did not.

The cost field appears to be a summation of all the resources for any given
task. The people using these workbooks do not intend to enter any cost data
manually into the field, except when they entered the values originally for
the resources.

I looked at the resource sheet and resource usage sheet, and nothing stood
out in those views either.

If somebody could point me towards what things could possibly cause this
and/or what things I should investigate about the settings or about the data
that might lead to the answer, I would appreciate it.

Thank you

 

[JulieS]

Hi Steve,

My comments are in-line.

I am fairly new to Project but have been asked to look into a
problem that
the people who have been working with it for a while have not been
able to
figure out, that they are having with some of their MS Project
workbooks.

[Julie] Usually we call them Project files -- workbooks is an excel
term. If you're sure they are Project files, we'll carry on ;-)

There are separate workbooks to track work done in different
geographical
areas of our state.

On a couple of them the cost field recalculates on some tasks when
the
Percent Complete field is changed, and they do not want that to
happen.

The "Actual Costs are calculated by Project" check box is enabled
in the
calculation tab of the Options.

[Julie] If the users do not want an actual cost calculated by
Project, the check box should be *dis*abled -- unchecked. The
default is enabled (checked) With the option disabled, the actual
cost is not filled in -- however, the cost is.

I took one of the workbooks and went through some of the tasks
myself, and
found a few where this occurred.

There are two quirks to this problem:

1. Within the same workbook, this problem does not occur on most
of the
tasks, only on a few.

[Julie] That is odd -- the calculation is not a task by task basis,
but a whole project setting. If the setting is enabled, all actual
costs should calculate. If the setting is disabled, no tasks should
calculate. If the project has been in used for some time, it's
possible the file is mildly corrupted. You may wish to take a copy
of the file and try the remedies suggested under FAQ 43 at:
http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm

2. This happened only the first time I changed the percent
complete (on a
task where the problem occurred). After that it did not happen,
even if I
saved the workbook and re-opened it again.

I double clicked on some of these tasks to see what resources made
up the
task, and I could not find anything that stood out as a glaring
difference or
consistent difference between tasks where the problem occurred and
ones where
the problem did not.

The cost field appears to be a summation of all the resources for
any given
task. The people using these workbooks do not intend to enter any
cost data
manually into the field, except when they entered the values
originally for
the resources.

[Julie] Generally costs are calculated by Project based upon
assignment work (assignment = task + resource) * resource rate. If
the resources have rates in the Resource Sheet view, and the
resources are assigned to tasks, there will be work calculated by
Project and therefore costs.

I looked at the resource sheet and resource usage sheet, and
nothing stood
out in those views either.

If somebody could point me towards what things could possibly
cause this
and/or what things I should investigate about the settings or
about the data
that might lead to the answer, I would appreciate it.

Thank you

[Julie] What version, including service pack are your people using?
Are you working with Project Server?
I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional
information about Microsoft Project