Cost field

[Q]

Before I pose my question, I would just like to inform you guys that I am a
new user of Project 2003.

I would like to know whey the "Cost" field which is an auto calc field in
project does not get recalculated, if I mistakenly put $0 for any givent task.
I did go to tools, calculations, and hit calculate now...
Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,
Q

 

[JulieS]

Hi Q,

The cost field in project is calculated based upon resource work *
resource rate but it can also be manually entered. The Actual Cost
field is by default calculated by Project but you can also turn that
option off in Tools > Options, Calculation tab. If the default
"Actual Costs are always calculated by Project" is checked, you
cannot enter zero in the Actual Cost field by accident.

In short, I don't fully understand your question and what you were
hoping to occur. Are you talking about the Cost field or the Actual
cost field.

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

 

[Q]

Hi JulieS,

Thank you for the info.
I trying to make the cost field so it is automatically calculated based on
resource work * resource standard rate and such that it cannot be manually
entered. I was hoping by adding "Actual Cost" field that my problem will be
resolved but unfortunately that is not the case. I am still able to manually
enter cost in the Actual Cost field for 100% complete tasks and the other
tasks that are less than 100% complete, I cannot manually enter cost in
indiciate "0.00"

I want to look at cost at different levels in the schedule for the entire
project but I am afraid I might have copied over cost from other tasks in the
"Cost" field when statusing the project.

 

[JulieS]

Hi Q,

My comments are inline below.

Hi JulieS,

Thank you for the info.

[Julie] You're welcome Q.

I trying to make the cost field so it is automatically calculated
based on
resource work * resource standard rate and such that it cannot be
manually
entered.

[Julie] The cost field is by default, calculated for you, but as
you note, you can overwrite it. However, when you overwrite the
calculated entry, what actually happens is Project enters a value in
the Fixed cost field to balance the entry you made with the
calculated field. For example, if you have a resource with a cost
of $25.00 per hour assigned to a task with 1 hour of work, Project
will calculate the cost as $25.00. If you accidentally overwrote
the calculated cost field with $0, you'll see ($25.00) in the Fixed
Cost field. If you delete the entry in the Fixed Cost field, you'll
see the Cost field show the original value based upon the
calculation Rate * Work.

I was hoping by adding "Actual Cost" field that my problem will be
resolved but unfortunately that is not the case. I am still able
to manually
enter cost in the Actual Cost field for 100% complete tasks and
the other
tasks that are less than 100% complete, I cannot manually enter
cost in
indiciate "0.00"

[Julie] You're correct, if you leave the option "Actual Costs are
calculated by Project" enabled, you can still change actual costs
after you've marked the task 100% complete. But again, if you
overwrite the calculated actual cost with a new value, the offset is
in the Fixed Cost field. If you wish to preserve cost information
before you begin to track, you can save a baseline and the cost will
be copied into the Baseline Cost field. If needed, you can also
copy/paste cost data into one of the spare cost fields (Cost1
through Cost 10). Particularly if you don't keep one of those
fields visible in the table, it's unlikely someone would overwrite
the data accidentally.

I want to look at cost at different levels in the schedule for the
entire
project but I am afraid I might have copied over cost from other
tasks in the
"Cost" field when statusing the project.

[Julie] If you're concerned about accidentally changing the field,
remove it from the table. The data is still there, just not
available to be changed as easily. You can then create custom
tables to show the information with less risk.

I hope this helps.

Julie