How do I use flat rate contractors as resources?

[Chris]

I have a book writing project where I am using contractors that have a flat
rate for writing chapters. I am not sure how to correctly assign them to
tasks? We have estimated the duration of their tasks and they are costing us
a flat rate for all of them. But I am not sure how to correctly assign the
resource and record their cost? They will not be working on a daily schedule
so I have no idea how best to track their working times, etc.. Also, how
would I identify time slips and such with them?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks in advance.


Chris

 

[John]

I have a book writing project where I am using contractors that have a flat
rate for writing chapters. I am not sure how to correctly assign them to
tasks? We have estimated the duration of their tasks and they are costing us
a flat rate for all of them. But I am not sure how to correctly assign the
resource and record their cost? They will not be working on a daily schedule
so I have no idea how best to track their working times, etc.. Also, how
would I identify time slips and such with them?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks in advance.


Chris

Chris,
In your case the contractors are not really resources but rather a Fixed
Cost. This often is the case with construction projects wherein most of
the subcontract work is based on a fixed bid. It doesn't matter how long
the sub works, the price is fixed. I suggest you put the dollar value of
the fixed price contract in the Fixed Cost field.

With fixed cost effort, you don't need to track working time because it
doesn't matter except to the extent that forward progress is being made.
To track progress, use the Physical % Complete Field (you can read more
about what that means in the help file). As far as slips in the
schedule, simply change the Duration field to slip out the Finish date
based on current estimates. You could also manually split the task if
there will be periods of time (e.g. a week) when no work is being done
by the contractor but depending on your needs inserting splits into the
task may add more complexity than you want.

Hope this helps.
John
Project MVP

 

[Chris]

John,

Thanks for the reply.

We have four or five tasks for these contractor resources. Should I assign
the fixed cost to the task? Or the resource?


Chris

 

[John]

John,

Thanks for the reply.

We have four or five tasks for these contractor resources. Should I assign
the fixed cost to the task? Or the resource?


Chris

Chris,
The Fixed Cost field is task based. Just add that field as a column to
whatever task view you are using (e.g. Gantt Chart). As it turns out, if
you manually enter a value in the Cost field, it will automatically
appear in the Fixed Cost field, but. . . I don't recommend entering
fixed costs that way - it is bad practice.

John

 

[Steve House [Project MVP]]

There are a couple ways to do this. John has offered one way that works.
I'd prefer to do it like this. In the resource list enter the Writer as a
resource. He's not paid by time so his Standard Rate is 0 and OT Rate is 0.
But set his Cost per Use to the rate you pay him for each chapter. Make
each chapter a separate task. When you assign the writer to it, his cost
per use will be assessed to the task