Newbie has cost question

[bbcrock]

I could not find this in the help file, just so you know I looked.

I have resource hourly costs. I have a firm budget. In about half my
tasks I have a firm due date. Much of my work estimates show that
we're going to need to have double or triple-staffed tasks requiring
detailed WBS's and critical path analysis to be able to meet those
dates. I want to display in a standard Gantt chart view the budgetary
limit (which I have in a custom field) and the cost estimate (I expect
it will take 3 resources 160 hours each to complete this at $80, $85
and $110 per hour). I cannot seem to get that cost estimate to
display. Our VP wants to move resources in real-time and see the
effect on the estimated real budget vs our total budget. Is this a
custom field I must create? I feel silly because thought I created
this about 8 years ago.

thanks,

Don

 

[Jim Aksel]

Insert/Column...
You need insert the custom field that you utilized for budget (perhaps this
is Text1).
The second column to insert is Cost which is the current costing of the
resources.

You could then create a third column which subtracts the first two.... then
filter on the third column to show only those tasks over budget.

 

[bbcrock]

I created a custom field and attempted to enter in the following
formula:

[standard rate] * [duration]

to get the estimated resource cost. However, MS Project 2007 gives me
the following error:

The formula contains a syntax error or contains a reference to an
unrecognized field or function name.

The name [standard rate] is highlighted. This is my problem, but I
know I had this data years ago.

What is the proper way to identify the estimated total cost for tasks
based on standard rates?

thanks,

Don

 

[JulieS]

Hi Don,

Pardon me for jumping in. When you created your resources I assume you
set Standard Rates for each resource. When you assign resources to
tasks, Project will calculate the cost for that resource assignment
based upon the work for the resource * the resource's standard rate.
The cost for the task is the total of the costs for each resource
assigned to the task plus any fixed cost you entered.

The [Cost] field should show you this information, no custom calculation
needed.

You can now use a custom cost field to subtract the data in the custom
field you entered your "firm budget" in.

For example: Assuming you have entered your budget data in [Cost1] your
formula would be:
[Cost1]-[Cost]

As you add additional resources to the tasks, the Cost field will adjust
based upon their work and the resource costs.

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

 

[bbcrock]

well newbie apparently isn't the word for such a major mistake. I
knew that this information was instantly available in Project 98.

Yes, now that I have all the info plugged in EXCEPT that, the cost
field shows exactly what I want. I do not know why in the first draft
it was showing wildly incorrect numbers, but that's what I want for
the gantt chart view:
budgeted cost
estimated cost (which is [Cost])
Actual Cost
and then likely ACWP, but I need to clarify how we're going to do EVM
first.

The "cost" field you say? sigh.

thanks,

Don

 

[JulieS]

You're welcome Don and thanks for the feedback.

Not to further confuse -- but the "Baseline Cost" is usually saved
before we start supplying actual cost. When you save a baseline, the
[Cost] is copied into Baseline. That data is not changed as you track
whereas the [Cost] field will equal Actual Cost when the task is
complete.

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