Programming in project

C

curteck

Hello,

I'm trying to make a custom field to calculate the overall length of time
used for specific resources. Here's my dilemma: I have a budget for each
resource and it does not matter how many tasks that person has to do
throughout the entire year because the amount of funds will stay the same.
What I would like to do is assign resources to a task and show that they are
being utilized with funds actually being spent. So if a resource has two
tasks assigned to it and they overlap, I want MS Project to calculate an
overall timeline based on the start date of the earlier task and the end date
of the task that ends later. So if task 1 has a time length of 2 and task 3
has a time length of 3, if they overlap by 1 time length the total should
show a 4, not 5. The overall goal is to show a cumulated expenditures over
time based on when workers are working. The rate of expenditure is based on
what task they are doing and how much time is slotted for them. If worker 1
has 3 tasks that can be done in 1 month, but will take 5 months because of
the program process, I want Project to take the total funds that resource has
at his/her disposal and divide that by the 1 month timeframe. A cumulative
expenditure versus time should show that this person has a high rate of
expenditure for 3 different periods of time in 5 months and this rate
timeframe will add up to 1 month.

and breath...

Part of my problem is I do not know how all the functions or fields work in
Project. The help box gives minimal information. Maybe I should just by the
2007 Bible, yeah? I need something more than just a basic book that tells me
how to type in a task.
 
J

Jim Aksel

My eyes are tired. 'whew! The good news is that Poject can help you. Not
only can it help you, this is the exact purpose for which the product was
designed.

Try typing in "Earned Value" in the help system for Project.
If you load the resources, with costs, and baseline the schedule then Earned
Value will give you all kinds of information.

Remember, you can use resource leveling to make sure each resource is not
overloaded. They can work more than one task simultaneously, but never more
than 100% of their availability on that day.

So, Project will set a baseline curve of expenditures for you called Planned
Value, PV, or more technciallly "Budgeted Cost of Work Schedeuled" BCWS.
That's your funding profile and it must match your budget or be less than
your budget for the year. That can even be exported to Excel.

Each month, you can enter the Actual Cost of Work Performed (ACWP), in $, in
the Actual Cost column in the Task Usage View. You could also enter it as
Actual Work (in hours) but then you have some other issues. Oh, make sure to
tell project you will be entering costs manually: Tools/Options/Calculations
and *deselect* Actual Costs are always calculated by MS Project.

There is a whole lot to say on this. I recommend a book by Quentin Flemming
called Earned Value Project Management. It is available on Amazon.

MS Project will let you calculate all types of efficeincies, variances, etc.
Space is way too short here but you can Google on "Earned Value" and bury
yourself in that.

Probably what you need is way short of what I described. However, following
this process will get you precisely what you are looking for plus so much
more information that your management will think you are a genious. Trust me
on this one, I make a living doing it.
 

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