Resource Rate Exposure and Confidentiality

[ohgreattall1]

We are using MS Project Server 2003 and MS Project 2003 to plan and
track resource costs, especially for external staff augmentation. To
do that, we have been entering their rate into the Standard Rate for
each resource. However, due to concerns that these rates might get
exposed, we are now using a single blended rate for everyone. That
means that the costs shown in MS Project may be close, but not
accurate, because some projects may have people with higher rates and
some with lower rates. Our PMO wants accurate actual and forecast
data, but our management does not want to expose the rates by
person. Access to MS Project, Project Server and Project Web Access
is pervasive. Is there any way to prevent peoples’ ability to open up
a project plan and expose these rates? I can’t believe we are the
only company in the world that would like to keep these rates
confidential.

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

ohgreatall1 --

Your use of blended rates is the recommended approach to project costing.
If you attempt to use actual salaries and hourly rates in the Standard Rate
field, there is no way you can hide this information from the project
managers. You cannot hide this column from them, so any of them can see the
real salaries and hourly rates. On the other hand, it is easily possible to
hide this information from people who only use PWA to view project and
resource information. Hope this helps.




We are using MS Project Server 2003 and MS Project 2003 to plan and
track resource costs, especially for external staff augmentation. To
do that, we have been entering their rate into the Standard Rate for
each resource. However, due to concerns that these rates might get
exposed, we are now using a single blended rate for everyone. That
means that the costs shown in MS Project may be close, but not
accurate, because some projects may have people with higher rates and
some with lower rates. Our PMO wants accurate actual and forecast
data, but our management does not want to expose the rates by
person. Access to MS Project, Project Server and Project Web Access
is pervasive. Is there any way to prevent peoples’ ability to open up
a project plan and expose these rates? I can’t believe we are the
only company in the world that would like to keep these rates
confidential.