Tracking different cost categories

[jimboluke]

There are two things that, if I could do them in Project, would make the
world of difference to me and my colleagues.

1. First, is there a way to display the cumulative COST for ALL resources +
fixed costs over time? I found that we could do this for single resources
with "RESOURCE GRAPH" (right clicking in the display and checking "CUMULATIVE
COSTS"). But I can't seem to be able to do this for a roll-up of all
resources, and I can't do it with fixed costs.

2. Second, is there a way to display (or even save out as CSV or XML) a set
of different types of costs entered for projects? For example, we have
different "flavors" of cost-tracking: budgeted, received, obligated, accrued,
etc. It would be outstanding if I could define one of Project's custom costs
(e.g., "COST6") to be "obligated" or whatever. Then, when needed, I'd like
to do a resource graph plot of cumulative costs in which each category is
plotted against time. It seems that as powerful as Project is, this should
be possible.

 

[John]

There are two things that, if I could do them in Project, would make the
world of difference to me and my colleagues.

1. First, is there a way to display the cumulative COST for ALL resources +
fixed costs over time? I found that we could do this for single resources
with "RESOURCE GRAPH" (right clicking in the display and checking "CUMULATIVE
COSTS"). But I can't seem to be able to do this for a roll-up of all
resources, and I can't do it with fixed costs.

2. Second, is there a way to display (or even save out as CSV or XML) a set
of different types of costs entered for projects? For example, we have
different "flavors" of cost-tracking: budgeted, received, obligated, accrued,
etc. It would be outstanding if I could define one of Project's custom costs
(e.g., "COST6") to be "obligated" or whatever. Then, when needed, I'd like
to do a resource graph plot of cumulative costs in which each category is
plotted against time. It seems that as powerful as Project is, this should
be possible.

jimboluke,
Well, what you want can definitely be done with VBA by exporting the
data to Excel and using Excel's extensive graphing capabilities, but let
me address each of your "wants".

You CAN get a resource graph for more than a single resource but it will
NOT include fixed costs (more on that in a minute). To set up a combined
resource graph, go to our MVP website at:
http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm
and take a look at FAQ 38 - Combined Resource Graph
The reason fixed costs will not be included is because fixed costs are
not the result of a effort based resource assignment, rather they are
direct costs to the task often associated with contracted effort (fixed
contractor bid).

A whole project file can be saved as CSV or XML but not individual
selected data. You can use an export map to export your custom cost
fields to Excel and sum them up there. Custom fields in Project are not
timescaled, that is, they cannot be displayed in one of the timescaled
views such as Task or Resource Usage so you would need to do a periodic
export of the static data and then set up the cumulative data for a
graph in Excel.

Probably not quite in line with your heart's desires but as I mentioned
in the beginning, it can be done with VBA. The Fixed Cost field could be
summed with the resource based cost, and then exported to Excel and
plotted. The custom cost fields could be displayed over time but that
would require a special algorithm to create timescaled data from the
static data in the custom cost fields. Then it could also be exported to
Excel and plotted.

John
Project MVP

 

[jimboluke]

Thank you. I did discover the FAQ, will try it out. I suspected some part
of the answer involved VBA and exportation of data. I don't know where to
start with VBA, sigh.

Most disappointing is the inability to do timescaled representation of a
custom field. Since my tracking granularity for some of these other
categories is monthly, maybe I could define a number of custom fields, one
for each month, and export those out to Excel for summation. While somewhat
artificial, it would allow me to at least maintain the data in a single tool
(Project) and use Excel to present that data.

Thanks again. I am grateful for your advice.

 

[John]

Thank you. I did discover the FAQ, will try it out. I suspected some part
of the answer involved VBA and exportation of data. I don't know where to
start with VBA, sigh.

Most disappointing is the inability to do timescaled representation of a
custom field. Since my tracking granularity for some of these other
categories is monthly, maybe I could define a number of custom fields, one
for each month, and export those out to Excel for summation. While somewhat
artificial, it would allow me to at least maintain the data in a single tool
(Project) and use Excel to present that data.

Thanks again. I am grateful for your advice.

jimboluke,
I my opinion the best place for newbies to start learning VBA is to
visit our MVP website at: http://project.mvps.org/links.htm
At the bottom of the page is a link to, "Project 98 Visual Basic
Environment Training Materials". Even though it says it is for Project
98 it is equally applicable to all current versions of Project. The only
real difference is that later versions tend to expand the Project Object
library. You might also want to take a look at fellow MVP, Jack
Dahlgren's website for several good examples of Project VBA macros. You
can find a link to Jack's site near the top of the same page referenced
above.

With regard to timescaled data for custom fields. It would be very
difficult for Project to guess what type of spread to put on custom
data. The data may or may not have a valid linear relationship to time,
money, or whatever. Therefore, spare (or customized) fields are static
only. However, if the user can come up with an algorithm that
realistically defines the data spread, then timescaled data for
spare/custom fields CAN be generated - but it requires VBA to do so.

John
Project MVP