Comparing Budget Cost Resource w/Actuals?

[anovak]

OK, since Budget Cost Resources are at the top-level Project Summary
and Actual Cost Resources are only at the task level, then how do you
go about producing some kind of report that compares the two w/
variance?

Thanks,
Andy Novak

 

[NZ Projects]

In the following exercise, you will learn how to:
• Create two new budget resources,
• Assign the new budget resources to the project,
• Assign a specific budget to each of the new budget resources,
• Assign a Budget Type category to all of the resources on your Resource
Sheet—including the two new budget resources,
• Use the Budget Type categorization for grouping and comparison of the
established budget to the current schedule—for each Budget Type.

1. Start on the Resource Sheet—to create two new budget resources
a. Add two budget resources (Budget – Labor; Budget – Travel) on separate
lines
b. Double click on the Budget – Labor resource
i. Make this a budget resource by selecting the “Budget†checkbox
ii. Make this a work type resource by selecting “Work†as the Resource Type
c. Double click on the Budget – Travel resource
i. Make this a budget resource by selecting the “Budget†checkbox
ii. Make this a cost type resource by selecting “Cost†as the Resource Type
2. Go to the Gantt Chart—to assign the new budget resources to the project
a. Add the Project Summary Task to Gantt Chart (go to pulldown menu
Tools/Options; check the “Show Project Summary Task†checkbox on the View tab)
b. Assign both budget resources to the Project Summary Task
3. Go to the Resource Usage view—to establish the budget for each new budget
resource
a. Insert a column for “Budget Costâ€
b. Insert a column for “Budget Workâ€
c. Go to the assignment for Budget – Labor
d. Type your labor budget (e.g. 200 hours) in the Budget Work column
e. Go to the assignment for Budget – Travel
f. Type your $ travel budget (e.g. $500) in the Budget Cost column
4. Go back to the Resource Sheet –to categorize all of the resources,
including the new budget resources
a. Insert a new custom text field (preferably an enterprise text field) and
call it “Budget Typeâ€
b. In the Budget Type column, enter “Labor†for the Budget – Labor item
c. In the Budget Type column enter “Labor†for each named resource (e.g.
Peter, Sarah, etc.)
d. In the Budget Type column, enter “Travel†for the Budget – Travel item
e. In the Budget Type column enter “Travel†for each travel-related resource
(e.g. Airfare, Taxi, etc.)
5. Now go back to the Resource Usage view—to group the resources by category
and compare to the overall budget for the category
a. Insert a column for the Budget Type field
b. Select pulldown menu “Project/Group by/Customize Group-by†and choose the
Budget Type as the Group-by field


Done! At this point you can compare the budget with the current
schedule—for each Budget Type. If you’ve done it right, you can perform some
useful budget comparisons (reference illustration below):

Budget-Labor for Project 2 (i.e. 200 hrs)  [Scheduled] Work (i.e. 224
hours)
Noting: The project is currently scheduled to overrun its Labor Budget.

Budget-Travel for Project 2 (i.e. $500)  [Scheduled] Cost (i.e. $1,210)
Noting: The project is currently scheduled to overrun its Travel Budget.

By adding additional columns for Actual Work and Actual Cost, the budget
could similarly be compared with actuals.

Of course, the process illustrated can be further expanded to include many
more types of budget resources (e.g. Budget – Overhead; Budget – Repro;
Budget – G&A; etc.).

 

[anovak]

In the following exercise, you will learn how to:
· Create two new budget resources,
· Assign the new budget resources to the project,
· Assign a specific budget to each of the new budget resources,
· Assign a Budget Type category to all of the resources on your Resource
Sheet-including the two new budget resources,
· Use the Budget Type categorization for grouping and comparison ofthe
established budget to the current schedule-for each Budget Type.

1. Start on the Resource Sheet-to create two new budget resources
a. Add two budget resources (Budget - Labor; Budget - Travel) on separate
lines
b. Double click on the Budget - Labor resource
i. Make this a budget resource by selecting the "Budget" checkbox
ii. Make this a work type resource by selecting "Work" as the Resource Type
c. Double click on the Budget - Travel resource
i. Make this a budget resource by selecting the "Budget" checkbox
ii. Make this a cost type resource by selecting "Cost" as the Resource Type
2. Go to the Gantt Chart-to assign the new budget resources to the project
a. Add the Project Summary Task to Gantt Chart (go to pulldown menu
Tools/Options; check the "Show Project Summary Task" checkbox on the Viewtab)
b. Assign both budget resources to the Project Summary Task
3. Go to the Resource Usage view-to establish the budget for each new budget
resource
a. Insert a column for "Budget Cost"
b. Insert a column for "Budget Work"
c. Go to the assignment for Budget - Labor
d. Type your labor budget (e.g. 200 hours) in the Budget Work column
e. Go to the assignment for Budget - Travel
f. Type your $ travel budget (e.g. $500) in the Budget Cost column
4. Go back to the Resource Sheet -to categorize all of the resources,
including the new budget resources
a. Insert a new custom text field (preferably an enterprise text field) and
call it "Budget Type"
b. In the Budget Type column, enter "Labor" for the Budget - Labor item
c. In the Budget Type column enter "Labor" for each named resource (e.g.
Peter, Sarah, etc.)
d. In the Budget Type column, enter "Travel" for the Budget - Travelitem
e. In the Budget Type column enter "Travel" for each travel-related resource
(e.g. Airfare, Taxi, etc.)
5. Now go back to the Resource Usage view-to group the resources by category
and compare to the overall budget for the category
a. Insert a column for the Budget Type field
b. Select pulldown menu "Project/Group by/Customize Group-by" and choose the
Budget Type as the Group-by field

Done! At this point you can compare the budget with the current
schedule-for each Budget Type. If you've done it right, you can perform some
useful budget comparisons (reference illustration below):

Budget-Labor for Project 2 (i.e. 200 hrs) [Scheduled] Work (i.e. 224
hours)
Noting: The project is currently scheduled to overrun its Labor Budget.

Budget-Travel for Project 2 (i.e. $500) [Scheduled] Cost (i.e. $1,210)
Noting: The project is currently scheduled to overrun its Travel Budget.

By adding additional columns for Actual Work and Actual Cost, the budget
could similarly be compared with actuals.

Of course, the process illustrated can be further expanded to include many
more types of budget resources (e.g. Budget - Overhead; Budget - Repro;
Budget - G&A; etc.).

OK, since Budget Cost Resources are at the top-level Project Summary
and Actual Cost Resources are only at the task level, then how do you
go about producing some kind of report that compares the two w/
variance?

Thanks,
AndyNovak

This seemed to work great; however, I was assigning the (enterprise)
Budget Type field to each Resource on the Resource Usage sheet.
The Group By worked great, but when I save the project, the values
disappear from the Budget Type. Is this because that info needs to be
entered on the Resource Sheet instead or should this custom field be
created at another level?

Thanks,
Andy Novak
UNT