Display Multiple Fixed Costs over time

[Paul S.]

Hi everyone,

I've searched extensively on this subject including FAQs and still
can't for the life of me figure out the best way to solve my problem.
(FYI: I'm using Project 2007 but saving in Project 2000-2003 file
format [I also have Project 2003 installed.])

I have put together a simple project plan (~250 tasks) to show at a
high level the distribution of work over a three year project and
(very importantly) the timing of when task-related costs such as
hardware / software and professional service costs will be incurred.

For simplicity, I would like to pro-rate costs over the course of a
particular task (i.e. fixed costs), and roll up these costs to summary
tasks so that I can report an 'at a glance' cost estimate (by time) to
the CFO.

My challenge is in easily displaying Capital and Operating costs by
month, quarter, and by year. Thanks to this forum I've discovered the
'Task Usage' view, where costs can be displayed on the right-hand side
and the zoom level can specify month, quarter, or year.
Unfortunately, this view doesn't appear to support custom cost fields.

Currently, I've used custom cost fields to represent total Capital and
Operating for the whole project. This leaves me using a separate
spreadsheet to calculate the 'cost over time' and has become a real
mess.

I'm sure Project can help me do this but I'm just not sure how--any
advice would be very much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

-Paul

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi,

Project 2007 has cost resources you can assign to tasks; the resource usage
view would then show what you need.

--
Jan De Messemaeker
Microsoft Project Most Valuable Professional
+32 495 300 620
For availability check:
http://users.online.be/prom-ade/Calendar.pdf

 

[Paul S.]

I'm experimenting with your suggestion Jan and at first glance it
appears to be inching me closer to a solution, thank you!

I've been able to create cost resources called 'Capital' and
'Operating' and I've assigned them to a few tasks. I've been able to
input $ amounts for each and I see how the numbers automatically roll
up to the summary tasks. However, it's still not quite giving me what
I need. I have just a few follow-up questions:

1) The $ amounts in the task usage view don't appear to pro-rate over
time like fixed costs do. Is this configurable?

2) Is it possible to total all the 'Capital' costs together, then all
the 'Operating' costs together? Again, and display pro-rated by time
(month/quarter/year). Currently, the summary task adds all the
capital and all the operating costs together into one lump sum. This
is useful information, but I need the totals broken out by Capital /
Operating as well.

3) Do you know a good way for me to share this with colleagues who use
Project 2003? I tried opening up the file in Project 2003 then back
in 2007, and it appeared to change all the Cost resources to Material
resources and removed the specific line item costs.

Thanks again for your help!

Paul

Hi,

Project 2007 has cost resources you can assign to tasks; the resource usage
view would then show what you need.

--
Jan De Messemaeker
Microsoft Project Most Valuable Professional
+32 495 300 620

Hi everyone,

I've searched extensively on this subject including FAQs and still
can't for the life of me figure out the best way to solve my problem.
(FYI: I'm using Project 2007 but saving in Project 2000-2003 file
format [I also have Project 2003 installed.])

I have put together a simple project plan (~250 tasks) to show at a
high level the distribution of work over a three year project and
(very importantly) the timing of when task-related costs such as
hardware / software and professional service costs will be incurred.

For simplicity, I would like to pro-rate costs over the course of a
particular task (i.e. fixed costs), and roll up these costs to summary
tasks so that I can report an 'at a glance' cost estimate (by time) to
the CFO.

My challenge is in easily displaying Capital and Operating costs by
month, quarter, and by year.  Thanks to this forum I've discovered the
'Task Usage' view, where costs can be displayed on the right-hand side
and the zoom level can specify month, quarter, or year.
Unfortunately, this view doesn't appear to support custom cost fields.

Currently, I've used custom cost fields to represent total Capital and
Operating for the whole project.  This leaves me using a separate
spreadsheet to calculate the 'cost over time' and has become a real
mess.

I'm sure Project can help me do this but I'm just not sure how--any
advice would be very much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

-Paul

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi,

1. For me they do prorate!
2. In Task Usage create a group by
-Resource Names
-Then Outlinenumber

Hope this helps,

--
Jan De Messemaeker
Microsoft Project Most Valuable Professional
+32 495 300 620
For availability check:
http://users.online.be/prom-ade/Calendar.pdf
I'm experimenting with your suggestion Jan and at first glance it
appears to be inching me closer to a solution, thank you!

I've been able to create cost resources called 'Capital' and
'Operating' and I've assigned them to a few tasks. I've been able to
input $ amounts for each and I see how the numbers automatically roll
up to the summary tasks. However, it's still not quite giving me what
I need. I have just a few follow-up questions:

1) The $ amounts in the task usage view don't appear to pro-rate over
time like fixed costs do. Is this configurable?

2) Is it possible to total all the 'Capital' costs together, then all
the 'Operating' costs together? Again, and display pro-rated by time
(month/quarter/year). Currently, the summary task adds all the
capital and all the operating costs together into one lump sum. This
is useful information, but I need the totals broken out by Capital /
Operating as well.

3) Do you know a good way for me to share this with colleagues who use
Project 2003? I tried opening up the file in Project 2003 then back
in 2007, and it appeared to change all the Cost resources to Material
resources and removed the specific line item costs.

Thanks again for your help!

Paul

Hi,

Project 2007 has cost resources you can assign to tasks; the resource
usage
view would then show what you need.

--
Jan De Messemaeker
Microsoft Project Most Valuable Professional
+32 495 300 620
For availability check:http://users.online.be/prom-ade/Calendar.pdf"Paul

Hi everyone,

I've searched extensively on this subject including FAQs and still
can't for the life of me figure out the best way to solve my problem.
(FYI: I'm using Project 2007 but saving in Project 2000-2003 file
format [I also have Project 2003 installed.])

I have put together a simple project plan (~250 tasks) to show at a
high level the distribution of work over a three year project and
(very importantly) the timing of when task-related costs such as
hardware / software and professional service costs will be incurred.

For simplicity, I would like to pro-rate costs over the course of a
particular task (i.e. fixed costs), and roll up these costs to summary
tasks so that I can report an 'at a glance' cost estimate (by time) to
the CFO.

My challenge is in easily displaying Capital and Operating costs by
month, quarter, and by year. Thanks to this forum I've discovered the
'Task Usage' view, where costs can be displayed on the right-hand side
and the zoom level can specify month, quarter, or year.
Unfortunately, this view doesn't appear to support custom cost fields.

Currently, I've used custom cost fields to represent total Capital and
Operating for the whole project. This leaves me using a separate
spreadsheet to calculate the 'cost over time' and has become a real
mess.

I'm sure Project can help me do this but I'm just not sure how--any
advice would be very much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

-Paul

 

[Rachel]

Paul,

I have to do the same thing for my project. Out of curiousity, which tasks
did you assign the cost resources to? Were they fixed duration?

Thanks,
Rachel

 

[JulieS]

Hello Rachel,

You may assign cost resources in Project 2007 to any type of task.
Budget resources may only be assigned to Project Summary tasks.

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

Paul,

I have to do the same thing for my project. Out of curiousity,
which tasks
did you assign the cost resources to? Were they fixed duration?

Thanks,
Rachel

Hi everyone,

I've searched extensively on this subject including FAQs and still
can't for the life of me figure out the best way to solve my
problem.
(FYI: I'm using Project 2007 but saving in Project 2000-2003 file
format [I also have Project 2003 installed.])

I have put together a simple project plan (~250 tasks) to show at a
high level the distribution of work over a three year project and
(very importantly) the timing of when task-related costs such as
hardware / software and professional service costs will be
incurred.

For simplicity, I would like to pro-rate costs over the course of a
particular task (i.e. fixed costs), and roll up these costs to
summary
tasks so that I can report an 'at a glance' cost estimate (by time)
to
the CFO.

My challenge is in easily displaying Capital and Operating costs by
month, quarter, and by year. Thanks to this forum I've discovered
the
'Task Usage' view, where costs can be displayed on the right-hand
side
and the zoom level can specify month, quarter, or year.
Unfortunately, this view doesn't appear to support custom cost
fields.

Currently, I've used custom cost fields to represent total Capital
and
Operating for the whole project. This leaves me using a separate
spreadsheet to calculate the 'cost over time' and has become a real
mess.

I'm sure Project can help me do this but I'm just not sure how--any
advice would be very much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

-Paul