entering bills and invoices

[david]

is it possible to enter multiple entries into the "actual
cost" column of a single task or resource then be able to
review each seperate entry? (i.e. in construction a
project may have 50 tool rentals that all belong to
the "tool rental" task)

 

[Rod Gill]

Hi,

Project is not a Job Costing or Job Accounts program. The only way you could
enter costs for 50 rentals is to add them as 50 separate assignments.

--
For VBA posts, please use the public.project.developer group.
For any version of Project use public.project
For any version of Project Server use public. project.server

Rod Gill
Project MVP
For Microsoft Project companion projects, best practices and Project VBA
development services
visit www.projectlearning.com/

 

[Steve House]

Adding to Rod's answer - It looks like you're thinking of a Bill of
Materials, not a work schedule, in building your MS Project file. "Tool
rental" as I think you're using the term should in fact not be a task in the
project at all. If it is a task, perhaps better named "Rent Tools" - I like
the trick of using an action verb as the first word in the task name, it
helps stay focussed - it represents the activity of a someone going to the
tool rental supplier, arranging the rental, and perhaps bringing the tools
back to the job site. The tool's costs themselves are not associated with
the rental task - its costs would be the wages of the person doing it and
perhaps the gasoline and other costs associated with driving there and back
if they are signifigant in your budget. The actual rental cost of the tools
is associated with the specific tasks where they are used, not with the task
that procures them.

 

[JulieD]

Hi Steve

you wrote : "The actual rental cost of the tools is associated with the
specific tasks where they are used, not with the task that procures them."

however, if i have to pay the rental upfront when i rent them and not when i
use them then it would make sense (to me anyway) to "cost" this against the
Rent Tools task so that it appears correctly in my cash flow reports.
Currently i do this by managing the individual costs in an excel file and
linking the costs into the project file. The reason i didn't mention this
to the OP is that i've seen some "negative" comments about this method in
other posts and was waiting to see if anyone came up with a better
suggestion. Is there a better way of keeping track of the individual costs?

Regards
JulieD

 

[davegb]

You might want to contact the people at Timberline.com, they make an
estimating/costing software package that integrates fully with
Project. There may be others as well.

David G. Bellamy
Bellamy Consulting

 

[Steve House]

But if you didn't do the task where the tools are used you wouldn't have to
rent them at all. Therefore it is that task the creates the cost and
determines its amount. Costing it in the task that uses it rather than the
task that procures it actually gives you more accurate cash flows IMHO
because it allows you to better predict where in the project the need for
the cash arises. Project is, IMHO, about managing the budget in its
aggregate and not about micro-managing the dates the checks are going to get
cut or the day to day financials out to the penny.

I don't have a problem with managing some of the costs over in Excel and
linking them but I usually use it for the fixed cost component of tasks
only. Like in my favourite movie shoot example, we're scouting locations
for 1 week in Rio. The resource costs for the people (salary cost),
equipment, per-diem allowance, and expendables like film are computed by
Project. But the airfare, hotel, car-rental, incidentals, etc are totalled
in a budget worksheet in Excel and the total is OLE linked into the fixed
cost field of the "Scout Locations" task. Project then adds it in to the
resource costs to come up with the total task cost.
--
Steve House [MVP]
MS Project Trainer/Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

 

[JulieD]

Hi Steve

thanks for the response ...

"Costing it in the task that uses it rather than the task that procures it
actually gives you more accurate cash flows IMHO because it allows you to
better predict where in the project the need for the cash arises."

this i would agree is the key issue ... when are you "committed" to the
expenditure? (i must admit i normally discuss this topic in terms of
purchase for "one-off" materials (buy-ins) and not in a renting context.

just going off on a bit of a tangent - have you ever had a problem linking
b/n excel & project ... one of my students emailled me the other day and
said that he can't do it -he's getting an OLE error (the OLE paste operation
can not be completed. the data that you're trying to paste is not valid for
microsoft project) ... i've sent him back to try a few things but was
wondering if you've ever come across this?

Regards
JulieD

 

[Steve House]

He probably chose "Excel Spreadsheet" as the object type he's pasting
instead of "Text Data." If you attempt to paste it as an Excel object it
trys to put the whole binary workbook file into the Project field - won't
work. Have him select the Excel cell containing the data of interest, copy
to the clipboard, over to MSP and select the target cell such as the fixed
cost of the target task from my example, Paste Special, Paste Link, object
type Text Data should work fine.

On the other - if you're talking about materials purchases rather than
rentals I'd hold even more strongly that the cost should be associated with
the task that uses it rather than the task that procures it. If you buy a
ton of coal this week to use in a task next month, theoretically at least if
the task needing the coal was cancelled you could send it back to the vendor
or sell it to someone else and recover the money you spent. When you
procured the coal you acquired an asset but you haven't actually "spent"
that asset until you incorporate the coal into the deliverable that needs
it. Paying on order or on delivery simply means you've transformed one
asset you own (pile of money) into a different asset you own (pile of coal).
But they are interchangeable in value - just ask the guys who run the coal
mine. (And asset management is the job of the accounting department, not
Project Management - LOL!!!) The expenditure, in the case either of money
or of coal, doesn't take place until it's used for something.
--
Steve House [MVP]
MS Project Trainer/Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

Hi Steve

thanks for the response ...

"Costing it in the task that uses it rather than the task that procures it
actually gives you more accurate cash flows IMHO because it allows you to
better predict where in the project the need for the cash arises."

this i would agree is the key issue ... when are you "committed" to the
expenditure? (i must admit i normally discuss this topic in terms of
purchase for "one-off" materials (buy-ins) and not in a renting context.

just going off on a bit of a tangent - have you ever had a problem linking
b/n excel & project ... one of my students emailled me the other day and
said that he can't do it -he's getting an OLE error (the OLE paste operation
can not be completed. the data that you're trying to paste is not valid for
microsoft project) ... i've sent him back to try a few things but was
wondering if you've ever come across this?

Regards
JulieD

But if you didn't do the task where the tools are used you wouldn't have to
rent them at all. Therefore it is that task the creates the cost and
determines its amount. Costing it in the task that uses it rather than the
task that procures it actually gives you more accurate cash flows IMHO
because it allows you to better predict where in the project the need for
the cash arises. Project is, IMHO, about managing the budget in its
aggregate and not about micro-managing the dates the checks are going to get
cut or the day to day financials out to the penny.

I don't have a problem with managing some of the costs over in Excel and
linking them but I usually use it for the fixed cost component of tasks
only. Like in my favourite movie shoot example, we're scouting locations
for 1 week in Rio. The resource costs for the people (salary cost),
equipment, per-diem allowance, and expendables like film are computed by
Project. But the airfare, hotel, car-rental, incidentals, etc are totalled
in a budget worksheet in Excel and the total is OLE linked into the fixed
cost field of the "Scout Locations" task. Project then adds it in to the
resource costs to come up with the total task cost.
--
Steve House [MVP]
MS Project Trainer/Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs



when against
the

task

in

Tools" -
I name,

it to
the associated
with it
and