fixed/actual costs

[ProjectUser]

I have dollars in my “fixed costs†fields at the summary level. However, I’m
not able to manually enter actual costs at the summary level, but at the task
level. Will Project allow me to enter actual dollars at the summary task
level?

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

ProjectUser --

Microsoft Project allows you to enter a Fixed Cost at on individual tasks,
on summary tasks (to show a total Fixed Cost for a Phase or Deliverable
section), or on the Project Summary Task (to show a Fixed Cost associated
with the entire project). Because of this, you will notice that Fixed Costs
entered on an individual task do not "roll up" to the summary tasks for the
individual task.

On the other hand, Actual Costs DO roll up to the summary tasks, which is
the default behavior of the software. Because of the "roll up"
functionality, the software allows you to enter Actual Costs ONLY on the
individual task level. To work around this, you might assign an Actual Cost
to a Milestone task associated with each summary task. Hope this helps.

 

[ProjectUser]

Thanks Dale. I’ve tried your suggestions. However, it seems to create
undesirable results. For example, now the actual costs are added to the
fixed cost; So, then I moved the fixed costs to the total cost column, then
baselined. When I then entered actuals, the actuals were added to the total
costs columns – the list could go on and on….

The bottom line is that I need to be able to show a fixed amount (the
budget) at a summary task level, then enter the actuals. In additional, I
need these figures to be factored into seeing cost variance, and total
project costs at task summary level. I’m open to your suggestions if the way
I’ve been approaching this doesn’t work.
Thanks again.

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

ProjectUser --

What version of Microsoft Project are you using? 2000, 2002, 2003, or 2007?
I am using 2007 and somewhat duplicate what you describe. I think the
software is telling us that the process you want to use is self-defeating.
It is apparent we cannot mixed Fixed Costs with manually-entered Actual
Costs in a project.

Wouldn't a better approach be to create a custom task Cost field called
"Overhead Cost" that you can use to track what amount to fixed or overhead
costs on each task? When creating the Overhead Cost field, you can specify
that the values roll up to summary tasks using the Sum function. You could
include this custom Overhead Cost field in the Cost table and even remove
the Fixed Cost and Fixed Cost Accrual columns. This way you can enter
Actual Costs on tasks as they occur and they will total in the Total Cost
column, and enter Overhead Costs in the new custom column, and then show the
appropriate totals for each at the summary level. Just a thought. Hope
this helps.

 

[ProjectUser]

Yes, I think this is a sufficient workaround.
Thank you.

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

ProjectUser --

You are more than welcome, my friend!