how do i track budget vs actual for material in MS Project

[Wayne Bouwman]

I'm looking to track Material Budget vs. Actual costs in a project.
When i create a task, "Buy Laptop Computer" for example and assign a
resource to the task with a resource type "material", and then I want to
enter a budget for it. I enter my budget value in the Cost field so that the
"budgeted" material cost will get rolled up with the "budgeted" resource
costs so that i can get an over Project Cost of "Material and Labor".
When I begin recording my actual hours and material cost, I can enter my
actual hours as a % Complete or actual hours in the % Complete or actual work
column. From that the Actual Cost column will be populated base on the
resource cost I've assigned to that task. An example is: Task 1 has resource
Joe assigned to it and Joe has an hourly rate of $25/hr setup for him in the
resource sheet. When I enter 2hr in the Actual Work column for Task 1, the
Actual cost column is recalculated to show $50.00. Great!
Now i want to enter my actual cost for the Computer Laptop that I had to
purchase. My Budget that i put in was $2,500.00 which i had put into the Cost
column when i setup the task. My actual cost was $2,300.00. When I try to
enter this value in the
Actual Cost column i cannot. Only after I enter a % Complete value in the %
Complete column can i enter my actual cost value. When i enter my actual Cost
value, it then updates the Cost (or my Budget) column to the $2,300.00. My
variance has just gone out the window and i cannot see what i initially
budgeted for my Laptop Computer.

How can I see my initial budget vs. my actual cost for this task?

I can probably do it by using Customer fields or something but I'd rather
not if at all possible.

Sorry for the long explanation.

 

[JulieS]

Hi Wayne,

My answers/comments are embedded below.

I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional information
about Microsoft Project

I'm looking to track Material Budget vs. Actual costs in a project.
When i create a task, "Buy Laptop Computer" for example and assign a
resource to the task with a resource type "material", and then I want
to
enter a budget for it. I enter my budget value in the Cost field so
that the
"budgeted" material cost will get rolled up with the "budgeted"
resource
costs so that i can get an over Project Cost of "Material and Labor".

[Julie] You have a couple of options. You mention that you have
created a material resource (laptop). One option is to enter the
budgeted amount for the laptop in the Std. Rate field on the resource
sheet. Create the two hour "Buy laptop" task, assign Joe (Std. Rate
$25.00/h) and laptop. The cost of the task is automatically calculated
to $2,550.00 - $50.00 for Joe and $2,500.00 for the laptop assigned. --
no need for you manually enter the laptop cost into the cost field. The
downside to this option is that if you assign the laptop to another task
the $2,500 will again be applied to the task.

The method you note (manually changing the cost field) creates a fixed
cost for that task only. (You may add the Fixed Cost field to the table
to see the amount) In that circumstance, you would leave the material
Std. Rate at zero.

When I begin recording my actual hours and material cost, I can enter
my
actual hours as a % Complete or actual hours in the % Complete or
actual work
column. From that the Actual Cost column will be populated base on the
resource cost I've assigned to that task. An example is: Task 1 has
resource
Joe assigned to it and Joe has an hourly rate of $25/hr setup for him
in the
resource sheet. When I enter 2hr in the Actual Work column for Task 1,
the
Actual cost column is recalculated to show $50.00. Great!
Now i want to enter my actual cost for the Computer Laptop that I had
to
purchase. My Budget that i put in was $2,500.00 which i had put into
the Cost
column when i setup the task. My actual cost was $2,300.00. When I try
to
enter this value in the
Actual Cost column i cannot.
Only after I enter a % Complete value in the %
Complete column can i enter my actual cost value.

[Julie] You are correct. The default setting in Project is that Actual
Costs are calculated by Project. Take a look at Tools > Options,
Calculation tab and you will see the option. Only after the task is
complete (100%) can you modify Actual Cost to reflect the lower price
for the laptop.
You can disable that option but that will stop the calculation of actual
cost for all tasks -- including the actual cost for work resources,
forcing you to manually enter the $50.00 for Joe.

When i enter my actual Cost
value, it then updates the Cost (or my Budget) column to the
$2,300.00. My
variance has just gone out the window and i cannot see what i
initially
budgeted for my Laptop Computer.

How can I see my initial budget vs. my actual cost for this task?

[Julie] Before you enter any tracking data (actual work, % Complete)
you need to baseline the project.(Tools > Tracking, Save Baseline.)
This will copy the Cost for the task (including work resources, material
resources, or Fixed Cost) into the Baseline cost. As you track work,
the Baseline Cost will be your "budget" and the difference between
Baseline Cost ($2,550.00) and Actual Cost ($2,350) will be there. Add
the Cost Variance field to see the $200 difference.

I can probably do it by using Customer fields or something but I'd
rather
not if at all possible.

[Julie] No need for custom fields. Baseline Cost, Actual Cost, and
Cost Variance will work just fine.

Sorry for the long explanation.

[Julie] Don't apologize -- long explanations tell us exactly what you
are doing and what you need. It helps cut down on the guess work we
have to do.