MS Project and Financial Tracking

[PeterR]

We currently ESTIMATE the $-cost and HOURS-cost resources of a project in Excel. Then we model the project in MSP
We would prefer to work in a tightly integrated environment where we can
1) Make estimates (especially $-cost estimates) with the degree of refinement available in Excel
2) Track project progress in terms of $-cost and HOURS-cost, comparing actuals to the estimate, again with the degree of refinement available in Excel
3) Easily (or automatically) extract summaries of the project status IN TERMS OF $$ (estimates vs. actuals), again with the degree of refinement available in Excel
As relative newcomers to the use of MSP, we dont know if this is reasonably easy to do directly within the scope of MSP, or difficult, or totally out of scope
If it's totally out of scope, what software might do the job

Peter Rost
Software Enginee
Simulis, LL

 

[Trevor Rabey]

You are looking for progress tracking and earned value performance
management/measurement/reporting. No problem, MSP does this and very easy
once you get it going.
After all, planning is pointless without tracking.
You will need to assign resources, both work and material, with their
per-hour or per-use costs, as well as task fixed costs, then insert actuals
as they become available.
Actually, MSP does all of this way better than messing about with Excel

We currently ESTIMATE the $-cost and HOURS-cost resources of a project in

Excel. Then we model the project in MSP.

We would prefer to work in a tightly integrated environment where we can:
1) Make estimates (especially $-cost estimates) with the degree of refinement available in Excel;
2) Track project progress in terms of $-cost and HOURS-cost, comparing

actuals to the estimate, again with the degree of refinement available in
Excel;

3) Easily (or automatically) extract summaries of the project status IN

TERMS OF $$ (estimates vs. actuals), again with the degree of refinement
available in Excel.

As relative newcomers to the use of MSP, we dont know if this is

reasonably easy to do directly within the scope of MSP, or difficult, or
totally out of scope.

 

[Steve House]

All of what you ask is available right out of the box with MS Project.
Take a look in the help at the discussion of Earned Value. Not sure
what you mean by "the degree of refinement available in Excel." That
covers a lot of territory - how sophisticated are you getting in Excel?
Of course, you can always export Project's data to Excel for further
analysis.

--
Steve House
MS Project MVP
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

We currently ESTIMATE the $-cost and HOURS-cost resources of a project

in Excel. Then we model the project in MSP.

We would prefer to work in a tightly integrated environment where we can:
1) Make estimates (especially $-cost estimates) with the degree of refinement available in Excel;
2) Track project progress in terms of $-cost and HOURS-cost, comparing

actuals to the estimate, again with the degree of refinement available
in Excel;

3) Easily (or automatically) extract summaries of the project status

IN TERMS OF $$ (estimates vs. actuals), again with the degree of
refinement available in Excel.

As relative newcomers to the use of MSP, we dont know if this is

reasonably easy to do directly within the scope of MSP, or difficult, or
totally out of scope.

 

[Roland]

May I suggest you visit the following site www.evengine.biz the software is a companion product to Microsoft Project and is designed to facilitate all of your stated requirements.