Tracking costs by percent complete does not work!!

[eganders]

I have used Project for years, but have never really used it to track
costs after I finished a proposal. I would like to do so now. I tried
the approach where you select the % complete based on the project as it
was proposed. Since this is how the project was costed, it makes sense
to me. I want to get an Idea where I stand in dollars spent related
to the percent done on the original tasks in the proposal.

I went through my Project file and estimated the % done of each line
item of the original Project file used in my proposal. The problem is
that Project does not take 50% of the dollars proposed as sunk if you
say it is 50% done. If you say it is 100% done, it takes 100% of the
dollars. It only takes 100% of the dollars and 100% of the labor
hours, any percentage less is $0 and 0 work hours spent. Why is that?


I am up for suggestions on how to track it. I simply want to say that
effort A is 50% complete and have 1/2 of the work hours and 1/2 of the
dollars remaining. I can then compare what is left in the proposal
relative to what my accounting system says I actually spent.

How do I do that???

 

[John]

I have used Project for years, but have never really used it to track
costs after I finished a proposal. I would like to do so now. I tried
the approach where you select the % complete based on the project as it
was proposed. Since this is how the project was costed, it makes sense
to me. I want to get an Idea where I stand in dollars spent related
to the percent done on the original tasks in the proposal.

I went through my Project file and estimated the % done of each line
item of the original Project file used in my proposal. The problem is
that Project does not take 50% of the dollars proposed as sunk if you
say it is 50% done. If you say it is 100% done, it takes 100% of the
dollars. It only takes 100% of the dollars and 100% of the labor
hours, any percentage less is $0 and 0 work hours spent. Why is that?


I am up for suggestions on how to track it. I simply want to say that
effort A is 50% complete and have 1/2 of the work hours and 1/2 of the
dollars remaining. I can then compare what is left in the proposal
relative to what my accounting system says I actually spent.

How do I do that???

eganders,
If you have been working with Project for years I'm surprised your
understanding of % Complete versus % Work Complete isn't well, more
complete. But nonetheless, let's see if we can help.

The % Complete field relates to Duration field and duration is simply a
time span. It has nothing to do with the Cost field. On the other hand,
the % Work Complete field relates to the Work field and work has a
direct relationship to cost via the basic formula
Cost = Fixed Cost + Work * labor resource rate + material use * material
resource rate

Assuming your plan does not have fixed cost and you only have labor
resources (i.e. no material resources), then tracking the plan using %
Work Complete should give you just what you want. Half the work complete
will spend half the dollars and so forth.

Hope this helps.
John
Project MVP

 

[eganders]

Yes, I wish it was more complete also. But I have been using Project
for more of a visual calculator than some of its more intended
purposes. I guess I just can't get over the fact that it can tell me
that 9 women can produce a baby in 1 month because it thinks
mathematically and a schedule needs more than that.

Thanks for your help in working out a way to do what I want. I may
have a problem with my material costs, as you point out.

I would be interested in why 100% complete finally uses 100% of the
cost, but any less uses none..

 

[JulieS]

Hi eganders,

Pardon me for jumping. A possible solution - check your resource sheet and
make sure the Accrue At field is set to Prorated. If accrual for resources
is set to End, you will not see any actual cost recorded until the task is
marked 100% complete.

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

Julie

 

[John]

Yes, I wish it was more complete also. But I have been using Project
for more of a visual calculator than some of its more intended
purposes. I guess I just can't get over the fact that it can tell me
that 9 women can produce a baby in 1 month because it thinks
mathematically and a schedule needs more than that.

Thanks for your help in working out a way to do what I want. I may
have a problem with my material costs, as you point out.

I would be interested in why 100% complete finally uses 100% of the
cost, but any less uses none..

eganders,
I have to apologize for my opening comment in my original reply. After I
wrote it and hit send, I realized that it wasn't very professional. I'm
sorry.

But something you mentioned above really caught me off guard. You mean 9
women can NOT do a baby in 1 month? Wow, I need to rethink my whole view
of family planning ;-)

One way to work around the case of material cost "polluting" the total
cost is to create separate task lines for labor and material. The total
cost value at the top level will of course include all cost types, but
at least at the task level, labor is isolated, and its also possible to
use the Grouping feature to sum costs up separately.

The reason 100% complete gives 100% value is because 100% in the %
Complete field guarantees the % Work Complete field is also 100%. That
same relationship may or may not hold for values less than 100%. If a
resource is assigned at 100% for the full time the task spans the the
two % complete fields will track one for one. For example let's say a
task is 40 hours duration and Joe is assigned to work it at 100%. The
Work field then also becomes 40 hours and 50% entered into the %
Complete field or the % Work Complete field will yield a value of 50% in
the Cost field for that task, assuming the task has labor only.

Hopefully this clarifies it further.

John
Project MVP