Troubleshoot working with costs

If the expected amount of a task's total cost (total cost: The calculated cost of a project, task, resource, or assignment over the life of the project.) differs from the calculated sum of its various rate-based (rate-based cost: Costs that are based on a rate that you enter in the Costs tab of the Resource Information dialog box.), per-use (per-use cost: A set fee for the use of a resource that can be in place of, or in addition to, a variable. For work resources, a per-use cost accrues each time that the resource is used. For material resources, a per-use cost is accrued only once.), and fixed costs (fixed cost: A set cost for a task that remains constant regardless of the task duration or the work performed by a resource.), do the following:

• Check assignment (assignment: A specific resource that is assigned to a particular task.) cost totals. A resource (resources: The people, equipment, and material that are used to complete tasks in a project.) may have a per-use cost you forgot about.

A different cost rate table (cost rate table: A collection of information about a resource's rates, including the standard rate, overtime rate, any per-use cost, and the date when the pay rate takes effect. You can establish up to five different cost rate tables for each resource.) may be applied. Correct this problem by changing the cost rate tables on a resource assignment.

A rate change you specified in the cost rate table may have gone into effect.

• Check task cost totals. Tasks may have a fixed cost you forgot about.

• Don't just rely on summary task (summary task: A task that is made up of subtasks and summarizes those subtasks. Use outlining to create summary tasks. Project automatically determines summary task information [such as duration and cost] by using information from the subtasks.) totals. Fixed assignment and fixed task costs (fixed cost: A set cost for a task that remains constant regardless of the task duration or the work performed by a resource.) don't roll up to the summary task level, so it's best to verify task cost totals by reviewing the total cost of a task.

If task cost totals (total cost: The calculated cost of a project, task, resource, or assignment over the life of the project.) have changed even though you haven't entered new costs or updated them, do the following:

• Check the dates of resource rate changes you set in the cost rate table (cost rate table: A collection of information about a resource's rates, including the standard rate, overtime rate, any per-use cost, and the date when the pay rate takes effect. You can establish up to five different cost rate tables for each resource.). A rate change you set to occur at a specific date may have gone into effect.

• Check the new date range of a task you moved. If you moved a task into a different time frame, a different rate you set for that time frame may have been applied.

If a resource (resources: The people, equipment, and material that are used to complete tasks in a project.) assignment (assignment: A specific resource that is assigned to a particular task.) cost (cost: The total scheduled cost for a task, resource, or assignment, or for an entire project. This is sometimes referred to as the current cost. In Project, baseline costs are usually referred to as "budget.") shows a zero value rather than the cost value you expect, do the following:

• Check the cost rate table (cost rate table: A collection of information about a resource's rates, including the standard rate, overtime rate, any per-use cost, and the date when the pay rate takes effect. You can establish up to five different cost rate tables for each resource.) you applied. You may have entered rates in different cost rate tables but accidentally applied a cost rate table that did not contain rates. You can correct this situation by changing the cost rate tables on a resource assignment.

When you import files in MPX format (MPX file format: The Microsoft Project Exchange [MPX] file format is a record-based ASCII text format that is used to import data into Project.) from an earlier version of Microsoft Office Project 2003, the accrual method (accrual method: Determines when the cost for a resource is incurred and when actual costs are charged to a project. You can incur costs at the start [Start] or finish [End] of a task or prorate them [Prorated] during the task.) of the earlier version may overwrite the current version's prorated default method if the older version has a different default accrual method. You may want to manually adjust accrual methods.

If you specified overtime (overtime: The amount of work on an assignment that is scheduled beyond the regular working hours of an assigned resource and charged at the overtime rate. Overtime work indicates the amount of the assignment's work that is specified as overtime work.) rates but overtime costs have not been calculated in the total cost (total cost: The calculated cost of a project, task, resource, or assignment over the life of the project.) of a resource (resources: The people, equipment, and material that are used to complete tasks in a project.) assignment (assignment: A specific resource that is assigned to a particular task.) as you expected, you may need to designate the hours of additional work as overtime work.

By default, Microsoft Office Project 2003 automatically calculates actual costs (actual cost: The cost that has actually been incurred to date for a task, resource, or assignment. For example, if the only resource assigned to a task gets paid $20 per hour and has worked for two hours, the actual cost to date for the task is $40.). If you want to edit actual cost information, you need to turn off the automatic calculation of actual costs.

1. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Calculation tab.
2. Clear the Actual costs are always calculated by Microsoft Office Project check box.