How Resource Mapping is Calculated

The Update Mapping process matches actual costs and revenue to the latest planning resources for project planning and forecasting. Summarized actual costs and revenue are recalculated for project performance reporting.

Resource Mapping Considerations

Consider these points when using the Update Mapping process:

• You can update resource mappings after you change resource formats or add resources and save the resource breakdown structure.

• Baseline project plan values aren't affected by the Update Mapping process.

• The Update Mapping process applies only if you don't allow resource changes at the project level.

  Tip: If you allow resource changes at the project level, use the Update Actual Amounts action on the project plan to update the actual amounts for all tasks on the project plan. Use the process monitor to start the process to summarize project performance data for reporting.

• After running the Update Mapping process, regenerate forecast versions to reflect the new actual costs.

How Costs Map to Resources

You can track costs of every resource that's assigned to a task and use the resource breakdown structure to view the breakdown of these costs. When costs are incurred, the application first checks for the best match in the resource breakdown structure. If not found, it tries to find the nearest match based on the rules of precedence.

The application attempts mapping from a lowest level resource format if the transaction associates to it. A three-level resource format (for example, Expenditure Type: Named Person: Job) is evaluated before evaluating a two-level resource format (for example, Expenditure Type: Named Person).

The application follows these rules to associate costs with resources:

• If there is only one level to which the transaction associates, then costs are mapped to that level.

• If the transaction associates with different resource formats, the application sums the precedence numbers for all resource types in the branch and gives precedence to the resource element in the branch with the lowest sum.

  • If more than one branch has the lowest precedence number at the lower level, the application uses the precedence number of the next level up.

  • If the sum of precedence numbers is the same for more than one branch, precedence is given to the branch with the lowest number at the lowest level.

  • If one branch contains a user-defined resource type, precedence is given to the branch that doesn’t contain a user-defined resource type.

Projects give more precedence to a lower precedence number. For example, a resource element with a precedence number of 1 is given precedence over a resource element with a precedence number of 10.

The following table lists the precedence numbers:

Resource Type	Precedence in Labor Resource Class	Precedence in Equipment Resource Class	Precedence in Material Items Resource Class	Precedence in Financial Resources Resource Class
Named Person	1	1	1	1
Project Nonlabor Resource	3	3	3	3
Inventory Item	5	5	5	5
Job	6	6	6	6
Item Category	8	8	8	8
Expenditure Type	9	9	9	9
Event Type	10	10	10	10
Expenditure Category	11	11	11	11
Revenue Category	12	12	12	12
Organization	13	13	15	15
System Person Type	14	14	14	14
Supplier	15	15	13	13
Resource Class	16	16	16	16

Example of Resource Mapping Using Rules of Precedence

This example illustrates that precedence is given to the branch with the lowest number at the lowest level if the sum of precedence numbers is the same for more than one branch.

In this example, a time card transaction for a principle consultant who incurs travel expenses maps to two branches.

• The first branch consists of two levels (1-Person Type: Employee and 1.1-Job: Principle Consultant). The highest level has a precedence number of 14, and the lowest level has a precedence number of 6, for a sum of 20 for the branch.

• The second branch also consists of two levels (2-Expenditure Category: Expenses and 2.1-Expenditure Type: Travel). The highest level has a precedence number of 11, and the lowest level has a precedence number of 9, for a sum of 20 for the branch.

The transaction cost amount is mapped to the Job: Principle Consultant resource element because it has the lowest number (6) at the lowest level.

Example of How Costs Map to Resources

Suppose that you created a planning resource breakdown structure named PRBS. While creating PRBS, you selected the Expenditure Type: Named Person: Job resource format. The application automatically selects Expenditure Type: Named Person and Expenditure Type resource formats. Now, the resource format hierarchy for PRBS is as follows:

• Expenditure Type
• Expenditure Type: Named Person
• Expenditure Type: Named Person: Job

The planning resources added to the resource combinations are as follows:

Resource Combination	Planning Resources
Expenditure Type	Consulting
Expenditure Type	Carpenter
Expenditure Type: Named Person	Consulting: Emily
Expenditure Type: Named Person	Carpenter: Amy
Expenditure Type: Named Person: Job	Carpenter: Amy: Manager

Next, you processed two cost transactions with these values:

Transaction Number	Expenditure Type	Person Name	Job
1	Carpenter	Amy	Principal Consultant
2	Professional	Emily	Consultant

Now, let's see how costs are mapped to these planning resources:

• Let's say an assignment exists for Carpenter: Amy: Manager on one of the project tasks. When costs are incurred, although the planning is done for Carpenter: Amy: Manager, the application creates Carpenter: Amy as an unplanned resource and maps costs to it because:
  • While creating the transaction, Amy's job is set to Principal Consultant and this is different from what's available in PRBS.
  • The Carpenter: Amy resource format and the resource are available in PRBS.
• When costs are incurred for Emily, the application maps costs to Labor. Although the named person exists, costs aren't mapped to the Expenditure Type: Named Person resource combination that's available in PRBS.
  Note: Emily isn't available on PRBS as an independent entity. Also, while creating the transaction, Emily's Expenditure Type is set to Professional and Job is set to Consultant and these are different from what's available in PRBS. As the application didn't find any match, it mapped the costs to the Labor resource class.

Mapping Costs to Generic Resource When the Resource is Not Planned on the Task

When a matching resource exists in the resource breakdown structure but not planned on the task, the application maps the costs to a generic resource instead of creating an unplanned cost.

Suppose that the resource breakdown structure has the following resource formats:

Resource Formats	Example
Resource class Resource class: Expenditure Type Resource class: Expenditure Type: Job Resource class: Expenditure Type: Named Person	Labor Labor: Professional Labor: Professional: Consultant Labor: Professional: Amy

When a resource is defined at the job level and not at the named person level, the application determines that the actual cost matches the Labor: Professional: Consultant resource that's available in the resource breakdown structure. It then checks if the task has the exact resource planned. If so, it maps the cost to that planned resource, which in this case is Labor: Professional : Consultant.

When a resource is defined at the person level and a higher level resource isn't planned on the task, the application determines that the actual cost matches the Labor: Professional: Amy resource that's available in the resource breakdown structure. It then checks if the task has the exact resource planned. If there is no exact match, it further checks if a higher level resource (for example, Labor: Professional or Labor) is planned at the task. If it doesn't find a match, it creates the best matching resource from the resource breakdown structure as an unplanned resource and maps the cost to that unplanned resource, which in this case is Labor: Professional : Amy.

When a resource is defined at the person level and a higher level resource is planned on the task, the application determines that the actual cost matches the Labor: Professional: Amy resource that's available in the resource breakdown structure. It then checks if the task has the exact resource planned. If there is no exact match, it further checks if a higher level resource (for example, Labor: Professional or Labor) is planned at the task. It finds that a match exists for Labor and maps the cost to that planned resource, which in this case is Labor.