Project Resources
Project application administrators define enterprise resources from the Manage Project Enterprise Resources page and then project managers can add the required resources to a project as project resources. There are two types of project resources: Expense and Labor.
You can add project resources from the Manage Project Resources page. You can then assign multiple labor resources to project tasks using the Labor Resources column on the Manage Project Plan page.
When you add labor resources, cost rate, bill rate, and project role are populated by default. And, you must specify the planned effort for labor resources and planned amounts for expense resources.
Resource Rates in Financial Projects
In financial projects, plan labor resources in Manage Project Resources using the common source of truth for resource rates. By standardizing rate derivation across work and financial planning, project managers can estimate the project cost and revenue with improved accuracy. For example, rather than manually maintaining the resource rates in Manage Project Resources, use the resource rates as defined in the rate schedules or project overrides.
While performing high-level planning in the Manage Project Resources page by adding or updating the resources and managing the project plan, get the resource rates from the rate schedules or project overrides based on the settings defined in Manage Project Financial Settings. Use the Refresh Rates action on the Manage Project Resources page to get the latest rates in the project. For example, obtain the latest rates for resources who received a promotion or job change.
- Bill rates for the project resources are derived only if the project is associated to a single contract and rate definitions are specified at the contract level.
- Any manual updates to resource rates in Manage Project Resources won't be considered when managing financial aspects of the project such as financial plans, budgets, and forecasts. In addition, refreshing rates will remove the overrides and default to standard rates from rate schedules or overrides based on the project settings.
- In nonfinancial projects, resource rates are always defaulted from the rates defined in Manage Project Enterprise Resources page.
Effort and Labor Amounts
Team members can enter actual and remaining hours when working on tasks. The application displays the sum of the actual and remaining hours as the current hours. And the current effort can be less than or more than the planned effort.
Here’s a table that shows Devon and Emily’s allocations for a task with the total planned effort of 24 hours.
|
Labor Resource |
Planned Effort (in Hours) |
Actual Hours |
Remaining Hours |
Current Effort (in Hours) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Devon |
8 |
6 |
4 |
10 |
|
Emily |
16 |
12 |
8 |
20 |
Let's take a closer look at Devon’s assignments. The planned effort is 8 hours, the actual effort is 6 hours, and the remaining effort is 4 hours. Because the current effort is the sum of actual and remaining effort, the current effort is 10 hours.
Labor cost amounts and labor bill amounts are automatically calculated based on the effort and the cost rate and bill rate specified in the Manage Project Resources page. So, if the planned and current efforts are different, then the planned and current amounts will also be different.
Let’s say that the labor resource allocation for Devon is 50 percent and for Emily its 100 percent. The planned effort is calculated as follows: Planned Effort = (Labor Resource Allocation/Total Allocation on the Task) * Planned Effort on the Task. So, the planned effort for Devon is 50/150 * 24 = 8 hours and for Emily its 100/150 * 24 = 16 hours.
Let’s say that the cost rate for Devon is 30$ per hour and for Emily its 32$ per hour. The planned labor cost is calculated as follows: Planned Labor Cost = Planned Effort in Hours * Cost Rate in $. So, the planned labor cost for Devon is 8 * 30 = 240$ and for Emily its 16 * 32 = 512$. And, the total planned labor cost = 240 + 512 = 752$.
Let’s say that the bill rate is 35$ per hour. The planned labor bill amount is calculated as follows: Planned Labor Bill Amount = Planned Effort * Bill Rate in $. So, the planned labor bill amount is (8+16) * 35 = 840$.
Similarly, efforts and costs are calculated for each labor assignment accordingly.
Expense Amounts
Project managers can manage expense amounts from the Manage Project Plan page. For each task, you can track planned expense amount, actual expense amount, remaining expense amount, and current expense amount. The application displays the sum of the actual and remaining amounts as the current amount. And the current expense amount can be less than or more than the planned expense amounts.
Here’s a table that contains some examples of expense amounts.
|
Expense Resource |
Planned Expense Amount |
Actual Expense Amount |
Remaining Expense Amount |
Current Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Airfare |
2000 |
2200 |
300 |
2500 |
|
Accommodation |
10000 |
9990 |
410 |
10400 |
|
Meals |
500 |
450 |
200 |
650 |
|
Total Amount |
12500 |
12640 |
910 |
13550 |
Let's take a closer look at the first example for airfare. The planned expense amount is $2000, the actual expense amount is $2200, and the remaining expense amount is $300. Because the current amount is the sum of actual and remaining amounts, the current expense amount is $2500.