Project Cost Collection Methods and Their Implications for Asset Cost Allocation

Project costs are always collected at the bottom task level. Tasks in a project, therefore, serve two purposes:

Tasks help structure the work associated with a project for easier execution and management.
Tasks help capture associated costs from multiple applications, such as Procurement and Labor Distribution.

You can assign assets to tasks in different ways, and each of these methods has implications for how costs are assigned to these assets.

Note: You can't assign the same project asset at the project and task levels.

Here's a table listing out the project cost collection methods available in Oracle Projects, and their implications for asset cost allocation.

Project Cost Collection Methods Available in Oracle Projects

Asset-Task Assignment Method	Description	Implications for Asset Cost Allocation
Project Assets Assigned at the Project Level	Project assets are all assigned at the project level.	An asset cost allocation method will be used to determine how to allocate project asset costs charged to this project. Tasks will be used for cost collection purposes only.
Single Project Asset Assigned to Each Task	Some tasks will be designated specifically for one project asset. Costs charged to this task will be allocated only to that project asset.	No asset cost allocation method is needed to allocate project costs to the only asset associated with the project task. All costs associated with that task will automatically be allocated with that asset.
Multiple Project Assets Assigned to the Same Task	Some tasks will have multiple project assets assigned to them. For this use case, these project assets share the project costs charged to this task.	An asset cost allocation method will be used to determine how to allocate project asset costs charged to this task.
Common Asset Costs Assigned to All Tasks Within the summary task (See note below)	Common costs are often necessary for the successful creation of numerous project assets, and the costs need to somehow be shared. Examples of common costs: Permits and architectural fees, wiring, and plumbing.	These common costs can’t be associated with any specific asset.