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weightage for cost & duration

6 replies [Last post]
Mon, 2008-08-11 09:25
abdul aziz sudin
User offline. Last seen 9 years 34 weeks ago. Offline
Joined: 7 Mar 2006
Posts: 5
Groups: GPC Malaysia
planners,
need some help
1. how do i get weightage for every task on cost & duration
2. how do i get the softcopy of cashflow report
3. how do i produce the cumulative cost in weightage/decimal/percent and not in $.

please advise me. thx

aziz
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Replies

Fri, 2008-08-22 05:03
#1
Darren Kosa
User offline. Last seen 8 years 17 weeks ago. Offline
Joined: 8 Feb 2008
Posts: 256
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Aziz,

In addition to Post #6, MS Project does of course weight durations and work at task level so it can calculate progress, but you cannot manually change these values you would have to use customised fields.

Task Duration/Total Duration and Task Work/Total Work are the equations MS Project uses to determine % Complete and % Work Complete.

Regards,

Darren
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Wed, 2008-08-20 13:46
#2
Darren Kosa
User offline. Last seen 8 years 17 weeks ago. Offline
Joined: 8 Feb 2008
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Hi Aziz,

If I understand you correctly you would like MS Project to automatically weight each task? As far as I’m aware this isn’t possible, you will have to do it manually using spare Number fields (or a combination of Number and Text). To then show progress you can do something similar to the following:

1) In this example Number1 contains the weighted values, so customise the column (Tools > Customize > Fields) rename it Weightage, check the Rollup radio button and select Sum from the drop-down menu.
2) Populate each row that contains a sub-task but not a summary task. You have to use decimals (0.25 for 25%, 0.01 for 1% etc.). At the end of this exercise the cell value in Row 1 should equal 1.
3) Add two more Number fields (Number2 & Number3). Rename Number2 Weighted Duration, check the Rollup radio button and select Sum from the drop-down menu. Then use this formula [Number1]*[% Complete].
4) Do the same for Number3 but rename it Weighted Cost and use this formula [Number1]*[% Work Complete].

There is a flaw in this Weighted Cost method. If you need to include Fixed Costs, it uses % Work Complete!!

For the cash flow report you can do as Trevor suggests or create a copy of the Task Usage View (View > More Views) and change the detail style so it only shows cumulative cost. You can then manipulate this data in Excel using cut and paste.

For the cumulative cost in weightage/decimal/percent you will only be able to produce this in Excel not MS Project.

Regards,

Darren
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Wed, 2008-08-20 11:51
#3
Trevor Rabey
User offline. Last seen 2 years 29 weeks ago. Offline
Joined: 29 Nov 2005
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Abdul,
Try a search in this forum for "weightage".
Perhaps there is no reference in weightage in MSP because it serves no useful purpose.
What use is "weightage"?
If just a proxy for cost or work or quantities then just use those instead.
If you want to calculate something, MSP has plenty of spare fields to do it in Tools, Customise Fields.

For cash flow, try the Cumulative Cost graph using the "Analyse Timescaled Data In Excel" button on the Analysis Toolbar.
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Tue, 2008-08-19 23:47
#4
abdul aziz sudin
User offline. Last seen 9 years 34 weeks ago. Offline
Joined: 7 Mar 2006
Posts: 5
Groups: GPC Malaysia
shagger,
Thank you for your kind solution. Of all the good planners out thr, you are the only self proclaim junior answered to my question.
I was actually trying to get the answers through MS Project application. Maybe there are tools in the application that I do not know of.
If you can still help me, I would be delightful. Nice day.


aziz
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Tue, 2008-08-19 08:02
#5
Anoon Iimos
User offline. Last seen 3 years 21 weeks ago. Offline
Joined: 22 Sep 2006
Posts: 1422
Groups: Pinoy Planning Planet Community
shagger,

i got headache reading your posts, for me you’re not a planner, maybe you are a project manager? or a procurement manager?
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Mon, 2008-08-18 22:59
#6
smiling shagger
User offline. Last seen 16 years 42 weeks ago. Offline
Joined: 29 Mar 2006
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dear sir,
am a new planner, using P3 as major tools
maybe my comment not good. what i normally do varied to project contract environment
1. how do i get weightage for every task on cost & duration
a) traditional contract - building& infrastructure with set of BQ
- i prepare a cpm schedule to suit site constraint & resources, sub-contracting strategy, supply chain.
- leave a blank colmn for QS to fill in (cost breakdown structure)
-export P3 to Lotus 123r Excel, design wtg to each activities.
-i will discuss these cost wtg with my PM to sustain project cash flow.
b) for epcc

- the allocation been agreed bet contractor & client on each E-P-C-C wtg also the agreed keypayment milestone
- i have to prepare cpm schedule link also activities keypayment milestone (plus same as above)
-when update the progress, actual % x designated epcc cost wtg.

Note: normally the client and contractor use one sole single benchmark to track the project i.e. CPM and NOT COST WTG or in traditional contract financial S curve.



2. how do i get the softcopy of cashflow report

"cut & paste cashflow "am afraid would probably jeorpadize your project benefits. normaly , i sit down with my PM also Finance Mgr dept, asking around because it relates to company’s budget for the specific project undertaken.

project cash flows varied amongst projects and location.

3. how do i produce the cumulative cost in weightage/decimal/percent and not in $.

- from project financial S curve
- derive it into period eg weekly/monthly/quarterly
- utilise spreadsheet
- build/add a column actual weekly/monthly and cummulative
- also could add up % of each above
- track them by actual vs target

bye
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