An interesting problem has just arisen.

We use fully resourced and costed programmes using P6R8 and I have just come across this.

Our resource charge out rate changes every 1st April so I have added effective dates and correct resource charge out rates to the relevent years.

For activities that are either side of the rate change, the correct value is shown (i.e. a 10 hour activity at £45.98/hr = £459.80) Obviously the activities on the other side of the rate increase show the new rate and work that out correctly.

However, can you imagine for example, a project management overhead bar that extends through 2 or even 3 rate changes. I would expect to see an increase in cost at the rate change even though the number of hours remains the same.

It doesn't appear that Primavera thinks this way. It appears to calculate the value by taking the number of hours at each rate and working that out and then showing an average spend for each resource based on the value of the resource divided by the total number of hours on that activity.

This gives the correct value for the bar at the completion of the activity, but when you are claiming EV from a client on a monthly basis, the average that you are claiming is, at the beginning of the activity higher than you would expect, and at the end of the activity is less than your charge out rate. As I say, at the end of the activity it is the correct value, but not on a month by month basis.

I know this is only for very long overhead type bars and if you build your schedule correctly it will not affect "normal length" activities.

Is this a problem that has been overlooked by Primavera or am I being overly cautious, but if I was the client and doing some real forensic digging into a schedule, it is a question I would ask

I look forward to all your replies

Best regards