Portfolios and Costs

Bogdan,

Spider Project shows the number of digits that is defined for the project as default but permits to select another number of digits for each field. But it remembers the value and if you will change the number of digits for the field then the value will be rounded to new number of digits.

There is also formula like RoundTo(Field,2) if you want to round up to the second digit.

Bogdan,

Some things in your post I did not understand.

 Performance archive is the same for all project and portfolio versions. All uncertainties are in future.

We recommend to group portfolio activities in a separate dummy project to avoid entering actual data after the portfolio is consolidated.

I will try to follow your procedures to understand the problems that you met. The same performance archive does not prevent trend analysis.

Besides in consolidated portfolio you can select entering actual data and updating portfolio not by projects but by distributing and consolidating subprojects in responsibility structure (the same as in projects).

Regards,

Vladimir

Bogdan,

download new version. This problem was solved.

Regards,

Vladimir

Bogdan,

updaing means looking for changes in the project files and implementing these changes into portfolio model.

You may notice that when the portfolio is created (just adding projects into portfolio) you can immediately get portfolio reports like portfolio budget, etc. without opening and calculating portfolio schedule and budget. These reports just summarize project data. Updating you renew these data can be achieved by updating.

Consolidating means opening portfolio model based on the latest versions of project portfolios. Projects in the portfolio are replaced by their new versions. This may cause priority changes if previous portfolio model was not distributed (new versions of project models sent from the portfolio model).

Three scenarios method shows probability distributions for any project and any phase of portfolio model. I checked it and in my portfolios it works as expected. But remember that for portfolios there are Project and Activity Gantt Charts. Risk analysis may be applied when you will open portfolio Activity Gantt Chart.

Hi, Bogdan.

This is not quite what your question -- but since you are asking about Spider Project and Cost Calculation, I'll point out that Spider is the only s/w package that, out-of-the-box, has the capability of computing the True Cost of Work (TCW).  That is because Spider is the only package that computes critical path drag (the Sumatra.com Project Optimizer add-on to MS Project is currently the only other product that does it) and, from what Vladimir tells me, can also compute drag cost.  Without that computation, the cost of doing any critical path activity can be hugely distorted.

Let us assume three tasks, X, Y and Z, on various parts of a time-sensitive project where the cost of every day of duration is estimated to be $40,000.

X has a budget of $100,000, a duration of 15D and total float of 12 days.

Y has a budget of $80,000, a duration of 20D and drag of 2 days.

Z has a budget of $30,000, a duration of 12D and drag of 10 days.

Measuring only the cost of resources leaves the impression that Z is by far the least expensive work. But:

• The TCW of X = $100,000.
• The TCW of Y = $80,000 + 2 * ($40,000) = $160,000.
• The TCW of Z = $30,000 + 10 * ($40,000) = $430,000.

The implications of this are:

1. The impact of any increase in the cost of resources for X (more trucks, more labourers) will just be to increase its True Cost and the True Cost of the project.
2. The impact of an increase in the cost of resources for Y is in the balance -- a doubling of resources that reduces its duration by two or more days and thus removes its drag will result in exactly the same True Cost: 2 * $80,000 + 0 = $160,000.
3. The impact of an increase in the cost of resources for Z is probably to reduce its True Cost and the True Cost of the project: a quadrupling of its resources that reduces its duration to, say, four days (if it's not perfectly resource elastic) reduces its drag from 10D to 2D and the True Cost will be: (4 * $30,000) + (2 * $40,000) = $200,000, or a saving of $230,000.

The inability to compute drag and drag cost is a huge shortcoming in Primavera, Open Plan, Asta, and all other software that is not programmed for the calculation and therefore does not point the planner to where spending more money is hugely justified. No knowledgable planner would use a package that didn't compute total float, yet the inability to compute drag (which is always on the CP and therefore costing you time and lots of money!) is a much bigger drawback. So you are lucky you have Spider.

Fraternally in project management,

Steve the Bajan

Yes, create materials with different codes and Material Center "Concrete" where both materials will be included to get overall reports.

It is necessary not only when costs are different but also when you model material supply. If projects are performed at different areas materials are supplied separately and cannot be moved from one project to another.

Projects at different areas may use different reference-books that define different norms (crews, productivities, materials, costs, etc.). It is usual practice in large construction companies that have branches at different areas.

Best Regards,

Vladimir